By: Marissa Smits BA and Toni Crocilla PsyD LP CSOTP
The 2019 Michigan ATSA conference focused on developing an increased understanding of normative sexual development of children, and how that can inform practice with individuals who have problematic sexual behaviors. Geraldine Crisci’s expertise was evident as she provided in-depth descriptions and examples of concepts from her own research and practice, as well as the broader literature. She utilized audience examples and experiences to further illustrate points, weaving them with her own examples to provide concrete understanding of how normative and problematic behaviors are presented. She went beyond simply presenting the information, using humorous anecdotes to illustrate points and engage the audience in conceptualizing developmental stages. Crisci created an atmosphere of familiarity and involvement by walking amongst the audience and engaging participants with clinical information in a conversational manner.
Crisci’s main areas of focus included improved understanding of the stages of sexual development from birth through puberty, reviewing normative behaviors, presentations, milestones, and exploring how those differ in the event of a trauma. Using this understanding, she developed the role of parents and professionals in identifying problems and how to implement effective interventions to prevent further problematic behaviors.
Normative stages include the newborn stage (managing eye contact, physical reassurance, having their basic needs met), 6 months stage (reciprocity with others and pulling them closer, receiving messages regarding their private parts, gaining in physical attachment to others, grabbing their own genitals), 9-12 months stage (gaining in mobility and moving towards others and objects, increase in communication), 13 months to 3 years stage (managing self-regulation in bladder and bowel control and struggles with autonomy) and the 2.5 to 5 years stage(curiosity-based sexual interest, looking and touching with self and others, engaging in sex play without any greater interest than other types of play and interest).
Crisci’s vast knowledge of development and new perspectives made the content of the presentation engaging and quite useful. She explored the impact of assigning adult interpretations on children’s behavior, how social and emotional development impacts sexual development, and urged the audience to use the proper terms and language to describe behavior that is normative versus non-normative. For example, a very young child engaging in self-stimulation is self-soothing and not masturbating, which is highlighted by the differences in intent and motivation. These language shifts aid in appropriate descriptions of behaviors, leading to appropriate interventions if needed.
Numerous examples of normative and non-normative behaviors across various developmental stages were provided, helping clinicians to better understand when intervention is necessary (e.g., when the behavior is non-normative, persistent, and resistant to re-direction) and what type of intervention to utilize.
It was a pleasure to have Geraldine Crisci as the speaker for this year’s conference. For more information on her techniques, please see her book Paper Dolls and Paper Airplanes: Therapeutic Exercises for Sexually Traumatized Children and visit her website http://www.geraldinecrisci.com/