There continue to be difficulties in agreeing on the numbers of people with learning disabilities in the offender population. Estimates range from 2% to 10%. The author of this review set out to look at recent research in the field which includes work on prevalence, developments in appropriate assessments and investigations into the effectiveness of [read the full story…]
Active Support involves concerns training staff in working practices and organisational procedures to improve levels of resident participation and increase levels of engagement in activities. It is being introduced in many support services for people with learning disabilities to help bring about such improvements. This Australian study set out to look at what happened when [read the full story…]
Whilst there is no evidence that dementia affects people with learning disabilities in ways that are different to those without learning disability, there is a risk that the early stages of the disease may be missed or misinterpreted. People with Down syndrome may present with clinical symptoms in their late 40s or early 50s. Estimates [read the full story…]
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have commissioned the National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health to produce a new guideline on the recognition, referral and diagnosis of children and young people on the autism spectrum. The guideline is aimed at GPs, paediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities and complex needs can often find themselves in services far from their family homes, particularly the case if the person has a mental health problem. This study set out to find out the views of family members of those people who were being cared for in out-of-area psychiatric hospitals. The authors [read the full story…]
The nature of the relationship between the client and caregiver has been shown to be a key factor in a number of studies. However, there have been few studies looking at the nature of the relationship between people with mild learning disabilities and their caregivers. This study set out to look at this issue in [read the full story…]
This review of the literature set out to summarise the current status of knowledge and clinical practice in the area of relationships and sexuality for people with learning disabilities, which the review authors describe as an area that is complex and challenging. Services for people with learning disabilities have undergone a move towards personalisation, person-centred [read the full story…]
A number of studies have suggested that prevalence rates of mental ill-health in people with learning disabilities is higher than in the general population, although issues of definition have made it difficult to make clear comparisons. The authors of this review set out to identify trends and developments in the study of psychopathology in people [read the full story…]
This Australian study set out to explore the issues relating to retirement for older employees with learning disabilities in supported employment services. The researchers discussed retirement in 6 separate focus group interviews, with staff from disability accommodation and employment services, members of mainstream activity programmes for older people, family members of people with disabilities and [read the full story…]
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have just published the report of their enquiry into disability-related harassment – “Hidden in Plain Sight” The report shows harassment as a commonplace experience for disabled people and uncovers a culture of disbelief and systemic institutional failures which prevent it from being tackled effectively. The report includes a series [read the full story…]
