Featured Resource
On this page, you will find emerging and best practices for appropriate, accurate diagnosis and assessment to inform services and supports for individuals with I/DD, brain injuries, or other cognitive disabilities and a mental health condition. An accurate diagnosis is very important to receive appropriate services and treatment; however, it can be a complicated process for individuals with co-occurring conditions. For example, people can experience diagnostic overshadowing, which is the outdated idea that people with I/DD cannot also have mental health conditions.
- Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the Mental Health System: Part 1. Clinical Considerations— Article that provides a clinical overview of neurodevelopmental disabilities, mental health, and other conditions that co-occur with I/DD (Pinals, Hovermale, Mauch, and Anacker, 2022)
- The Challenge of Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Intellectual Disability in Young People (Video)— Webinar to help clinical practitioners understand how to assess and adapt care for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs (Orygen, 2020)
- Community Living, Intellectual Disability and Extensive Support Needs: A Rights-Based Approach to Assessment and Intervention— Paper that analyzes the extent to which professional practices are aimed at promoting the right to community living for people with I/DD and extensive support needs, as well as the right to habilitation and rehabilitation and the right to privacy (Esteban, Navas, Verdugo, and Arias, 2021)
- Trauma Assessment in Youth and Adults With IDD (Video)— Webinar that introduces trauma assessment tools developed, in part, by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, as well as important assessment adaptations (Brian D. Tallant, LPC, 2020)
- Bringing It in the Room: Addressing the Impact of Racism on the Therapeutic Alliance— Article that, through clinical case examples, discusses the role of racism in therapeutic practices (Maharaj, Bhatt, and Gentile, 2021)
Books & Materials Requiring Purchase
- Diagnostic Manual – Intellectual Disability: A Textbook of Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons With Intellectual Disability (Fletcher et al., 2017)