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Supporting older people with learning disabilities and their families
Supporting older people with learning disabilities and their families

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1 Person-centred approaches

The case studies of Becky, Geoff, Robin and Susie all demonstrated examples of people being supported in person-centred ways. While you were encouraged to take a critical approach to these case studies, identifying how the support people received could be improved, you will also have observed elements in each person’s story that showed how practitioners and family members were working hard to ensure that people’s individuals needs, preferences and wishes were being met.

Watch Gail discussing the importance of supporting people in person-centred ways before moving onto the first activity in this session:

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GAIL
I think it’s really important to be aware of someone’s past, so to know what they’ve been through. That’s why it’s important to capture all this as you go along as well. So that people, even if they don’t have family involvement, actually someone’s captured that somewhere who they are, what’s important to them.
And be aware that, again, we can be products of our life experience in our journey. We are all products of that. And those things will have a massive effect on how we all behave and how we all are.
But the biggest thing, by far, that anyone can do that I think is the most powerful and the only thing apart from knowing your rights is learn about person-centred planning. And I don’t just mean that the term being person-centred because that’s bandied about like it’s a thing that happens everywhere. But actually, really, really learn about what person-centred planning is and what it means to be person-centred. And there are courses around that you can do.
And that, for me, when Guy was 12, was the turning point. Because the most powerful thing about it for me was not only did it put him right at the centre of everything that we were thinking about, it helped me to step into his shoes and put myself in his position. It helped very much when it came to him becoming an adult, to see him as an individual in his own right.
But one of the most powerful things is it wasn’t just me as his mum that was saying all of this stuff. So I couldn’t just be labelled as a difficult parent. I’m sure I was quite a few times.
But it wasn’t just me saying it. It was everyone else that was involved in that plan, that knew and loved him, and that knew him really well: his teachers, the staff at the respite centre, his sisters, his grandma, his auntie. Everyone who knew him were agreeing what support he needed and what good life for him would look like. And we did that planning right from the start, and have done that throughout his life.
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Activity 1 Using planning ahead cards

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

During our research we worked alongside people with learning disabilities and family members to produce a set of practical ‘planning ahead cards’ to support conversations with people with learning disabilities who are getting older. The cards can be used by practitioners and family carers to prompt discussions with a person with learning disabilities about their future. There are seven sets of cards, covering the topics of ‘things I like to do’; ‘things I might need help with’; ‘home: what is important?’; ‘people in my life’; ‘about me’; ‘mum or dad getting ill or dying’; ‘information cards’. The information cards cover topics such as housing, rights, benefits and funding, needs assessments, and advocacy.

Watch the video that explains how to use the cards: How to use Planning Ahead Cards for people with learning disabilities [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

Now spend a few minutes reviewing the cards:

Finally, make some notes about how you might use these cards to facilitate more person-centred practice with the people you support. Are there particular cards that you think would be particularly useful? Can you think of people you support and/or their families who might benefit from using a resource like this?

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The Planning Ahead cards should be a useful resource to enhance your own practice, enabling you to have sensitive and constructive conversations with the people you support.