Normally I don’t wait until the last minute, but this year I found myself in need of 11 hours of Continuing Education with two months to go. My three year cycle was almost up and I was tired of spending a lot, cancelling cases and traveling to courses. So, I decided to try the CEU offerings from Linguisystems. I was so impressed that I wanted to share with my fellow therapists who just might be in the same place as I was, down a few hours with just weeks to go in 2010.
The first course I tried was “The Source for Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorders,” (.5 CEU’s) offered when you buy their Source Book on that subject and then take the test online. The Source book was excellent. It was written in a very compassionate, informative manner, covering all aspects of ASD. I liked it so much that I recommended it to a parent of a child with ASD whom I work with and his kindergarten teacher. I had observed him at his typical kindergarten and his teacher, who had not had a child in her class with autism before, had asked me for any resources on how to best teach this little boy. We got her a copy of this book too. Now on to the test. It is easy to take, not easy enough to pass without reading the material, and electronically scored so you can re-take it right away if needed. The curriculum was as good as any on-site course I have taken.
The second course I tried was “The Source for Processing Disorders,” (.5 CEU’s). Again you purchase the Source Book on the subject from Linguisystems, read it and then take the test. This course evenly divides it’s content between “Auditory processing disorder” and “Language processing disorder.” It is complete with more neurological detail than I needed but it set the framework for the different disabilities and how to approach remediation. Again, this was valuable content and well explained. You could give parents the lists of characteristics for each disorder and explanations of behaviors.
The third course I took was the absolutely free “Developing Communication Skills in Young Children,” (.2 CEU’s). It is a well-organized course and review of steps to take in evaluating and remediating children up to age 5 with language delay. Although I am working with children in this area all the time, it was a good review for me and was over 100 slides of information.
I would highly recommend these courses, especially if you are short of time and travel inclinations.
Let me know what good, lower-cost options you have used to earn CEU’s.
