Sexual Assault and People with I/DD: Adaptations to Treatment

People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) experience sexual abuse at significantly higher rates than others. After potentially traumatic events they experience the same trauma symptoms that others do and research shows they are less likely to spontaneously recover without treatment. Yet most mental health clinicians who work with survivors of sexual assault report feeling unprepared to work with this population and most providers who work primarily with people with I/DD are not trained in trauma-informed principles, let alone any trauma-focused treatment modalities. This training will provide information on adapting trauma-focused treatment to meet the needs of people with I/DD as well as adapting forms of behavioral treatment for persons with I/DD to meet the needs of sexual assault survivors.