Glossary Snippits
Learning Disabilities - The World Health Organisation define "Learning Disabilities" as "a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind". The term is a diagnosis, NOT a physical or mental illness to be treated through the usual medical channels. As such, support for those with learning disabilities has moved towards a social model of inclusion and integration.
Learning Difficulties - Some people prefer the term "learning difficulties" to "learning disabilities". In fact, this is the term which is endorsed by People First, an international advocacy organisation. However, within the UK learning difficulties is usually used to refer to children with specific learning problems arising from medical, emotional and language problems, which are sometimes treatable.
Autism - Defined by Wing & Gould (1978) as a Triad of Impairment, Autism is a condition arising from the interaction of three impairments; social relationships, social communication and imagination. All three must be evident to diagnose someone as autistic.
Person Centred Plan (PCP) - Person Centred Planning has been developed as a method for people with learning disabilities to plan for what they want now and in the future, with the help of people in their lives who they both like and trust. Planning is carried out using person centred tools including MAPS, PATH, Personal Futures Planning and Essential Lifestyle Planning. All these tools have common elements, such as, the person is at the centre, families and friends are closely involved, reflective of what is important to the person and their capacities, specifies the support the individual needs to make a valued contribution to the community, builds a shared commitment and leads to continual listening and learning about what the person wants to get from their life.
To view our full glossary of terms found on this website click here.
Learning Disabilities Care
We are uniquely focused on supporting those who have a range of learning disabilities, with a particular emphasis on Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Our work is termed "Supported Living" and involves working on a 1 to 1 basis with an individual in their home or in the family home, assisting them to live happy and rewarding lives as part of their local community, or through one of our client organisations which include The Hampshire and The Wessex Autistic Societies.
Our service is overseen and monitored by the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Our latest reports, June 2008 for our Bournemouth Office and November 2008 for our Southampton Office, have assessed our services as falling into the 2 Star – Good category, and a copy of these reports can be viewed by clicking here.
Our Clients
Our clients broadly fall into two categories:
1 to 1 Support: (For examples of clients we help click here)
Each of our clients is unique with their own needs, specific requirements, and their own set of goals and aspirations. To establish what these are, and if we are the right people to help, we visit each of our prospective clients to gauge the level of support needed and to assist with any funding issues.
This service is provided completely free of charge, and if all parties are happy, is followed by a comprehensive needs and risk assessment process involving the client, their family, friends and wider circle of support, to create a detailed Person Centred Plan.
We then begin sourcing support staff with the right skills match to assist, from our existing team of 240+ workers. With a full range of ages, backgrounds and associated skills, we can often begin our supply quite quickly. However, with larger packages, because the process is a complicated and difficult one, creating a core team of PAs for a client can often take a little while to get right.
Once support has begun, the PCP is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that changing needs can be addressed as and when they arise.
Through Client Organisations:
The Care Division have a wide variety of clients across the Dorset and Hampshire region, whose business is to provide a "Supported Living" service to adults and/or children with a Learning Disability. On the whole, these clients own homes where there will be a small number of residents (average between 3 and 7), who need help to live as independent a life as possible within the local community.
Our role is to provide these clients with a bank of support staff who are familiar with the needs of each individual and who will cover for them in the event of staff shortages, sickness or absenteeism.
Many of our clients use us on an on-going, continual basis. Our commitment to them is that we will provide them with reliable, honest, dedicated and committed staff, with experience of working with people with Learning Disabilities; staff who have a real empathy with the Service Users and whose motivation is based upon helping each Service User to achieve the maximum from their lives.
For further information on how we can help call us on 0845 5210 425 or get in touch via our contact form.