Ethics & Neurodiversity:
Let's Talk About Sex
In this one-hour self-study ethics course, Autistic OT Sarah Selvaggi-Hernandez highlights the importance of OTs, SLPs, psychologists, and mental health practitioners addressing sexual health, reproductive rights, and consent with our neurodivergent clients. She ties together our professional codes of ethics and the neurodiversity model to teach concrete ways to support the development of positive sexual identity and practice harm reduction for our clients of all ages. This course is registered for 1 credit hour with ASWB, .1 AOTA CEUs & .1 ASHA CEUs (one contact hour).
This course intended to meet the ethics CE requirement for OTs, SLPs, and social workers.
Continuing Education
from Learn Play Thrive
Teaching our autistic clients about sexual health and reproductive rights
is all of our jobs.
This course addresses our fears and
challenges our biases
Our professional codes of ethics ask us to respect our clients’ autonomy, promote their well-being, and reduce our harm. But far too often, we fail to examine how our treatment choices may not be reflecting our ethics. In this course, you’ll gain the clarity and confidence to address sexual development and consent across the lifespan using a neurodiversity-affirming approach.
Investment
This course costs $39 and includes a one hour recorded lecture that is filled to the brim with actionable content.
Access
This course is entirely self-paced. You’ll have access for six months to complete the course on your own time.
Continuing Education
This course is registered for .1 AOTA CEUs (1 contact hour), .1 ASHA CEUs, and 1 credit hour with ASWB.
FAQs
Information about completion requirements, accommodations, and more can be found in the FAQs.
Ethics & Neurodiversity: Let's Talk About Sex
is for you if…
You are an SLP or OT working with autistic clients of any age in any setting (that's right, we mean early intervention, too!)
You want to reflect on how your own treatment choices respect or violate a client’s autonomy
You want to understand the role of implicit bias on addressing sexuality with our neurodivergent learners
- You are an SLP or OT working with autistic clients of any age in any setting
- You want to reflect on how your own treatment choices respect or violate a client’s autonomy
- You want to understand the role of implicit bias on addressing sexuality with our neurodivergent learners
- You are ready to address sexuality with your clients and want a concrete framework to help you approach it
- You know you’ll make a greater impact on your clients’ well being by learning to apply a neurodiversity-affirming lens to your work
You are ready to address sexuality with your clients and want a concrete framework to help you approach it
You know you’ll make a greater impact on your clients’ well being by learning to apply a neurodiversity-affirming lens to your work
Meet your
Instructors
Sarah Selvaggi-Hernandez
Sarah Selvaggi-Hernandez
MOT, OTR/L
Sarah’s previous professional experience includes: assistant professor of Pediatrics and Mental Health at Bay Path University, early intervention therapist in Springfield, MA, and occupational therapist at a psychiatric residential treatment facility in East Windsor, CT. She now works as a full-time Autistic advocate and sensory consultant. Sarah and her husband Jeremy also served as a therapeutic foster family for the State of Connecticut for nearly twenty years, and continue to provide therapeutic respite care for Autistic children. Sarah can be found happy-flapping with her family in Enfield, CT.
FINANCIAL: Sarah was paid a speaking fee for her contribution to the LPT Approach to Autism. She receives commission for the sales of Ethics & Neurodiversity: Let’s Talk Sex. Sarah is the author of a book, Melt Like Ice Cream, for which she receives royalties. She is also owner of Living Sensory Wellness, Inc. and receives compensation for consultation services.
NON-FINANCIAL: Sarah is autistic and has friends and family members who are autistic. Sarah is an unpaid advisory board member for NeuroClastic, Inc. and Disability Rights Connecticut.
Please note: disclosure statements are contained in the Bio page for each speaker. Click on "READ BIO" above to review the disclosures.
Full Course Objectives
OBJECTIVE 1:
Apply the concepts of autonomy, beneficence, fidelity, and non-maleficence to identify neurodiversity-affirming strategies related to sexual rights and autonomy.
OBJECTIVE 2:
Analyze the impact of implicit bias on how providers address or do not address sexuality with neurodivergent clients.
OBJECTIVE 3:
Create a plan with two or more neurodiversity-affirming strategies to address reproductive health rights for an autistic client.
TIME ORDERED AGENDA:
Introduction (5 minutes)
Sexuality and Ethics (15 minutes)
Neurodivergent Sexuality (15 minutes)
Strategies and Supports for Clients (15 minutes)
Case studies (10 minutes)
Frequently Asked Questions
This course is developed for occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers, and psychologists who work with autistic children in any setting. This is not a course designed for parents, though parents are welcome to register. This course is targeted at the intermediate level.
The concepts in this course are useful for any population. Strategies start in early childhood with modeling consent and naming body parts and move through adolescence and adulthood.
This course includes a pre-recorded video lecture.
This course will be registered for .1 AOTA CEUs, .1 ASHA CEUs, and 1 credit hour with ASWB. It is not currently registered with any other professional organizations, but you can check your state board to see if it meets your CE requirements.
Yes! The course is self-paced and you have one month to complete it on your own time.
While we offer group discounts for our longer courses (4+ hours) we do not offer group discounts for this course.
We offer full scholarships to therapists from under-resourced countries.
In order to get a certificate of completion, you must watch all of the video modules and pass a multiple choice quiz at the end of the course with 75% accuracy. Three attempts at the quiz are allowed. Only learners who complete the course and the quiz will receive a certificate.
You will have 6 months access to the course.
Full refunds are provided within 30 days of purchase if no more than 3 modules have been completed. Email meg@learnplaythrive.com to request a refund. Since this is a self-paced course, there is no option to cancel once the 30 day / 3 module limit has been exceeded. If for any reason the course is canceled by the provider before your registration period has expired, you will receive a full refund.
All videos used in this presentation have closed captions. If you need additional accommodation, please email admin@learnplaythrive.com prior to your training date. Accommodations will be made to support all learners in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act.
You can send an email to admin@learnplaythrive.com
Our courses are hosted on Thinkific. You will need one of the two latest versions of a supported browser to access the course. (Note: Internet Explorer is not supported).
Desktop:
Chrome
Firefox
Safari
Microsoft Edge
Mobile:
iOS Safari
Chrome
Samsung Internet
In order to ensure that Thinkific runs well, you will need:
The most recent version of one of the web browsers listed above
Javascript enabled
PDF plugin
Graphic and audio output capability
Broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 5Mbps (recommended)
TLS 1.2 supported by your web browser
This information was adapted from https://support.thinkific.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030354954-System-Requirements-and-Supported-Browsers
This isn’t your standard ethics course: It truly centers neurodivergent needs and well-being
Learn Play Thrive Values
At LPT, we believe that autistic people are the experts and autism, and that they have the right to exist in the world authentically. Join us in reducing our harm and moving towards truly neurodiversity-affirming practice.
Continuing Education Credit
Receive 1 contact hours of continuing education credit in ethics through a self-paced online course that you can revisit again and again to feel totally confident in your ability to synthesize and apply the new concepts and strategies.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
We think you’ll love it. But take 30 days to complete up to half of the course. If it’s not what you’d hoped, you get your money back.
It’s tempting to take the same old ethics course every year at license renewal time.
But our autistic clients deserve our support in cultivating positive sexual identiy, identifying their reproductive rights, and reducing their risk of assault. We all have a role to play!
This course was last updated in June of 2022.
This course will be available for ASHA CEUs from July 12, 2022 to July 11, 2027 at which point Learn Play Thrive will apply for re-registration.
The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
ASHA CE Provider approval and use of the Brand Block does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products or clinical procedures.
Ethics & Neurodiversity: Let’s Talk About Sex, Course #5064, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by Learn Play Thrive LLC as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 07/18/2023-07/18/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1 ethics continuing education credit.
