Children with Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Problems

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Children with Learning Disabilities and Mental
Health Problems Barbara McIntosh
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(No Transcript)
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The BOND context

• Aims of BOND
• Increase the contribution of the voluntary
  sector.
• Improve commissioning.
• Promote early intervention.
• Work with schools and services to promote
  well-being and resilience.

There is a mixed picture across all sectors in
the UK with an underinvestment in the voluntary
sector and specialist services to meet the needs
of children with learning disabilities. Commissio
ners in some areas do not have the right
skill-set to develop the required services for
this increasingly complex group of children.
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BOND Children with learning disabilities

• Children with learning disabilities are the most
  common group to receive an SEN statement.
• 1 in 5 children with learning disabilities have a
  mental health problem 6 times the incidence
  compared to children without a learning
  disability (Emerson and Hatton).
• This group are less likely to have access to
  support and specialist services.
• Children with learning disabilities have a need
  for life-long support.
• Transition to adult services is a major concern
  for parents due to inconsistent services across
  the UK.

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Characteristics of children with learning
disabilities

• When assessing need, we must have an
  understanding of each childs wider circumstances
  and the impact of significant social
  determinants, such as low income and poverty.
• Children with learning disabilities are more
  likely to have
• Poor health.
• More adverse life events.
• A single parent family.
• A parent with mental health problems.
• Less social support.
• Disadvantage at home.

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Mental health and learning disabilities The
facts

• Children with learning disabilities are
• 33 times more likely to have autism.
• 8 times more likely to have ADHD.
• 6 times more likely to have conduct disorders.
• 4 times more likely to have emotional disorders.
• 1.7 times more likely to have depression.
• (The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents
  with Learning Disabilities in Britain Emerson
  and Hatton 2007)

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Why do children with learning disabilities have a
high incidence of mental health problems?

• An intellectual disability reduces a childs
  capacity for finding creative and adaptive
  solutions to lifes challenges, which can make
  them vulnerable to developing mental health
  problems.
• A link has been shown to exist between lower
  cognitive ability and vulnerability to mental
  health problems.
• Children with learning disabilities are at risk
  of poverty and social disadvantage, and poor
  social conditions are linked to an increased risk
  of mental health issues.
• The prevalence rate of mental health problems
  (particularly anxiety and depression) for
  children on the autistic spectrum is 68. This
  may be caused by genetic predisposition.
• (National Autistic Society You Need to Know
  Report)

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School Challenges faced by children with
learning disabilities, their families and teachers

• Those with mild learning disabilities have high
  levels of school exclusion.
• Consequences of exclusion include disruption to
  the child, school and family, and the cost of
  permanent exclusion to the public purse is
  approximately 65,000.
• Over half of children with learning disabilities
  and autism have been bullied.
• 74 of children with an SEN statement find lunch
  and break times frightening.
• 60 of teachers feel they need more training to
  teach children with learning disabilities (School
  Report 2013 and Ambitious About Autism).

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Sources of help Where do parents turn to for
support with their childs mental health problems?

• As a first source of help, parents turn to a
  range of professionals for support.
• The following percentages show the most popular
  sources
• Teachers - 42
• Special Education Personnel 19
• CAMHS 17
• G.P. / primary care 16
• Paediatricians 15
• (The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents
  with Learning Disabilities in Britain 2007)

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BOND resources

• BOND, with the help of Staffordshire primary and
  secondary school staff, is producing an
  information pack which includes a range of tools
  to support staff development across the statutory
  and voluntary sectors.
• The pack includes a general introduction to
  mental health, in addition to
• Mental Health First Aid resource for those with
  learning disabilities.
• Outline for a whole school approach to auditing.
• NASS online resource / training programme for
  staff.
• The Friends for Life Resilience programme,
  adapted for children with learning disabilities.
• Resilience Framework and Boing Boing.
• Person Centred Planning Pack.
• Information from the Child Bereavement Trust,
  Relate, and NSPCC.

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The Future

• Supporting this group of children and young
  people is everyones business.
• The policy framework includes The Equality Act,
  Safeguarding, Every Child Matters, National
  Service Framework, and the Children and Families
  Bill.
• We need to ensure that the Children and Families
  Bill is effectively implemented, including an
  assessment by education, health and social care,
  with a local offer.
• Personal budgets will help with individualised
  support, stimulate the market and offer more
  choice.
• Building resilience needs joint action from
  individuals, families, schools, the voluntary
  sector, the leisure sector and the wider
  community.

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Delroys Story In Business
Delroys Plastics Delroy lives in Bristol and
residential care home and receives two to one
support from the Brandon Trust. Whilst
developing his plan and thinking about how Delroy
could be supported to work, his support team
realised that one thing Delroy really liked to do
was to tidy the plastic bottles up at his care
home and recycling them. This led to a small idea
about providing a recycling service.
Contact was made with Keith Bates at FPLD in
order to get some business advice and some help
with moving this idea forward. After some
discussions about test trading, a leaflet was
designed offering a collection and recycling
service and deliver around his local
community. Although the area has an extensive
recycling scheme, there is no plastic collection.
People must go to bottle banks but this usually
means storing a pile of empty milk bottle
somewhere first.
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Delroys Story
The uptake was swift and very quickly, small
round was formed. Delroy is supported to collect
and recycle bottles from his local community and
levies a small charge for the service. In doing
so he has been supported to develop his own small
business and providing an employment opportunity
where previously he was seen as unlikely to work.
As another of Delroy passions is to travel and
experience trains and buses, he was supported to
enjoy a weekend trip to London, experiencing the
full range of tourist activities and enjoying a
break that he had never experienced before. The
in Business programme has supported Delroy to
develop a business centred around his skills and
interests that meets a local community headache
and offers him a chance to enjoy the fruits of
his labour. In 2008, Delroy was shortlisted for
the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste
Management. For more information please
contact Keith Bates, Head of Employment kbates_at_f
pld.org.uk or 0779 605 3847 www.learningdisabiliti
es.org.uk