Course Instructor

Course Description

This session is designed to engage participants about interventions to support fathers of autistic people. Fathers of autistic people are under-studied in mental and behavioral health, resulting in their needs frequently being misunderstood. Some of the extant research suggests some fathers respond to their children’s needs differently than mothers for a range of reasons that include feeling stigmatized (Gray, 2002; 2003) and concerns about their children’s social and developmental trajectory (Seligman & Darling, 2007). Also, some research indicates that fathers of autistic people experience a unique orientation and adjustment phase to their children’s needs and strengths (Hannon & Hannon, 2017; Hannon et al., 2019; Naseef, 2001; Naseef, 2013) and that securing effective and comprehensive therapeutic services for their children can be a predictor of their healthy adjustment (Garcia-Lopez et al., 2016).

Learning Objectives

• Distinguish between the unique emotional and mental health considerations for fathers of autistic people and other caregivers and family members;

• Assess their professional knowledge about the value of group counseling as an intervention to support peoples’ mental and emotional health;

• Evaluate their readiness to develop and implement a support group for fathers of autistic people;

• Distinguish the stressors on the parental relationship and implementation of coping strategies.

Agenda

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

2. Unique emotional and mental health considerations for fathers of autistic people and other caregivers and family members (15 minutes)

3. Fathers’ unique contributions to child development (10 minutes)

4. Family cohesiveness and resilience and divorce statistics (15 minutes)

5. How to communicate with male caregivers about their needs for support (15 minutes)

6. Overview of the value of group counseling as an intervention to support peoples’ mental and emotional health (15 minutes)

7. Fathers’ expression of how the support group model supported them and their families (15 minutes)

8. Building readiness to develop and implement a support group for fathers of autistic people (10 minutes)

9. Lessons learned about fathers’/ male caregivers support groups by the presenter (10 minutes)

10. Questions and Answers (10 minutes)

Professional Continuing Education

All participants can request a Certificate of Attendance documenting hours of participation and available professional continuing education credits at the time of registration. Please note that continuing education credit is only provided for direct seat time. Course preparation including readings, lectures, and mentoring is not included in the CE hour or credit total. This course is a live online course and participants must log in individually to the online classroom, following the instructions provided by ICDL and with their camera on, so there is a record of each participant's attendance individually. If participants join in a room with a group, each participant must still log in on their own device so ICDL can see each participant and verify each individual's login and log out of the online classroom. Participants must attend the entire course to get CE credit. Partial credit is not an option.  

Please CLICK HERE for Instructor Disclosures 

ICDL does not receive any commercial support for the DIRFloortime certificate courses. If any commercial support is provided for a conference or event, it will be disclosed on the promotional material or webpage for that specific event. 

Continuing Education Questions?  E-mail ceu@icdl.com

Speech and Language Pathologists

This course is offered for 0.2 ASHA CEUs (Various levels, Related areas).

Non-Credit Onsite Events: Continuing education credit is not offered for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner functions nor breaks, board and committee meetings, and networking events.

Skills Level: This Training is appropriate for occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, educators, and mental health treating professionals of all skill levels.

Important Information for Speech and Language Pathologists:

 You were asked to share your ASHA account number as part of your registration. This is required for ICDL to process your ASHA continuing education credits.  Our Continuing Education Department will complete and submit an ASHA participant form on your behalf at the conclusion of your course.

We also request that all participants complete a course evaluation form that will be received via email.  This course evaluation is for ICDL and is used to help improve all aspects of our training program. Your feedback is valuable and we thank you for your time!

If you have any questions about this process please email us at ceu@icdl.com.

DIR 406: Transformed by the Journey: The impact of groups on fathers of autistic people and families

ICDL is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Provider approval ID # 6778. This live online course is offered at 0.2 CEUs, introductory level, professional area. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.

Non-Credit Onsite Events: Continuing education credit is not offered for breakfast, luncheon, dinner functions or breaks; board and committee meetings, networking events.

Skill Level: This Training is appropriate for occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, educators, and mental health treating professionals of all skill levels.

To obtain AOTA CEUs from a course you have taken, please follow these steps:

1. As part of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)’s Approved Provider Program, ICDL must have a certain number of short online surveys completed for renewal as a continuing education provider. Please complete this one-page survey about your continuing education experience here: http://www.aota.org/appsurvey.

2. Complete the course evaluation form that has been e-mailed to you from ICDL. This course evaluation is for ICDL and is used to help us improve our course offerings. We thank you for your time.

Counselors

Social Workers

NEW YORK STATE SOCIAL WORKERS:

International Council on Development and Learning, Inc., SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0371.  This course is offered for 2 contact hours of credit.  

music therapists

MT-BCs can claim credits for the course under the Other Continuing Education Opportunities category for recertification. Please refer to the Recertification Manual for additional details 

Art Therapists

According to the ATR-BC Recertification Standards, ICDL training programs that are approved by one of the other national continuing education boards listed on this page, may be eligible for Art Therapy continuing education credit. These standards state, "CECs will be accepted for all courses or events that fit in the ATCB Eligible Content Areas and that are presented or approved by any of the following art therapy, mental health, or behavioral sciences entities: state licensing authority, national professional organization, or national credentialing body for continuing education credit." It is the responsibility of each participant to determine if an ICDL program qualifies or not. ICDL is not an approved ATR-BC continuing education provider and as such can not award ATR-BC continuing education credits directly.  However, we are approved by organizations like NBCC which may meet the above-quoted standard.