On Monday, February 28th 2022, the Department of Mental Health & Substance Dependence in partnership with the Ministry of Education will commence a series of training sessions for parents of children with autism and related disabilities. The first training module will be delivered face to face over a four-day period (Feb 28th – March 3rd) at the Department of Planning’s Conference Room in Providenciales.
The aim of the training is to empower parents of children with special needs and equip them with skills to become effective interventionists in their home. Participants can expect to gain support from experts in the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) who will not only teach concepts of ABA, but also demonstrate to participants how to apply the concepts in order to address specific needs that their child may have.
The 15-module course will be delivered in intervals across the entire year using a hybrid model. At the end of the training period, participants would have obtained well over 40 hours of training and would have been exposed to various topics such as; introduction to ABA, Behaviour and the Environment, Reinforcement, Stimulus Control and Treating Social skill deficits.
The expert team of speakers, Theo Gossou and Sheryl Patterson, possess more than 20 years of combined experiences with children with developmental disabilities. As special educators and behaviour analysts they have extensive experience in designing and implementing early intensive behavioural interventions (EIBI) to teach language and social skills to children with autism, as well as developing and monitoring individualized education programs (IEP). Parents can rest assured that this training will be holistic, as Mr. Gossou and Mrs. Patterson are parent trainers and also have experience in the treatment of challenging behaviours (physical aggression, tantrums, property destruction, self-injurious behaviours).
Persons interested in attending the workshop should contact the Department of Mental Health & Substance Dependence on 649-338-3613 or email mmsimmons@gov.tc to register as soon as possible as space is limited.
