Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) require specialized teaching strategies when learning about puberty, sexuality and relationships. This professional resource offers practical teaching advice geared towards the needs of young people on the autism spectrum. Beginning with information on good practice, policy, teaching methods and recent research, the book then divides into key sex education topics that assist professionals in developing their own individualized and developmentally appropriate curricula. Covering issues of gender, public and private, puberty, hygiene, emotions, sex and more, each topic provides an overview of the difficulties that children with autism might experience, discussion and activity ideas and photocopiable resources including instructional stories, checklists and illustrations. The final section demonstrates how to respond to ongoing patterns of inappropriate behaviour and put together a behaviour plan. Aiming to explain and support the child's developing sexuality while also addressing crucial issues of safety, this book is a much-needed teaching manual for all professionals working with children and young adults with autism including educators in mainstream and special education, psychologists, therapists and social workers.

Sex and Relationships Education for Young People and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism provides practical guidance for professionals working with, and parents or carers of, people with co-occurring autism and intellectual disabilities, on how to deliver and adapt sex and relationships education. People with autism have specific characteristics which can make interpersonal relationships challenging. When this is combined with intellectual disabilities it can make responding to these challenges even more difficult. While positive experiences can enhance quality of life considerably, negative experiences can be life damaging.

Puberty, personal hygiene and sex can be difficult topics to broach with your child, especially when they have an intellectual disability or autism. The authors of this guide provide honest answers to challenging questions and provide solutions to the dilemmas that many parents face on a daily basis. Structured around issues related to puberty and emerging sexuality in children with disabilities or autism, such as physical changes, mood swings and sexual behaviour, the book presents case studies alongside practical guidance on how to overcome problems that commonly arise. The book also explains laws relevant to disability and sexuality and suggests appropriate sex education programmes to meet the needs of differing degrees of disability.

Intimate self-touch and masturbation can pose many difficulties for people with learning disabilities and/or on the autistic spectrum, particularly when it happens in public settings. This frank and thorough guide looks at societal, cultural and religious views of masturbation, how teens develop into sexual beings, the right to be sexual, how to masturbate, appropriate public and private behaviour, professional responsibilities and boundaries, and legal aspects of this topic. It also contains good practice responses providing examples of the issues and solutions in action.

With a unique focus on Canada-wide practices and research, this text offers a comprehensive introduction to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Covering the clinical, educational, and community perspectives of ASD, the authors highlight how educators, direct support professionals, and communities at large can support people with ASD across their lifespan: from early years, to school years, to adulthood. Additionally, the authors emphasize the emerging nature of the field and the importance of evidence based interventions. The resource is divided into four thematic sections. Section one gives an overview of ASD, including prominent researchers in the field and changes in its diagnostic criteria. Section two looks at evidence-based interventions and the newer sensory theories and frameworks. The third section examines ASD across the lifespan, as well as the experiences of parents and families. The final section looks at additional critical issues, including media, sexuality, peer relationships, and immigration. Beyond being a vital asset for ASD programs and resource centres across the country, Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Canadian Context has broad applications suitable for courses on ASD in behavioural science, education, and health studies programs. FEATURES: - Each chapter features figures, definitions, examples, and questions designed to deepen understanding and elicit reflection - Includes feature boxes with interesting perspectives provided by varied members of Canada’s ASD community - Unlike other textbooks on ASD, this text focuses on ASD across the lifespan, covering infancy, early childhood and school years, as well as adulthood, in the Canadian context

Key social and emotional milestones during adolescence are often directly related to the abilities to initiate and maintain intimate relationships, maintain physically maturing bodies, and manage personal sexuality. Most adolescents with developmental disabilities have particular difficulty expressing sexuality in satisfying ways, consequently facing issues such as limited intimate relationships, low self-esteem, increased social isolation, deregulated emotional maintenance, reduced sexual functioning, and limited sexual health. Appropriate sexual knowledge assists not only in achieving personal fulfillment, but protection from mistreatment, abuse, unplanned pregnancies, or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It also works to help solve problems of loneliness and problems with self-esteem. This book will address this but also much more. Issues of physical and cognitive development will be discussed, including appropriate sexual development/urges and brain development, and innate similarities and differences of sexuality that could occur between people with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual or developmental disabilities, including the complexities of physical disabilities. The authors will also consider special considerations for group homes and recreational facilities, and specifically focus on concepts of ethics and models of consent (medical, legal, social, and educational), as well as how to deal with uncertainty.

Over the course of the past thirty years, there has been an explosion of work on sexuality, both conceptually and methodologically. From a relatively limited, specialist field, the study of sexuality has expanded across a wide range of social sciences. Yet as the field has grown, it has become apparent that a number of leading edge critical issues remain. This theory-building book explores some of the areas in which there is major and continuing debate, for example, about the relationship between sexuality and gender; about the nature and status of heterosexuality; about hetero- and homo-normativity; about the influence and intersection of class, race, age and other factors in sexual trajectories, identities and lifestyles; and about how best to understand the new forms of sexuality that are emerging in both rich world and developing world contexts. With contributions from leading and new scholars and activists from across the globe, this book highlights tensions or ‘flash-points’ in contemporary debate, and offers some innovative ways forward in terms of thinking about sexuality – both theoretically and with respect to policy and programme development. An extended essay by Henrietta Moore introduces the volume, and an afterword by Jeffrey Weeks offers pointers for the future. The contributors bring together a range of experiences and a variety of disciplinary perspectives in engaging with three key themes of sexual subjectivity and global transformations, sexualities in practice, and advancing new thinking on sexuality in policy and programmatic contexts. It is of interest to students, researchers and activists in sexuality, sexual health and gender studies, especially those working from public health, sociological and anthropological perspectives.