Somerset, Hunterdon, & Warren Psychological Association (SHWPA)
David Krauss, Ph.D., NJ Licensed Psychologist
Presents:
Adolescents and Adults ‘On the Spectrum’ and Their Families: Integrative Approaches for General Practitioners
Friday September 27, 2024 at the Courtyard by Marriott Lebanon – 300 Corporate Drive Lebanon, NJ 08833. Registration 9:00 AM- 9:30 AM – Dr. Krauss’s presentation 9:30-2:30, Lunch is included. 4 Continuing Education Credits
Program Narrative:
This workshop is designed to help practitioners who have not specialized in
neurodevelopmental disorders learn effective ways to think about and work with adolescents
and adults diagnosed with Autism (Level 1 – Requiring Support) and Social (Pragmatic)
Communication Disorder (SCD) and their families.
Analogies and examples grounded in developmental, social, cognitive, and evolutionary
psychology theory and research; as well blog posts and news stories; that provide succinct and
accessible ways for clinicians, patients, and families to think about neurodevelopmentally
atypical people and their families will be discussed. These will include some of the ways the
impact of Autism & SCD may vary with ethnic-racial and socio-economic identity and context.
Some cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, family therapy, and community psychology
techniques applicable to work with neurodevelopmentally atypical people will be reviewed.
These will include facilitating attribution shifts; ‘unmasking’ or ‘coming out’ as
neurodevelopmentally atypical; embracing intense special interests; focusing on ‘exceptions’ to
problems and mastery experiences; using in-session ‘enactments’ between family members;
and self-help/mutual support group participation.
Strengths-and-resilience based Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) principles and techniques will
be emphasized. This will include how SFT techniques can be integrated into other therapy
orientations and ways SFT techniques can help clinicians work more collaboratively and
respectfully with individuals and families whose ethnic-racial backgrounds or socio-economic
contexts differ from their own.
David Krauss, Ph.D. has been working for over 35 years with neuro-developmentally atypical
children, adolescents, and adults along with their parents and families. He trained at Yale’s
Bush Center for Child Development and Social Policy, the Yale Child Study Center, in the New
Haven Public Schools, and at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).
Dr. Krauss worked in UMDNJ’s adolescent inpatient unit and School Based Youth Services
program at New Brunswick High School before moving to independent practice. He was a
clinical field supervisor at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP)
and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) for many years. He is
a past-president and long-time board member of the Mercer County Psychological Association.
Dr. Krauss has an independent practice in Hopewell, NJ and writes the “Atypical Children-
Extraordinary Parenting” blog at Psychology Today.
Learning Objectives: This workshop is designed to help participants:
1. Describe some of the differences between Autism (Level 1 – Requiring Support) and Social
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (SCD) and times when one of these ‘lenses’ might be a
better ‘fit’ than another.
2. Summarize several succinct and accessible research-based analogies and examples, as well as
blog posts and news stories, that can aid understanding of and communication about the
experience and impact of Autism and SCD.
3. Describe some of the ways the experience and impact of Autism & SCD may vary with ethnic-
racial and socio-economic identity and context.
4. Integrate some cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, family therapy and community
psychology techniques into their work with neurodevelopmentally atypical people.
5. Understand how ‘unmasking’ and embracing rather than pathologizing ‘intense special
interests’ can help people diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders better engage in
social and work environments.
6. Understand how solution focused principles and techniques can help them work more
collaboratively and respectfully with neurodevelopmentally atypical people (and their families),
as well as clients more generally, who have racial-ethnic backgrounds or socio-economic
contexts that differ from their own.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Krauss does not have any commercial support and/or conflict of interest.
This program’s level of learning is Intermediate, and the target audience is psychologists and
other mental health professionals.
ADA Accommodations available upon written request by emailing Virginia Walters, Psy.D. at
virginiawaltersm4@gmail.com, no later than September 20, 2024.
SHWPA Program Fee: SHWPA Member $60, Non – SHWPA Member $70, Students $15. Online
registration & payment can be made at shwpa.org, OR by mailing a check made out to SHWPA
and mailed to Tracy Menzie P.O. Box 644 Lebanon, NJ 08833. Please note – registration for this
program will close on September 23, 2024.
NJPA CE Credits/ Administrative Fee for 4 CE Credits (A separate fee paid to NJPA), is paid
online after the completion of the program. NJPA administrative fees: Sustaining Member –
Free, NJPA Member-$15, Non-NJPA Member- $25. The NJPA LINK will be provided during the
program.
Contact SHWPA Program Chair - Virginia Walters, Psy.D. at 908-439-3456 X8 or at
virginiawaltersm4@gmail.com
This workshop is co-sponsored by NJPA and SHWPA. NJPA is approved by the American
Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. NJPA maintains
responsibility for the program and its content.