Teen Talk Adapted for All Abilities is a sex education course that Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest routinely teaches to youth in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial counties.
In the last two years, our educators have adapted the course to align with the mission and values of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest for teens and young adults with cognitive or learning disabilities.
“This is a population that has higher rates of victimization regarding sexual assault and sexual abuse,” said Chrissy Cmorik, director of education. “These sex-education lessons are providing information to young people about what is appropriate and what is not, and how they can get help if they need it.”
There are 11 lessons in Teen Talk, and groups can request any number or combination of lessons be taught in their classrooms. Two lessons that Planned Parenthood educators routinely teach to students with learning and developmental disabilities are “Public and Private Places and Body Parts,” and “Sexual Safety.”
“They’re going through puberty, as all youth are,” said Chrissy. “People with varying abilities might be seen as childlike, but they are sexual beings. We provide lessons on what are private and public body parts, behaviors, and spaces.”
The educator uses different activities at a different pace, depending on the students’ abilities. And the classes are smaller, with 10-15 students and their aids.
“A good example is the anatomy lesson,” Chrissy said. “In some classrooms, there are PowerPoint slides with diagrams. But those can be really difficult for some people to follow along with. So we use dolls or other tangibles in relation to a person’s body, as in, ‘This is where a vagina is’ and pointing on the doll, so it can be better understood.”
There are also more visual aids in these classes. “In some classes, you can say the word ‘bathroom’ and be understood, but in other classes it’s best to also show a picture of a bathroom,” Chrissy said.
“We talk about who is allowed to touch you, and where — the times and places that are appropriate or not. For example, a doctor is allowed to, in her or his office, when conducting an exam, with a nurse or parent present. Or your parent, when they are helping you to get clean in a bath; not in the bedroom during a ‘game,’ and so forth. There is a proper time and place, and right or wrong situations.”
“We also emphasize who the people are they can talk to, people they trust and feel safe with. We let them know that these are people you can talk to about anything.”
The anatomical dolls are expensive; each costs several hundred dollars. But the education in these classes needs to be more concrete and less abstract — which makes the dolls very effective.
There is also an added cost for the time of the educator. “A traditional anatomy class might take an hour, while a class with the dolls might take 3 hours,” Chrissy said. “And we like the teacher to go to the classroom before she teaches in order to assess the level of abilities, and this involves extra time. We talk to the classroom teacher to see if there’s anything we should know in order to be trauma-informed and not to re-traumatize anyone in the class.”
While the classes are beneficial — even essential — for the emotional and physical health and well being of all populations, our educators are somewhat limited in their resources.
“We don’t currently have the capacity to do too much of this. It takes a lot of time and training, and to smaller numbers of people.”
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If you’d like to support or learn more about our sex education programs for developmental or cognitive differences, contact Chrissy at [email protected].
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities describe what sexual self-advocacy means to them, in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Q5hW62M4Y&feature=youtu.be
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