One of the many things that makes Ontario so beautiful is our diversity. We are fortunate to be able to live and grow up in such a diverse and multicultural community, where we have access to so many different ethnicities of food, can hear different languages spoken in our neighborhoods, and can observe different cultural and religious practices.
The beautiful diversity that we see in our communities is not always reflected in our public school classrooms and curriculum, or in supportive therapies, like ABA therapy. The standard lesson is often used for all children, regardless of their learning histories, cultural identity, family dynamics, or religion. While the field of education, and of ABA, are working towards becoming more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, there are many ways that we, as individual educators, can support our learners. In this presentation, I will review concepts such as cultural humility, learning history, and social validity and discuss how they can be applied to education - both in the classroom, and in ABA therapy, by supporting students with their unique learning histories and identities, including their disability, culture, religion, and social community. By doing so, we can support our learners (e.g., students, clients, etc.) with thriving in their own unique environment, rather than only providing lesson plans to meet a standardized view of what an individual, their family, and their cultural factors should look like.
Learning Objectives:
- Define and describe cultural humility
- Define and describe learning history and worldview
- Provide examples of how to incorporate cultural humility into skill development lessons
- Provide examples of how to individualize lessons, or assessment, without changing them conceptually