Date: Wednesday, 17 February 2021, 17.00 h. CET, per Zoom
Webinar’s record from 17.02.2021 is ready to watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/y3f_QFngKyg?fbclid=IwAR12G6skChqE8cS65jz6KFoEiA0RE96tOpCLut_3to9Se98Cd4xrejvSLoc
Promoting strengths and adaptive resources in persons with Down syndrome
Participants will learn of the unique behavioral characteristics of people with DS including: Self talk, repetitious “grooves,” (obsessions and compulsions) visual (photographic-like) memory, receptivity to visual cues, as well as emotional radar and sensitivity to others.
These characteristics may be very beneficial but they may also be unproductive or too easily mistaken as mental illness by the uninformed. This workshop will clarify some of the productive and harmless behaviors from bona fide mental health problems and discuss ways and means to promote the best possible use and understanding of these characteristics.
Perhaps more importantly we will discuss how these characteristics interact and influence each other and how to take advantage of this interaction to solve problems and to promote adaptive functioning.
Evanston, Illinois USA
Dennis McGuire
Dr. Dennis McGuire has over 30 years of experience in the field of mental health and developmental disabilities and is the former Director of Psychosocial Services for the Adult Down Syndrome Center of Lutheran General Hospital in suburban Chicago, the largest, most prestigious clinic for adults with Down syndrome in the United States. He helped establish the center, which serves over 4,000 unique adult patients with Down syndrome each year.
Dr. McGuire keynotes at events around the world and is the co-author of two prominent books about promoting wellbeing in adults with Down syndrome: Mental Wellness of Adults with Down Syndrome (2006), and The Guide to Good Health for Teens and Adults with Down Syndrome (2011), both by Woodbine House. He received the National Down Syndrome Congress Theodore D. Tjossem Research Award in 2003 and the World Down Syndrome Day Scientific Award in 2010.
As a consultant for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, Dr. McGuire has played an integral role in the development of a future world class multidisciplinary clinic serving adults and serves as a lead author on the updated Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome. McGuire continues to see couples, families and individuals in a private practice in the Chicago area.