Search results for ‘Author:"finlay w.m.l."’ Sort:
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Promoting choice and control in residential services for people with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- FINLAY W.M.L., WALTON C., ANTAKI C.
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 23(4), June 2008, pp.349-360.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper discusses the gap between policy goals and practice in residential services for people with learning disabilities. Drawing on a nine-month ethnographic study of three residential services, it outlines a range of obstacles to the promotion of choice and control that were routinely observed in the culture and working practices of the services. Issues discussed include conflicting service values and agendas, inspection regimes, an attention to the bigger decisions in a person's life when empowerment could more quickly and effectively be promoted at the level of everyday practice, problems of communication and interpretation and the pervasiveness of teaching. The authors offer a range of suggestions as to how these obstacles might be tackled.
Symbols can improve the reading comprehension of adults with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- JONES F.W., LONG K., FINLAY W.M.L.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 51(7), July 2007, pp.545-550.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study aimed to test the hypothesis that adding symbols to written text can improve its comprehensibility for adults with learning disabilities. Nineteen adults with mild or borderline learning disabilities attempted to read four short passages of text, two of which had Widgit Rebus symbols added to them. Following each passage, they were asked questions to test their comprehension. A counterbalanced design was employed. Participants’ comprehension scores were significantly higher for the symbolized passages than the non-symbolized ones. It is concluded that adding symbols to written text can make comprehension easier for some adults with mild and borderline learning disabilities.