We know that neurodivergent children and young people are at an increased risk of developing psychological problems, such as anxiety disorders. However, many therapists feel like they don’t have the skills to work with children who may present and engage with us differently. Working with children and young people who are neurodivergent requires therapists to make various adaptions to the way we communicate and structure our therapy sessions, and to modify existing therapeutic approaches to better suit the needs of neurodivergent people. In addition, there often needs to be additional content about topics such as emotional understanding, meeting sensory needs, understanding what is and what isn’t the problem, camouflaging and identity issues.
This workshop gives an introduction to ways of working that particularly suit neurodivergent children and families, paying particular attention to neurodivergent children and families perspectives and using strengths-based understandings. It aims to increase participants’ confidence in adapting their treatment approaches creatively whilst remaining formulation led and evidence based. There will be plenty of opportunities to practice some of the techniques we can make use of in therapy.
Learning objectives are as follows:-
- Be aware of the perspectives of neurodivergent children and young people on the therapy process
- Understand what factors to consider to engage better with a neurodivergent child and young person
- Be able to include aspects of neurodivergent presentations into formulations
- To be able to make reasonable adjustments to psychological therapy to achieve better outcomes when working with neurodivergent children and young people
- Encourage families and systems to make adjustments to meet the needs of the child or young person
- Understand what additional modules might be needed to treat neurodivergent children and young people
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