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Disrupting the Race Gap for Alexithymia Care

This course examines how speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists can identify and disrupt biases in social communication and participation across early intervention and school systems.

Explore Course

Alexithymia occurs in roughly 5-13% of the general population, and between 40-70% of Autistic people. When there are race inequities in accessing Autism identification and related services, as well as racial biases in response to children’s emotive and behavioral regulation and/or responses, racialized Autistic children need responsive, equitable, and intentional support. This course examines how speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists can identify and disrupt biases in social communication and participation across early intervention and school systems.

Presenters

Diamond Rashad
MHS, OTD, OTR/L
Dr. Diamond Rashad, is a neurodivergent pediatric occupational therapist, autism advocate, and doula who resides in Georgia. She has worked as an occupational therapist for over five years and received her post-professional doctorate with a specialty in pediatrics from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in 2019. Her experience includes working from a trauma-informed lens with children, adolescents, and young adults with difficulties in sensory integration, executive function, feeding & mealtime participation, and supporting autistic clients and their families. She is the founder of Emira’s Mamas & "A Dime of OT"; she is passionate about supporting black birthing parents from pregnancy to postpartum, diversity and inclusion in allied health settings, social-emotional support & co-regulation, and advocacy for culturally responsive, equitable care.
V. Tisi
M.A., CCC-SLP
Vivian 'V' Tisi, M.A., CCC-SLP (/vi/, they/she) is an Autistic, Disabled, and Queer Taiwanese-Chinese-Venezuelan American clinician- and educator-activist. They founded The Speechologist, a small private practice, education, and consultation company in 2015 to provide services to Autistic children and adults, and professional development while practicing full-time in public education. They are also a professor of Culturally Responsive Practices, Speech Sound Production, and School Communities at San Francisco State University and a topic area expert for anti-bias at The Informed SLP. Their area of specialty is intersectional justice for multiply marginalized neurodivergent people and their social-emotional development and wellness pertaining to alexithymic experiences. Their work can be viewed on speechologist.com and on Instagram, Facebook, and Medium.

Learning Objectives

Describe how racialized children’s social-emotional development is perceived and addressed.
Discuss race disproportionality in the autism identification/diagnosis process and how it impacts evaluation and intervention approaches.
Explain what alexithymia is and how racialized autistic people can benefit from trauma-informed, holistic speech and occupational therapies in lieu of punitive justice.

Agenda

5 minutes	Introductions, Course Overview
10 minutes	Statistics of autism identification vs. disciplinary actions within childcare and education
5 minutes	What is alexithymia, the statistics within autism
15 minutes	Sensory regulation and its effect on emotion regulation
15 minutes	Cognitive-linguistic experience of emotion and physical sensation, and how can SLPs support Autistics and their caregivers with alexithymia
10 minutes	Q & A

Disclosures

Speakers - Financial	Diamond Rashad is receiving an honorarium for this presentation. She is co-presenting with V. Tisi.<br><br>V. Tisi, M.A., CCC-SLP (they/she) owns The Speechologist and is employed by San Carlos Charter School, San Francisco State University, and the Informed SLP. They are not receiving compensation from any of the aforementioned organizations for this presentation. They are receiving a stipend from Be the Brightest Media Equity Series. They are presenting with Diamond Rashad, OTD, OTR/L.
Speakers - Nonfinancial	Diamond Rashad has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose. V. Tisi has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.
Course - Content	Diamond Rashad has no relevant content information to disclose. Diamond is an autistic therapy professional, which influences her perspective, passions, and work within healthcare and education.<br><br>V. Tisi has no relevant content information to disclose. V. Tisi, M.A., CCC-SLP is a Chinese-Taiwanese-Venezuelan American and Autistic person. This topic is relevant to first-hand experiences of their identity and the communities to which they belong.
Course - Financial Support & In Kind	This course, and all courses in the Equity Series, are being sponsored by Having Our Say and SLP Toolkit.

ASHA

This course is offered for 0.1 ASHA CEUs, Introductory Level, Professional Area

To earn ASHA CEUs you must complete the courses by viewing them, provide course feedback, pass the exams with a score of 80 or more, provide your ASHA credentials, and confirm submission.

Disrupting the Race Gap for Alexithymia Care: $20.00
This course explores how SLPs and occupational therapists can recognize and challenge biases affecting social communication and participation in early intervention and school settings. Learn strategies to promote equitable, inclusive support for all learners. Includes access to the recorded course and optional ASHA reporting.

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