Child-centred and communication-focused practice with children with disability

The Child-centred and communication-focused practice with children with disability online course presents skills and strategies for supporting children with disability to express themselves.

Children with disability can often find it hard to communicate their needs and preferences in ways that adults can readily understand and respond to. Instead, they may attempt to communicate through their behaviours, which can sometimes be seen as ‘challenging’ or ‘concerning’. These behaviours can cause further difficulties for the child and result in greater marginalisation, rather than inclusion and connection.

A communication-focused approach acknowledges that children with disability are doing the best they can to communicate with the people around them. When the child is supported to express their emotions in ways that are understood and acknowledged, their social and emotional needs can be met more consistently and calmly.

This course builds on the knowledge introduced in Emerging Minds’ short online course, Understanding child mental health and disability. This foundation course outlines why it’s important to use child-centred, communication-focused approaches to consider the mental health of children with disability. It also explores how these approaches can reduce children’s risk of developing mental health concerns.

Child-centred and communication-focused practice with children with disability is a free 90-minute online training course suitable for all practitioners who work with children and families, across a range of settings. It will help you to better incorporate approaches to your work that promote the social and emotional development and wellbeing of children with disability.