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PubMed1997

Deficient health and social services for elderly people with learning disabilities.

Elderly people with learning disabilities have greater psychiatric morbidity than younger individuals, but a previous report has suggested that the majority of the former do not receive treatment. All people with learning disabilities aged 65 years and over living in Leicestershire, England (n = 134), and a random sample of adults with learning disabilities aged between 20 and 64 years (n = 73) were assessed for psychiatric disorders and service use. Elderly people received less day care, less respite care and were less likely to have a social worker and receive input from most health services than the younger group. Chiropody was an exception. Those receiving psychiatric services did so through the learning disabilities specialist services only. Those with an additional psychiatric disorder were more likely to receive services, but results still favoured the younger group. Services were better accessed by those living in residential care. Failure to access services may relate to carers attitudes and beliefs: in learning disability settings, morbidity was attributed to 'it's just old age; in the elderly settings, morbidity was attributed to 'it's because s/he has learning disabilities'. The specialist health and social services need to take the lead in health promotion and education.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Valuing people: health visiting and people with learning disabilities.

People with a learning disability have spent decades being excluded from mainstream society and remain almost invisible in our communities, workplaces and in family life. As a result, the health of people with a learning disability is significantly poorer than that of the general population. Despite the many reports and policy recommendations about how to improve the situation, little has been done to address the social exclusion of this group, and their health and wellbeing continue to decline. In a joint effort to challenge exclusion and address the agenda of 'Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century', Warrington Primary Care Trust and Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust joined forces at a practical level. Two health visitors have developed a comprehensive programme of socially inclusive health care aimed at engaging people with learning disabilities more fully in their health care and their choices in leading healthy lives. The paper discusses Access All Areas--a comprehensive programme using a public health model of health care where people with learning disabilities are being supported to make healthy choices and, often for the first time, given information in accessible formats to support those choices. Led by health visitors, staff from all agencies involved in the care and support of people with learning disabilities are being trained and engaged in order to raise the standards across organisations and prioritise the health and wellbeing of this marginalised group. Health visitors are leading locally in the implementation of both health improvement and long-term condition strategies.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A health toolkit for people with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities are likely to have greater health needs than the majority of the population but are less likely to access health services and receive treatment. This article reports on a local initiative to develop a toolkit that people with learning disabilities can use to help them address their health needs through a simple health check and a health action plan.

Focus Groups↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Improving communication for people with learning disabilities.

Patients with learning disabilities have higher healthcare risks than the general population. Health professionals need to develop skills that enable them to communicate effectively with this patient group. Identifying barriers to communication is the first step to reducing or removing them. Suggested strategies to improve healthcare access for patients with learning disabilities include: developing individualised health action plans, simplifying communication styles and providing accessible facilities and tailored resources.

Access to Information↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Learning disabilities. A computer assisted learning package.

Computers are currently playing a major role in the education of nurses. In terms of the education of patients and clients, however, technological software is in its infancy. The main aim of this study was to design a computer assisted learning (CAL) package on shape recognition and use it in one to one teaching sessions with children who had learning disabilities. A secondary aim was to evaluate whether in fact the use of this package would improve the ability of these children to recognise different shapes.

Child↗
PubMed1991

Role of the school in serving children with learning disabilities.

The term "learning disabilities" means different things to different people. Within the educational context, this term is generally interpreted to mean "specific" LDs, as defined in federal legislation mandating school districts to provide services to children with handicaps. The preceding remarks have described the major legal responsibilities of schools with regard to children with handicaps. These responsibilities include identifying and locating children who are suspected of being handicapped, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their needs, planning an individual program for the student cooperatively with the parent or parents, educating children in an environment that is the least restrictive, and providing parents with due process throughout these activities. It is recognized that neurologists count among their patients numerous children whom they have identified clinically as "learning disabled," yet who do not qualify for special education under the "specific" LDs definition employed by the school. This article provides both moral and pragmatic reasons for school districts to develop appropriate means of responding to the needs of such pupils, and examples of accommodations that may be implemented at various levels of the school's organizational structure. Finally, it suggests that by developing effective linkages between their systems, medical and educational personnel can facilitate treatment for children who are having difficulty in learning.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Evoked potential maps in learning disabled children.

Some childhood learning disabilities are associated with altered synchrony patterns of brain evoked potentials. Scalp recorded electrical synchrony between selected brain regions was measured in response to visual, auditory and somatosensory stimuli and compared between a group of learning disabled children and a group of normal children. Statistically significant inter-group differences revealed stimulus dependent greater inter-regional EP synchrony in the learning disabled group. These findings support the notion that some childhood learning disabilities reflect, in part, altered connections between selected brain regions.

Brain Mapping↗
PubMed2000

Learning disabilities and medical schools.

Learning disabilities are a group of disorders that affect 10-15% of the general population and 3% of United States medical students. Medical students with learning disabilities are typically unaware of their disorder and may only learn of it when the pace of medical school curriculum overtakes what were previously successful study techniques. Despite the significant prevalence of this disorder, medical educators' awareness, understanding and provision of services for people with these disabilities are inadequate. This paper will present a medical student with a learning disability as a basis for discussion of the prevalence, classification systems and diagnostic testing methods for this disorder. Finally, recommendations for medical school administrative preparedness and accommodation of learning disability students will be presented, followed by a list of celebrated physicians with learning disabilities.

Aptitude↗
PubMed2006

Lights, camera, education! The potentials of forum theatre in a learning disability nursing program.

Learning disability nurse education, with a current emphasis on inclusive practice and a history of listening to the person with the disability, is well placed to take advantage of more 'experimental' forms of classroom teaching. In this article we argue for the use of forum theatre as a method of addressing topics from practice within an educational setting. Based on our emergent and exploratory work with students we detail at length the theoretical background that supports such an approach and contextualise the issues with reference to a short piece of drama we have used successfully with different student groups. We feel that the success of this method is due to the involvement of students in directing their own education as well as the inclusion of individuals labelled with learning disability as an integral part of the process.

Communication↗
PubMed2000

Psychotherapy, learning disabilities and trauma: new perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Psychological therapies are rarely used in people with learning disabilities. Learning disability is often given as an exclusion criterion. There is insufficient published research to conduct a systematic review. Few outcome studies of psychoanalytic or cognitive psychotherapy have been reported. AIMS: To describe recent advances in understanding and practice within the learning disability field which have not received wider recognition within mainstream psychotherapy and psychiatry. METHOD: The availability of different psychotherapeutic approaches is discussed. We explore developmental issues including the contribution of attachment theory to our understanding, and the effects of trauma on the lives of people with learning disabilities. RESULTS: Theoretical and clinical perspectives suggest that many therapeutic opportunities exist. CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners are encouraged to extend their therapeutic repertoire, and to report measurable outcomes.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1996

The recognition and investigation of X-linked learning disability syndromes.

X-linked learning disability syndromes occur in approximately one per 600 live male births and account for 20-30% of all learning disability. Fragile-X syndrome comprises some 40% of all X-linked learning disability, and there are currently about 95 recognized syndromes comprising the rest. Clinicians should be alert to these other forms of X-linked learning disability: families should be offered genetic counselling, including dysmorphology opinion and cytogenetic testing. Gene mapping on the X chromosome is advancing very rapidly and some causative genes for X-linked learning disability are now known. Clinicians involved in the care of patients with X-linked learning disability are encouraged to investigate all families, report new syndromes and those with cytogenetic abnormalities, and collaborate with clinical geneticists and laboratory scientists working on X chromosome gene mapping.

Chromosome Aberrations↗