This course is designed to give you a general understanding of how a developmental approach can add to your knowledge of psychopathology that can occur in children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Specific diagnostic categories, assessment tools, and treatment approaches will be examined. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the etiology and treatment of atypical development through research and theory. Case studies will also be used to better understand specific forms of psychopathology. This course will help to increase your understanding of how societal factors influence developmental disorders, and how you can advocate for youth with atypical development.

Working with people with disabilities represents an exciting and evolving opportunity for human services professional practitioners. In this introductory course, students use their practitioner lens to explore disability in the context of community inclusion and human rights. Students examine and debunk common myths related to disabilities before going on to trace the history of the disability system, including the abuse and neglect that occurred in 20th-century institutions. Students research different types of disabilities and the characteristics, challenges, and abilities inherent in them. Applied assignments involving simulations, legislative advocacy, and outreach to nonprofit leaders highlight the role of human services professional practitioners as partners and advocates. Students can come away from the course with a foundation for continuing their disability studies.

Working with an individual is only part of the human services professional practitioner's role. People with disabilities often have family members who support, grow, and learn alongside them. This course celebrates the human services professional practitioner as family partner. As such, students explore the family experience across the lifespan of the individual with disabilities, from diagnosis through transitions in services to adulthood and future planning. Throughout the course, students apply skills, strategies, and tools to two cases involving family members with different types of disabilities, family structures, and dynamics. They also become familiar with family-focused planning materials they can use in future practice.

Students in this course explore proactive intervention strategies to prevent undesirable behaviors and promote goal behaviors in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While acknowledging reactive strategies, the course focuses on proactive strategies to manage behavior and support independence. Emphasis is placed on understanding why certain behaviors occur in order to appropriately move toward the goal behavior. Other topics include how to operationally define and measure behavior; how to identify antecedents, consequences, and functions of behavior; and how to use a person-centered approach when developing a behavior support plan. For the final project, students generate a behavior support plan based on a fictional case and consider methods for implementing, monitoring, and adapting the plan over time.

Learning to communicate in another language takes practice. American Sign Language (ASL) is the language used by the Deaf and hard of hearing community. Students in this course have the opportunity to learn the basics of American Sign Language, including fingerspelling, ASL vocabulary, emergency signs, counting, and how to communicate everyday needs. Students also explore communication behavior, including facial grammar and body shifting. Students will examine the origins of sign language and develop an understanding of the Deaf community.

Human services professional practitioners who assist individuals and families in need of disability services must navigate complex federal, state, and local laws, as well as the regulations and policies that govern those who receive disability services. Students in this course explore the laws and policies that ensure equal access to services for those who have varying disabilities. Students examine legal cases, identify areas within disability services that require support and advocacy, and explore how this drives policy. Students examine the intersectionality of advocacy, policy, and disability law to help meet the needs of those who require disability services and those who work in the field of disabilities.