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DSES - Social Boundaries Using the Circles® Curriculum

Tuesday, January 15, 2019
6:30 pm8:30 pm
UNO Community Engagement Center

The Down Syndrome Education Series (DSES) is a monthly educational seminar for families of children with Down syndrome, designed to connect parents with information that will positively impact the education and well-being of their child.

Topic - Social Boundaries Using the Circles® Curriculum

Circles- What is it?
● The Circles Curriculum focuses on teaching social and relationship boundaries, interpersonal skills and relationship-specific social skills.
● The program uses a simple multi-layer colored circle diagram to demonstrate the different relationship levels students will encounter in daily life.
● Starting from the center circle, which is self, each new color represents behaviors, feelings, and actions appropriate to the distance from the center or self.

The original Circles Paradigm was conceived and written by Marklyn P. Champagne, RN, MSW and Leslie Walker-Hirsch, IMEd, FAAIDD.

Speaker - Leslie Walker-Hirsch, IMEd, FAAIDD
Bio - Leslie Walker-Hirsch is a social development and sexuality consultant and a Fellow of the AAIDD. She has been a driving force in promoting sexual safety, rights and responsibilities for people with intellectual disability. She is the co-creator of the CIRCLES® Curriculum Series, a multimedia teaching tool designed especially to address the varied and unique learning styles of learners with intellectual limitations and developmental delays. The curriculum provides information regarding social/sexual expression and sexual safety that their typically developing peers would be exposed to, but in a manner that is meaningful and understandable to those with idiosyncratic learning styles.
Ms. Walker-Hirsch has provided training and consultation to families and professionals in nearly every US state and numerous foreign countries regarding the interface of sexuality and intellectual disability and has written numerous articles.

*Registration will close Monday, January 14th at 10am. Please contact Leah at janke@dsamidlands.org if you miss the deadline and would like to attend.
**Childcare is not provided. With the exception of infants, we request that you refrain from bringing children to this event.