Background: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) contribute to communication with adults with learning disabilities by providing training to the networks that support them. The requirements for successful communication with this population are frequently complex and necessitate an effective training medium to transfer the target knowledge and…

An audit was conducted across Surrey to investigate pain recognition and management with people with learning disabilities. This section of the audit looked at what people with learning disabilities understood and experienced when they had pain compared to good practice from the literature. The results show that people with learning disabilities…

The speech and language therapy (SLT) service in an area of northern England receives referrals of parents who have learning disabilities. The aim of this study was to identify current referral patterns and quantify the level of demand upon the SLT service from this relatively new referral population to enable to service to meet the needs of these…

For people with learning disabilities to have control over their lives, the quality of their support staff matters. This paper reports on an inclusive research study, which used video analysis to study the communication skills of personal assistants (PAs) who worked with people with learning disabilities. The findings reveal some of the fine…

Since the 1970s, medical staff have routinely disclosed the diagnosis of cancer to their patients. However, this has often been carried out unskilfully causing distress to the patient and impairing their ability to comply with treatment. In response, the government has invested in "Advanced Communication Skills training" for oncology staff.…

In 2005, the Royal College of Psychiatry Faculty of Learning Disability's three judges unanimously awarded the inaugural Medical Student Essay Prize to Ian Harwood, a mature medical student at Barts & The London School of Medicine. This reflective piece records an undergraduate's contact with an adolescent suffering from advanced Sanfillipo…

A woman with Down syndrome, who had shown selective mutism for more than 14 years, successfully participated in a program designed to reinforce communication and gradually increase the number of words spoken to one person and then to others. Nonaversive behavior methods were used and response initiative procedures were developed. (Contains…