1-068 - How do Child-Serving Systems Address the Needs of Children with IDD who Have Experienced Trauma?

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), as compared to the general population, are at increased risk for physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse and encounter greater difficulty in accessing appropriate services. Among children with IDD, vulnerability heightens while abilities to cope, share concerns, and reach out for help are variably limited.
This Conversation Roundtable aims to discuss the challenges and barriers to identification of child traumatic stress in children with IDD, provide researchers with directions for further study, provide practitioners with tools for better identification and treatment, and outline approaches to trauma-informed care to improve children’s mental and behavioral health.
Susan Ko, PhD, Co-Managing Director, National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, will moderate this Roundtable which will include panelists from multiple systems accessed by children with IDD and their families. They will describe the trajectory and movement of children with IDD through the commonly encountered medical, mental health, education and juvenile justice systems. Potential traumatizing aspects of such “typical” encounters will be discussed. Addressing the dual diagnosis of IDD and trauma in each system will be highlighted. Functional and practical ways to assist these children and their families will be presented. Policy implications related to the challenge of accessing appropriate services and adapting evidence-based trauma-focused treatments for children with IDD will also be discussed. The panelists for this Roundtable have all participated in initiatives of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and have expertise in identifying and delivering best practice in identification and intervention related to traumatic stress and IDD.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Moderator

• Susan Ko, National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

Panelists

• Richard Adams, UT Southwestern Medical Center

• Carly Dierkhising, California State University, Los Angeles

• Colleen Horton, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health