Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 4 of 4
Commissioning services for adults with learning disabilities or autism: the views and experiences of commissioners
- Authors:
- BEADLE-BROWN Julie, et al
- Publisher:
- Quality and Outcomes of Person-centred Care Policy Research Unit
- Publication year:
- 2018
- Pagination:
- 32
- Place of publication:
- London
Research to explore commissioning practice for services for people with learning disabilities and autism in England, focusing on the information used to help make decisions about services to commission and the challenges to commissioning effective services. The study explores the following questions: is quality or outcomes of services part of the commissioning process?; What sources of quality information are used in the commissioning process?; What are the barriers and facilitators of using quality information in commissioning?; and What are the main challenges to commissioning high quality services? The results are based on completed surveys from 45 local authorities and 25 clinical commissioning groups. The main findings explore three categories of service: residential care, supported living, and day services. The results found that quality was reported to be the most common selection criterion for providers. The top three factors considered by LA and CCGs commissioners to support their purchasing decisions were quality, safety, and suitability to the needs of the individual, with two thirds of respondents saying that cost was a very important consideration in their decisions. Most respondents reported using quality assessment frameworks and monitoring checklists of some type, with the frequency of quality assessment ranging from quarterly to yearly. Identified challenges to commissioning included restructuring, spending cuts, skills shortages, demographic changes. Suggested ways dealing with these challenges included more collaboration and partnership working, integrated/joint commissioning with pooled budgets, greater flexibility and innovation in procurement and contracting, and evidence-based commissioning. (Edited publisher abstract)
What does good look like? A guide for observing services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism
- Authors:
- BEADLE-BROWN Julie, MURPHY Bev
- Publishers:
- United Response, University of Kent. Tizard Centre
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 38
- Place of publication:
- Wimbledon
This guide outlines what good support looks like in services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism and provides a set of observable practices that can indicate that a service is implementing person centred approaches. The definition of ‘good’ is based on both research and good practice and emphasises the nature and quality of the support needed to ensure good quality of life outcomes for people with learning disabilities and/or autism. The guide focuses on four different elements: support for engagement in meaningful activities and relationships; support for communication; autism friendly support; and support for individuals who display challenging behaviour. For each of these four elements the guide outlines what good practice looks like and why each element is important. The observable practices include: observations of what the individuals being support are doing, observations of what staff are doing, observations of what managers are doing, and systems and processes that are in place through records and talking to those present during the visit. It also provides advice on the observation process, with information on what to look for and how to evaluate the service. A checklist to help observers to record and rate the support being provided is also included. (Edited publisher abstract)
Living in fear: better outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism. Main research report
- Authors:
- BEADLE-BROWN Julie, et al
- Publisher:
- University of Kent. Tizard Centre
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 185
- Place of publication:
- Canterbury
Reports on the findings of a three-year research project to investigate incidents of disability hate crime experienced by people with autism and learning disabilities in Medway, Kent. The research was carried out by Autism London, MCCH, Kent Police and the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent. The study included a review of calls to the National Autistic Society and Autism London helplines; focus groups with people with learning disabilities and autism (n=31) and with family and paid carers (n=33); responses to a survey exploring the victimisation experiences of people with learning disabilities and autism (n=255); and in-depth interviews (n=27); and focus groups with the police to identify the difficulties they experience in responding to hate crime. Results found that at least one third of people involved in the research Medway had experienced some form of victimisation as adults. Types of hate crime varied and included physical attacks, threats, verbal abuse and damage to property. Key findings from focus groups with the police identified: lack of a clear definition of disability hate crime, a low level of individual police officers’ knowledge and experience of disability; and lack of a systematic method of establishing whether people reporting victimisation are vulnerable. The report calls for more specialist victim support, counselling and therapies for victims with autism and learning disabilities. It also identifies a need for better and more effective ways for victims to report incidents. Recommendations are made for National and Local implementation. The report also provides some examples of good practice in dealing with situations of victimisation or hate crime. (Edited publisher abstract)
Elicited imitation in children and adults with autism: the effect of different types of actions
- Author:
- BEADLE-BROWN Julie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17(1), March 2004, pp.37-48.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
It has been said that an early deficit in imitation, together with a cascade of developmental disorders in emotion sharing and Theory of Mind, could be important in understanding autism. Having already found that imitation appeared not to be specifically or universally impaired in autism, the present study tested whether there were distinctions between different types of actions, such as symbolic versus non-symbolic, one-handed versus two-handed or symmetrical versus asymmetrical actions, on a test of elicited imitation. A large battery of tasks was used to elicit imitation from three groups of autistic children and adults (aged 4-34 years of age), two groups of typically developing children and a group of children with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities. The majority of children and adults with autism had few impairments relative to the controls, although certain actions did seem more difficult, especially for the youngest children. For example, actions within the categories of 'symbolic actions' and 'asymmetrical actions' seemed to give some groups more problems. Certain types of errors such as hand reversals and using body parts as objects were found in both autistic and non-autistic groups, but, for the most part, in the youngest children in the whole sample. A final analysis compared the number of partial imitations for eight specific actions. The overall picture was not one of an autism-specific deficit in imitation, but rather of a normal (i.e. age-related) developmental trend.