ONLINE COURSE | Supporting Sexual Health in Children & Youth with Support Needs

Sexual education for children and young people with support needs is a fundamental component of their safety, dignity, and overall well-being. Yet, it is often fragmented, delayed, or shaped by fear and avoidance.

This 2-hour course provides a comprehensive, contemporary, and practical framework for understanding and teaching sexual health to children and young people with support needs. Key concepts explored include privacy, public, semi-private, and private spaces, public and private behaviors, bodily autonomy, and consent.

Special emphasis is placed on:

• distinguishing between typical developmental behaviors and behaviors that require support,
• addressing topics such as masturbation through a lens of health, safety, and ethics,
• avoiding both the desexualization and hypersexualization of individuals with support needs.

The course is grounded in clinical experience, applied behavior analysis, and principles of sexual education, and is enriched with practical examples, visual materials, and strategies for immediate application in educational and therapeutic settings.