Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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More than just telling stories
- Author:
- COSH Jackie
- Journal article citation:
- Learning Disability Today, 15(5), September/October 2015, pp.16-17.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
The Bags of Ability project provides free training and workshops to parents and professionals, teaching them to engage all the senses when telling stories to children with learning disabilities. Involving additional sensory stimulation can help children with learning disabilities to learn more about the world around them and interact better with others. To date over 500 parents and 340 professionals have attended the courses, and reported that they are telling stories more frequently. An external evaluation also found that professional rated their awareness of communication methods for children as good or above increased after the training from 37% to 86% after the training. (Edited publisher abstract)
Enhancing the resilience of parents of adults with intellectual disabilities through volunteering: an exploratory study
- Authors:
- WONG Phyllis K.S., FONG K.W., LAM T.L.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 12(1), 2015, pp.20-26.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In this research, the authors attempted to enhance the resilience level of parents of adults with intellectual disabilities through the parents participation in a volunteer program. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between participation in the volunteer program and the resilience protective factors of parents. A pretest–posttest design was used involving 36 of the participants who were recruited from the 6-month volunteer programme. A 24-item Resilience Measuring Scale developed from the Resilience Scale and the Purpose in Life Test was used to measure the changes in the participants after the intervention. The results showed that the participants achieved positive changes in the protective factors of social resources and meaning of life after joining the volunteer programme. The findings provide initial evidence of the relationship between volunteering and the resilience protective factors for middle- to old-aged Chinese parents. The factors of the programme that facilitated resilience enhancement included using a group format, providing a situation to appreciate problems that others have, and frequent debriefings enabling integration and internalization of the experience. The authors posit some implications on the interventions for this population and make recommendations for further studies. (Edited publisher abstract)
Caregiver experiences of supporting adults with intellectual disabilities in pain
- Authors:
- FINDLAY Laura, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 28(2), 2015, pp.111-120.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Methods: Information was collected from 11 caregivers using semi-structured interviews about their experiences of caring for adults with intellectual disabilities who were suspected or definitely in pain. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Six superordinate themes were identified from participants' experiences: suffering in silence; searching for meaning to explain the complaint; knowledge and skills needed to recognize and manage pain; perceptions of the pain experience; acting to try and reduce pain; and the emotional impact of pain. Conclusions: There seems an art to detect pain using existing skills and knowledge of the individual's ways of expressing pain. Despite best efforts, recognising and treating pain was experienced as complex and ambiguous. Some caregivers described a negative emotional impact and dissatisfaction with the management of pain by health care services. (Edited publisher abstract)
Hidden voices of maternity: parents with learning disabilities speak out
- Authors:
- CHANGE, PATIENT EXPERIENCE NETWORK
- Publishers:
- Change, Parent Experience Network
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 28
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
This research looks at how parents with learning disabilities experience their maternity care and provides recommendations for service improvements that could support care to be more person and family centred. The report draws on the results of an online survey of 107 professionals, five focus groups with parents with learning disabilities, an easy read accessible survey of parents with learning disabilities, and desk research. Focus groups used a 'ladder of power' to discuss how much power professionals had over them as parents. Social workers were viewed as being at the top of the ladder of power. Parents reported that community midwifery services, advocacy services, buddy schemes and support groups worked well to improve their experience of maternity care. Areas that had a negative impact on the maternity experiences of parents with learning disabilities were staff attitudes, conflicting information, fathers feeling unwelcome during the birth, and lack of support when babies are taken away. The report also includes examples from professional on what they felt was working well maternity services. Appendices includes a list of useful resources identified during the project. (Edited publisher abstract)
Good, bad or absent: discourses of parents with disabilities in Australian news media
- Authors:
- FRASER Vikki, LLEWELLYN Gwynnyth
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 28(4), 2015, pp.319-329.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: News media frames public perceptions. As such, news media becomes a useful source of analysis to understand the presence (or otherwise) of people with disabilities, particularly intellectual disabilities, within parenting discourses. Method: Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this article examines major Australian newspapers over the period from January 2004 to December 2008, critiquing the construction of parenting and disability. A small number of articles are examined in close depth for tone, polarity syntactic and paradigmatic choice, deconstructing the underlying discourses that shape the article and thereby popular perceptions of parenting and disability. Discussion: Discourses of care and child protection are emphasized in news articles about parenting, creating perceptions that negate the role of people with disabilities as parents. Such perceptions result in a systematic symbolic castration of people with intellectual disabilities from the role of parent in Australian society. Conclusion: By providing a framework for understanding the public perceptions of parents with disabilities (particularly intellectual disabilities), this paper demonstrates that changes are necessary in Australian media reporting on parents with disabilities to bring such reporting more closely in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006. (Edited publisher abstract)
A few steps along the road? promoting support for parents with learning difficulties
- Author:
- TARLETON Beth
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(2), 2015, pp.114-120.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper considers the impact of research and development work around parenting by adults with a learning difficulty undertaken at the Norah Fry Research Centre (NFRC) since 2005. It discusses how their understanding of the support needs of parents with learning difficulties grew through an initial mapping study which led to the concept of ‘Parenting with Support’. It then discusses the development of the Working Together with Parents Network which has endeavoured to continue to draw together and promote positive support for parents with learning difficulties and how the subsequent research at NFRC has been undertaken with a desire to further understand and support the development of this positive practice. It describes how this work has supported professionals already aware of parents with learning difficulties’ support needs and but has yet to engage with the far wider range of professionals and agendas involved in supporting vulnerable families. (Edited publisher abstract)
When satisfaction is not directly related to the support services received: understanding parents' varied experiences with specialised services for children with developmental disabilities
- Authors:
- ROBERT Marie, LEBLANC Line, BOYER Thierry
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(3), 2015, pp.168-177.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Parents of children with autism or intellectual disabilities are more susceptible to stress and have a greater burden of adversity than other parents. Their well-being and satisfaction greatly depend on the system's response of finding them formal support and the help they need. This study proposes an interpretive approach, based on 15 parents' experiences, to find and understand the strengths and weaknesses of specialised support services. The research also aims to obtain data on parents' experiences in order to identify the conditions and the perceptions on which feeling satisfaction or dissatisfaction is based. The situations that were considered positive are all directly related to the professional concrete support parents say they received (e.g. ‘working with’ their child to improve communication with him or her, understanding his or her issues, and managing difficult behaviours). However, the overall experience of each parent has either a dominant positive or a dominant negative connotation. The parents' satisfaction or dissatisfaction appears to be constructed from two criteria: (i) whether parents see themselves as experts or non-experts on the situation of their child and (ii) parents' opinions on the purpose or goal of the intervention or of the services they received. (Edited publisher abstract)
Futures planning: adult sibling perspectives
- Authors:
- DAVYS Deborah, MITCHELL Duncan, HAIGH Carol
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(3), 2015, pp.219-226.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
A total of 15 adult siblings of people who have a learning disability were interviewed in relation to their future wishes and expectations of care giving. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse transcripts from the interviews where it was demonstrated that futures planning remains an area of difficulty for families of learning disabled people. The range and degree of plans in place were variable across the families and overall, plans tended to lack detail and clarity. Various factors were cited as hindrances to the futures planning process such as parental anxiety, difficulty with service providers, superstition, attitude, assumption and life stage. Futures planning presented as a transitional process and further research into how best to support families and individuals who have a learning disability to develop long term yet flexible plans is indicated. (Publisher abstract)
Understanding resilience in learning difficulties: unheard voices of secondary school students
- Authors:
- HAROARDOTTIR Sigrun, JULIUSDOTTIR Sigrun, GUOMUNDSSON Halldor S.
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 32(4), 2015, pp.351-358.
- Publisher:
- Springer
This article presents part of the results from the research project of learning disabilities (LD) and success in school. The study investigates the interplay between psychosocial wellbeing and study progress and what works to support and empower students at-risk of school failure and dropout. It entails a group of 270 students in Iceland, all born in 1989, 1990 and 1991. At the beginning of their studies they completed the Youth Self Report. Four and a half years later contact was made with the students participating in the research, to attain information regarding their study progress. The results show that large number of students, or 72 %, who began their learning on an academic study track, had completed their studies at upper secondary school, but only 16 % of students who were at-risk of school failure and began their learning on general study track. Ten students with specific LD who began their learning on general track study, and had performed well in their studies and finished upper secondary education, were selected to take part in qualitative interviews. This article presents that part of the research. The school experience was explored from their perspectives regarding what they considered helpful versus obstructing in their learning situation. Three main themes were identified: (a) struggles regarding problem defining, (b) labelling and stigma, (c) support from a caring person in developing selfworth and resilience. This article offers guidelines to help parents and schools to better support students with LD. (Publisher abstract)
Families' experiences of seeking out-of-home accommodation for their adult child with an intellectual disability
- Authors:
- GREY Jillian M., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 12(1), 2015, pp.47-57.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Research exploring the experiences of families during the process of seeking out-of-home accommodation for an adult son or daughter with intellectual disability is scarce. A study was undertaken to examine this process. Nine families currently seeking out-of-home accommodation for their adult son or daughter were interviewed and interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified: (1) reasons for seeking housing and (2) experiences of seeking housing. Parents' ageing and increased health problems along with the offspring's wish for greater independence were the main reasons for seeking out-of home accommodation. Experiences of looking for a house were not straightforward in that parents often wanted to plan ahead but were prevented from doing so as the housing system prioritizes 'housing crises.' Findings showed that families experienced seeking housing as stressful and frustrating and would like to see social care and housing professionals acknowledge them as collaborative partners in the process. The authors conclude there also needs to be greater clarity of expectation of the duration of finding suitable accommodation, a process that needs to be started early in a young adult's life. (Publisher abstract)