BONUS 7 - Sex Education for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities w/ Katherine McLaughlin
ABA Inside Track
Robert Parry-Cruwys
4.7 • 634 Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2018
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Katherine McLaughlin of Sexuality and Developmental Disability Workshops, creator of a sex education curriculum for individuals with disabilities. We talk about how she came to this topic, the process of developing her curriculum, the challenges educators face in bringing up sex education, and why it's about time sexuality is being discussed in special education. More information about Katherine and her curriculum can be found here.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
Shapiro, J. (2018, January 9) For some with intellectual disabilities, ending abuse starts with sex ed. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org
Collier, L. (2017, December). Seeking intimacy. Monitor on Psychology, 48(11), pp. 48
Anthes, E. (2017, December 7) Some adults with autism traits reject conventional sexual labels. Retrieved from https://spectrumnews.org
Griswold, A. (2017, May 3) Sex and other foreign words. Retrieved from https://spectrumnews.org
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody. Welcome to ABA Inside Track. Now, I know what you're thinking. Wait a minute. This isn't our normal full topic. |
| 0:21.2 | Well, this is one of our fun bonus episodes. If you've been following the news recently or if |
| 0:27.2 | you freak it our Facebook page, then you may have seen a series NPR did recently on abuse of |
| 0:34.5 | individuals with developmental disabilities. It's a, you know, certainly not a topic that any of us ever want to hear happens, |
| 0:42.6 | but unfortunately, many individuals with disabilities are among the most abused in our country, |
| 0:48.6 | simply because I don't think we as a country really have ever, |
| 0:52.3 | until the recent past thought about individuals |
| 0:55.6 | with disabilities as being sexual in any way, either in the positive statement of, you know, |
| 1:03.2 | individuals of disabilities can have sexual relationships, healthy sexual relationships, |
| 1:08.0 | or unfortunately in the idea that they can be victims of abuse, |
| 1:12.3 | if we as a whole, don't teach individuals how to know that they may be victims of abuse or |
| 1:19.2 | that someone is an abuser or how to advocate for themselves about what is and is not comfortable. |
| 1:24.5 | When I was reading these pieces, I came upon one of the articles on teaching, |
| 1:28.6 | because much of our show is about teaching. And there were a lot of references to Catherine |
| 1:33.8 | McLaughlin, who works up in New Hampshire as a trainer and developer of a sexuality education |
| 1:40.9 | curriculum for individuals with developmental disabilities. |
| 1:45.6 | Now, Catherine was kind enough to find some time where she could talk to us at ABA Inside |
| 1:50.6 | Track a little bit about her background, the process of developing her sexuality curriculum, |
| 1:55.8 | and then just some general thoughts on the state of sexuality training in America. And so without any further ado, |
| 2:04.9 | here is our interview with Catherine McLaughlin. Hello, this is Catherine. Hi, Catherine. This is |
| 2:10.7 | Rob Perry Cruz from the ABA Inside Trek. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing pretty good, thanks. |
| 2:20.8 | So, Catherine, could you tell me, just start with an easy question, tell me about yourself and how you got into working in special |
... |
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