Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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Identification and assessment of children with developmental disabilities in child welfare
- Authors:
- SHANNON Patrick, TAPPAN Christine
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work: A journal of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 56(4), October 2011, pp.297-305.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This study investigated the capability of a Child Protective Services (CPS) screening and investigation process to identify children with developmental disabilities. A total of 33 interviews were conducted with foster families, administrators, intake screeners, special investigators, and workers in one local CPS office in the north eastern state in the US. An allegation of maltreatment made to CPS sets a very confusing and complex chain of events in motion which involves the courts, law enforcement, medical providers, schools, families, and children. Participants in this study described the process as being even more challenging when the child had a developmental disability. Participants highlighted important concerns about the prevalence of developmental disabilities in CPS, understanding of what constitutes a developmental disability, the impact of developmental disability on screening and assessment, and perceived supports to improve the system’s ability to identify and assess the needs of children with developmental disabilities and their families. The authors concluded that improved screening was required in CPS settings.
Roger's assessment
- Author:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Place of publication:
- London
Actors have been used in this film. Roger is a man with learning disabilities living in a supported living service. An assessment of his mental capacity to make different financial decisions is being undertaken by Tracey, a social worker. Tracey decided to do the assessment after concerns were raised that staff working with Roger were crossing the line between supporting him to make financial decisions and making some financial decisions for him. The assessment covers different types of financial decisions including day-to-day expenditure and paying household bills. This film has now been revised and is available under the new title: 'Mental Capacity Act: making decisions about money.'
Review of compliance: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust: Durham Rd
- Author:
- CARE QUALITY COMMISSION
- Publisher:
- Care Quality Commission
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 14p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Durham Road, part of Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, was inspected as part of a targeted inspection programme in hospitals that care for people with learning disabilities. Durham Road provides a respite service for patients with learning disabilities and a service for the assessment and treatment adults with learning disabilities. The inspection was to assess how well they experience effective, safe and appropriate care treatment and support that meets their needs and protects their rights; and whether they are protected from abuse. Durham Road was found to meet all the essential standards of quality and safety reviewed.
Evaluation and effectiveness of pain recognition and management training for staff working in learning disability services
- Authors:
- MACKEY Ellen, DODD Karen
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(3), September 2011, pp.243-251.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study asked managers of learning disability services how they recognised pain and how they managed pain for people with learning disabilities, before and 3 to 5 months after training. Participants included 197 managers of learning disability services in Surrey, England. Training covered pain thresholds, pain recognition and management, health action plans and medicines policies. At the end of training attendees were asked about their service’s management of pain. Findings revealed that after training, significantly more services were using communication tools such as picture scales and more pain recognition tools such as the Abbey pain scale and the Disability Distress Assessment Tool. Use of pain management strategies did not change significantly. There was a significant increase in the number of services including information on how a person displays pain, the possible causes of pain and how a person likes their pain managed in their health action plan. The authors concluded that staff training helps services to be more aware of pain and improves the range of methods used.
Real listening – using personal construct assessment with people with intellectual disabilities: two case studies
- Authors:
- HARE Dougal Julian, SEARSON Ruth, KNOWLES Rebecca
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(3), September 2011, pp.190-197.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Although the situation is improving, many people with intellectual disabilities are still not being listened to by services providing them with care and support. When this happens, they become upset and frustrated and are all too readily regarded as being mentally ill. This article, in an attempt to help people with intellectual disabilities describe and make sense of their experiences and feelings in a non-judgemental manner without the need for these experiences to be interpreted and explained, describes the use of an adapted repertory grid procedure developed from George Kelley’s personal construct psychology. Although such an approach has been identified as being particularly suitable for working with people with intellectual disabilities in a person-centred way, little data is available. To improve on this situation, this article presents an outline of personal construct psychology and its use with people with intellectual disabilities to highlight its use in clinical practice.
Evaluation of a structured assessment framework to enable adherence to the requirements of Mental Capacity Act 2005
- Authors:
- RAMASUBRAMANIAN Lakshmiprabha, RANASINGHE Newton, ELLISON Joseph
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(4), December 2011, pp.314-320.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 for England and Wales provides a statutory framework to empower and protect vulnerable people who are not able to make their own decisions. It outlines who can make decisions, in what situations, and how they should go about this. This paper presents findings from an audit which examined the quality, thoroughness and completeness of making decisions for people with learning disabilities who lacked capacity in making specific decisions for themselves. A checklist, or structure assessment framework, was created and tested on 20 patients in a specialist inpatient unit. Prior to the introduction of the checklist there were low levels of recording, with little regard to capacity. All areas showed significant improvement following the introduction of the structure assessment framework. The audit showed that the use of the checklist enabled a structured discussion to take place regarding the decision-making process and ensured complete documentation. The checklist enabled full adherence to the Mental Capacity Act and established better standards of practice.
Working with people with a learning disability who break the law
- Author:
- LOFTHOUSE Rachael
- Journal article citation:
- Llais, 101, Winter 2011, pp.7-9.
- Publisher:
- Learning Disability Wales
The author briefly highlights research examining why people with a learning disability offend and how best to work with people to manage offending behaviour. She also describes some of her own PhD research which looked at the reasons why people with learning disabilities sometimes behave violently.
Being a carer and having a carer's assessment: how to get help if you are doing a lot to look after another person: a resource pack for people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- MAGRILL Dalia
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health. Valuing People Support Team
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 42p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This pack provides information to help people with learning disabilities understand whether they are a carer, what their rights are and what is available to help them. The pack has sections covering: Am I a carer?; What are my rights?; Having a carers assessment; What help can I get. Part 5, Getting ready for my carers' assessment has a form to complete to help to get ready for a carers assessment. The final section provides a guide for workers, advocates, friends or family members who may be supporting people to use the pack. It includes examples of people with learning disabilities who are carers and the services they receive to support them.
Assessment of behavioral and psychiatric problems in people with Prader–Willi syndrome: a review of the literature
- Author:
- SPENDELOW Jason S.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 8(2), June 2011, pp.104-112.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Prader–Willi syndrome (PSW) is a rare genetic disorder that has a prevalence of 1 in 50,000 to 70,000 people and equal gender distribution. The clinical presentation of people with PWS involves a wide range of behavioural, psychiatric, neurocognitive, and medical problems. The aim of this review is to help clinicians make a comprehensive assessment of mental health problems with this population. People with PWS are particularly susceptible to the development of problems in the areas of hyperphagia, compulsions and repetitive behaviour, self-injury (especially skin-picking), and aggressive behaviours. The most common psychiatric features in people with PWS are psychosis, affective disorders, and obsessive–compulsive disorders. Assessment should involve consideration of how behavioural and psychiatric problems can be influenced by neurocognitive functioning and medical issues. The heterogeneous and progressive nature of many behavioural and psychiatric problems in this population presents significant challenges to psychological assessment and management. Comprehensive assessment requires an understanding of the phenotype of Prader–Willi syndrome, and associated issues that can impact upon clinical presentation.
Demystifying the process? A multi disciplinary approach to assessing capacity for adults with a learning disability
- Authors:
- SKINNER Rachael, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(2), June 2011, pp.92-97.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
There appears to be a lack of confidence among professionals in conducting capacity assessments which may lead to reluctance to take responsibility for executing an assessment and forming a judgement. This document explains a 2-phase process developed by a multi-disciplinary group of professionals during a pilot project to assess the capability to consent of adults with a learning disability referred for proposed ophthalmic interventions. The 1st phase in the decision making process is to determine to what extent the person being assessed is able to process and recall information. The 2nd phase involves understanding more detailed information specifically relating to the decision, in this case the procedure or intervention. The use of the process is illustrated via case studies. Over a 2-year period, 17 people who were referred from the eye unit to the capacity team were seen. Of those, 2 progressed to the 2nd phase of the process and 1 demonstrated capacity to make a decision. The process was based on a functional approach, and was used to avoid making decisions based on status approaches. The developed process was fed back to the professionals in the eye unit to enable them to assess capacity in relation to eye surgery, and has also been applied to other situations such as the management of financial affairs and choices about accommodation.