Therapeutic support for young people with learning difficulties: what enables effective practice?

Abstract

Supporting children and young people's mental health is a central aim of the UK government policy, with those with learning difficulties a particularly vulnerable group. This systematic review of research uses published literature to explore how access and participation in therapy might be facilitated for young people with learning difficulties. Twelve studies published 2000-2019 were identified, which described the experiences of access to, and participation in therapy for people with learning difficulties, although notably most of these involved adults. Findings indicated eight themes: pre-therapy, careful contracting, therapy is hard, idiosyncratic needs, therapeutic relationship, group therapy, reviewing therapy and it changed my life. These were organized into three chronological stages: setting up of therapy; therapeutic processes; and therapeutic outcomes. A number of strategies that can promote access and participation are suggested for professionals working therapeutically with young people with learning difficulties, around contracting, clear communication, the therapeutic alliance and the ending of therapy.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Practitioners' views about effective mental health and well‐being support for post‐16 students attending special school

“…Difficulties were acknowledged for students with more complex needs who struggle to communicate emotions and feelings, even with the approaches and strategies in place, as also identified by Attwood and Atkinson (forthcoming). There is an added challenge of ensuring problems are not mis‐attributed to a disability, rather than the underlying mental health difficulties (Jopp & Keys, 2001).…”

“…Short's (2013) research with students attending mainstream settings found that a balance of attunement and relatedness between students and staff led to increased self‐esteem, a greater sense of competence and more opportunities for positive teacher recognition. Attwood and Atkinson (forthcoming) also highlight the importance of communication skills and building a relationship; therefore staff may benefit from training related to developing relational skills, such as principles of attunement and unconditional positive regard (Rogers, 1959).…”

“…Four participants took part in individual semi‐structured interviews (see Table 2 for participant information) which, due to Covid‐19 restrictions, were conducted virtually. The schedule was informed by the study propositions, research conducted by Attwood and Atkinson (forthcoming) and professional knowledge from the first author's role as a trainee educational psychologist, which included work in special schools. All interviews were transcribed for analysis.…”

“…Attwood and Atkinson (forthcoming) explored existing literature in relation to how access and participation may be facilitated from the perspective of people with learning difficulties. The only included study involving participants who were all less than 25 years of age (Boyden et al, 2013) proposed communication pitched at an appropriate level and openness concerning approaches and aims of intervention as strategies to support young people's participation.…”

7th International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences: Conference Proceedings

“…In his book Why does Chris do this? Attwood (2001) suggests flexible learning strategies for dealing with unusual behavior of children and adults with autism and Asperger syndrome (Attwood & Atkinson, 2021). The proposals focus on the possibility of adapting the course to the particularities of the students with the targeted, structured didactic differences.…”