Optimizing Communication When We Don't Speak the Same Language
About this Event
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Exodus Recovery San Diego CA-START | CAMFT Approved Provider #1033067
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Optimizing Communication When We Don't Speak the Same Language: Supporting Non-Speaking Individuals, Families, and Systems Across Communication Barriers
Date/Time: Tuesday, 07.28.2026 | Time: 3:00pm-4:30pm (1 Hour 30 Minutes)
Format: Live Lecture and Case-Based Discussion (Presented Virtually and In-Person at Exodus Recovery San Diego CA-START, 3870 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 150, San Diego, CA 92123)
Presented by: Wajdi Akef Fakhoury, LMFT #148333; Ingrid Dombrower, MD
Provider: Exodus Recovery San Diego CA-START | CAMFT Approval Number: 1033067
Course Schedule
Presentation: One hour and thirty minutes (1.5 CE hours), single instructional block. Breaks/non-CE activities: None.
3:00-3:05: Introductions / CE orientation -- Brief introductions, CE requirements, and consultation purpose.
3:05-3:25: De-identified case presentation -- Adolescent case involving ASD, mild ID, limited spoken-language communication, language access barriers, and multiple systems of care.
3:25-3:50: Communication access & behavior as communication -- Expressive/receptive communication, behavior functions, interpreters, visual supports, gestures, routines, and caregiver-informed communication profiles.
3:50-4:00: Environmental/systemic bridge -- Overcrowding/resource limitations as case context affecting arousal, privacy, sensory load, caregiver stress, and access to supports.
4:00-4:15: Caregiver as bridge across systems -- Caregiver as advocate / spokesperson / liaison across home, school, transportation, medical, regional center, START, and community systems; reducing caregiver burden and compartmentalization.
4:15-4:25: Facilitated consultation -- Mentimeter-style participant input on low/no-cost supports, cross-setting consistency, and centering the individual's voice.
4:25-4:30: Wrap-up -- Key takeaways and CE completion instructions.
Course Description
This 90-minute CE course focuses on optimizing communication when an individual, caregiver/family, and system of care do not share the same spoken language or communication system. Using a START case-based consultation framework, the course begins with brief introductions followed by a 20-minute de-identified case presentation. Participants will examine behavior as communication, including how to distinguish behavior that may communicate unmet needs from behavior interpreted primarily as challenging.
The course specifically addresses communication across systems, not only communication between provider and individual. Participants will consider how caregivers can become the default advocate, spokesperson, historian, interpreter-adjacent communicator, liaison, and bridge across home, school, transportation, medical, regional center/service coordination, START, and community settings. The training will explore ways to reduce caregiver burden and prevent information from becoming compartmentalized across the eco-map.
Overcrowding and housing-related stressors are addressed as case context and as a bridge to communication access: chronic high arousal, competing needs, reduced privacy, sensory load, limited transportation, limited funds for adaptive communication supports, inconsistent providers, language access barriers, and caregiver stress can make communication more difficult and more urgent. Participants will identify practical, low-burden strategies such as interpreter use, visual/gesture-based supports, communication profiles, simple daily communication logs, structured update routines, and cross-system information sharing that centers the individual's preferences, choices, strengths, and agency.
Educational Objectives
1. Identify at least three communication barriers that may arise when a non-speaking or not primarily verbal individual, family members, caregivers, and service systems do not share the same spoken language or communication system.
2. Distinguish behaviors that may communicate unmet needs from behaviors interpreted primarily as challenging, using function-based, caregiver-informed, and context-sensitive questions.
3. Describe at least three ways chronic stressors such as overcrowding, limited privacy, sensory load, caregiver burden, limited resources, transportation barriers, language access barriers, or inconsistent providers may affect regulation, communication access, and cross-system collaboration.
4. Explain how caregivers may become default advocates, spokespersons, historians, liaisons, and bridges across home, school, transportation, medical, regional center/service coordination, START, and community systems.
5. Identify at least three practical, low-cost or no-cost communication supports that can be coordinated across settings, including interpreters, visual supports, gestures/signals, communication profiles, daily communication logs, consistent routines, and simple cross-system update processes.
6. Formulate one consultation recommendation that reduces caregiver burden while centering the individual's preferences, choices, strengths, agency, and communication access when spoken communication is limited.
Target Audience
This course is intended for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, START team members, clinicians, coordinators, supervisors, case managers, medical/agency staff, and professionals supporting individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health needs.
Instructor Information
Wajdi Akef Fakhoury, LMFT 14833 serves as Clinical Director of Exodus Recovery’s CA-START San Diego program. Wajdi’s clinical experience centers around supporting individuals and systems of care navigating intellectual and developmental disabilities and co-occurring complex mental health vulnerabilities. Ingrid Dombrower, MD serves as Medical Director of Exodus Recovery’s CA-START San Diego program.
Cost: There is no cost for attendees.
Cancellation Policy: There is no cost for attendees. Registered participants who are unable to attend are asked to notify the Program Administrator at [email protected] at least 24 hours in advance.
Disability Accommodations: To request accommodations for disability or special needs, please contact the Program Administrator at [email protected] at least 5 business days before the training.
Grievance Instructions: Participants may submit grievances in writing to the Program Administrator at [email protected]. Grievances will be acknowledged within 24 hours and reviewed through the San Diego CA-START Education Committee process.
Certificates of Completion: Participants must attend the full training and complete the required evaluation to receive continuing education credit. Certificates of completion will be issued after attendance and evaluation completion are verified.
Required Continuing Education Statements Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences; Exodus Recovery San Diego CA-START is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Exodus Recovery San Diego CA-START maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.
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