Including people with intellectual disabilities in the development of their own positive behaviour support plans

Abstract

Purpose People with intellectual disabilities are not routinely involved in the assessment of their behaviours that challenge, as this is often completed by a proxy respondent and the health-care professional. This is contrary to guidance stating that everyone should be involved in the planning of their care. This paper aims to show how health-care professionals can support people with intellectual disabilities to engage in the assessment of their behaviours that challenge and the subsequent development of their own positive behaviour support (PBS) plans. Design/methodology/approach A non-systematic review of the existing literature on improving the engagement of people with learning disabilities in health-care planning, and specifically PBS planning, was undertaken. Appropriate papers were included in this paper. Findings There are several evidence-based methods to improve people’s engagement in the assessment of their own behaviours that challenge and then the development of their PBS plans. These methods are discussed in terms of their application to supporting people to communicate and involving them in the process of developing a valid and meaningful PBS plan. This is a relatively new focus within the literature, and further research should focus on increasing engagement in the process, as well as monitoring how co-production affects PBS outcomes. Originality/value This paper summarises some of the approaches used to support people with intellectual disabilities to engage in the assessment of their behaviours that challenge and the development of their own PBS plans. This should encourage health-care professionals to consider how to use alternative and augmentative communication strategies to facilitate co-production in their own clinical practice.

Commentary on “Vocational training for livelihood and rehabilitation of persons with intellectual disabilities”

“…Facilitating co-production in the planning process requires several considerations, one being that of the communication needs and potential communication difficulties of the person supported (Breeze, 2021). Approaches do exist that can support people with communication difficulties to be involved in various types of plans about their support and their lives, such as the use of Talking Mats V R (Stewart et al, 2018;Bradshaw et al, 2018).…”

My point of view: Students with intellectual and communicative disabilities express their views on speech and reading using Talking Mats

“…Interviews and questionnaires developed for the general population are often too complicated for individuals with intellectual disabilities and communication difficulties due to demands on literacy and comprehension of abstract language (Santoro et al, 2022). The use of pictures to accompany questionnaires, interviews and conversations, as implemented through Talking Mats (Murphy, 1998; Murphy & Cameron, 2008), has been shown to alleviate cognitive and communication difficulties such as providing means of expression and enhancing comprehension, memory and attention (Boström et al, 2016; Bradshaw et al, 2018; Breeze, 2021; Huus et al, 2021; Stans et al, 2019).…”