Factors which impact on the social networks of people with profound intellectual disabilities

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In this blog, Sian Anderson looks at a study that seeks to discover the factors, which can most positively impact on the development and maintenance of the informal social networks of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

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Affect attunement: adding to practice?

mencap PMLD

Affect attunement has been described in the literature as reflecting back emotions and feelings projected by a person in order to create a connection.

Here Paul Barnard looks at a paper exploring ways in which support workers might be using this approach in their work with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

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Is intensive interaction effective?

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Intensive interaction is an accepted approach to working with people with learning disabilities and/or autism, but how much do we know about its effectiveness?

Here, Katherine Runswick Cole looks at a review of literature that addresses this question.

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Challenging behaviour in profound & multiple learning disabilities: is support well planned and documented?

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The lives of some people with profound and multiple learning disabilities are affected by challenging behaviours, which include self-injurious, stereotypical, destructive, or aggressive behaviours.

Here in his debut blog, Paul Barnard looks at a study from the Netherlands which looked at whether challenging behaviour was being addressed formally in day to day practice.

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Judgements about learning disability services quality based on snapshot experiences were not sufficient to understand service performance in Australian study

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What needs to be done to ensure quality services for adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities and how can organisations ensure that this is done consistently?

Here, Nick Burton describes the findings of an Australian study that uses observational methodology to look in great detail at what was happening for a number of people in small 24hr staffed houses for four to six people.

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Postural care pathway for people with learning disabilities

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Many people with learning disabilities have physical disabilities that restrict their movement and put them at risk of developing body shape distortions. Here we report on the development of a new postural care pathway, produced by the Postural Care Community Interest Company.

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Measuring physiological changes can help validate emotional states of people with profound learning disabilities

PMLD

The recent publication of Raising Our Sights, the DH report into support for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities set out a challenge for everyone concerned with understanding and responding to people with such disabilities. A number of projects have produced practical guides for involving and engaging with people, for example, Mencap’s Involve Me [read the full story…]

New guides to improving support for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities published

Positive relationship found between mood, total emotion score and frequency of emotion when stimuli were positive

In 2010, the Department of Health published Raising our Sights, Professor Jim Mansell’s report into services and supports for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. The Government’s response was to broadly welcome the report’s recommendations and “its central message that the major obstacles to wider implementation of policy for adults with profound intellectual and [read the full story…]

Ombudsman finds service failures once again in report on death of young woman with learning disabilities

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As you know here at Elf towers, we are committed to bringing you the evidence, so that you can make informed decisions about practice. However I hope you’ll forgive a slight deviation from this aim this Friday, as we bring to your attention the publication of yet another report that highlights poor NHS care. On [read the full story…]

Issues unique to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities impact on autonomic nervous system signals in communication

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We have posted previously about the challenges faced by people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities in communication and the ways in which those who support them might use a variety of tools to improve this. Researchers have asked whether it might be possible to look at changes in physiology to provide information on emotions [read the full story…]