Counselling Support for People with Intellectual Disabilities: The Use of Narrative Therapy

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Wark
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Grief And Loss ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Severe Intellectual Disability ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

This article uses a descriptive case study design to examine the potential of narrative therapy as a direct intervention for adults with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities, autism and/or severe communication limitations. Archival clinical data on four individuals who received a form of social constructionist narrative therapy are examined for goal attainment. The data were analysed qualitatively with specific input from individuals, their families and carers. Findings indicate improvements in quality of life through reductions in situational and environmental anxieties, and in coping with grief and loss. The results suggest that narrative therapy techniques can be beneficial in assisting individuals with severe intellectual disability to achieve meaningful and persistent improvements in their life.

Views of family carers to the future accommodation and support needs of their relatives with intellectual disabilities

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 140-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy McConkey ◽  
Jayne McConaghie ◽  
Owen Barr ◽  
Paul Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Supported Accommodation ◽  
The Family ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

AbstractObjectives: The demand for places in supported accommodation is likely to rise due to the increasing longevity of people with intellectual disabilities and as their parents become unavailable or unable to care for them. However few attempts have been made to ascertain carer's views on alternative accommodation.Method: Four studies were undertaken in Northern Ireland to ascertain carer's views using three different methods. In all, 387 carers participated with the response being greatest for individual interviews conducted in the family home and least for self-completed questionnaires and attendance at group meetings.Results: The majority of carers envisaged the person continuing to be cared for within the family. The most commonly chosen out-of-home provision was in residential or nursing homes, living with support in a house of their own and in homes for small groups of people. Few carers chose living with another family. However only small numbers of carers envisaged alternative provision being needed in the next two years and few had made any plans for alternative living arrangements.Conclusions: The implications for service planning are noted, primarily the need for individual reviews of future needs through person-centred planning; improved information to carers about various residential options and their differential benefits, along with more services aimed at improving the quality of life of people living with family carers. These need to be underpinned by a commitment of statutory agencies to partnership working with family carers. The implications for mental health services are noted.

On the Use of Speech Technologies to Achieve Inclusive Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities

2013 ◽  
pp. 163-174
Author(s):  
Ana Pérez Pérez ◽  
Zoraida Callejas Carrión ◽  
Ramón López-Cózar Delgado ◽  
David Griol Barres
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
The Social ◽  
Educational Integration ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Speech And Language Disorders

New technologies have demonstrated a great potential to improve the social, labour, and educational integration of people with special needs. That is why there is a special interest of academia and industry to develop tools to assist this people, improving their autonomy and quality of life. Usually, intellectual disabilities are linked with speech and language disorders. In this chapter, the authors present a review on the efforts directed towards designing and developing speech technologies adapted to people with intellectual disabilities. Also, they describe the work they have conducted to study how to gather speech resources, which can be used to build speech-based systems that help them to communicate more effectively.

Catering for Personal Autonomy with E-Mentoring Supported by Recommendations

2011 ◽  
pp. 191-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Santos ◽  
Carmen Barrera ◽  
Emanuela Mazzone ◽  
Jesus Boticario
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Independent Life ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
Technology Solution

This chapter presents a technology solution based on a recommender system supporting people with intellectual disabilities in their work integration and independent life, in the scope of the CISVI and AMI4Inclusicion research projects. Information and Communication Technologies are essential for supporting personal autonomy and improving the quality of life of disabled people. The technology can contribute in a twofold way: (1) facilitating the work of the human mentor when training people with intellectual disabilities and (2) automatically offering them advice and recommendations in response to certain cues/actions detected in the environment.

Healthy Athletes Program as a chance for a good quality of life of persons with intellectual disability and their families in the context of health and pro-health activities

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Anna Nadolska ◽  
Piotr Bejster
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Health State ◽  
Special Olympics ◽  
Average Life Expectancy ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Families With Children

Abstract Background: One of the consequences of improperly extending the process of socialization is incorrect health education and thus, different structure of the behaviors associated with taking care of their own health. More difficult socio-economic situation of families with children with intellectual disabilities may not adequately protect the needs of family members (especially children’s) associated with health. Up to 1/3 of the cases of people with intellectual disabilities of poorer health state can result from lower socio-economic position (Emerson and Hatton, 2007). Educational failure, typical for families of children and young people with intellectual disabilities (especially mild) can result in the children not acquiring appropriate behaviors, important for health. If these behaviors are missing, consequently, can be expected to accelerate the deterioration of health. The health status of people with intellectual disabilities is worse than the state of health in the general population (Allerton, Welch, Emerson, 2011; Tample et al., 2006). The most serious consequence of the poorer health of people with intellectual disabilities is a higher mortality rate (Krahn et al, 2006). The average life expectancy of people with intellectual disabilities is 66 (excluding people with Down syndrome whose life expectancy is even shorter), and so more than 10 years shorter than of people. In so-called intellectual norm! Bearing in mind that access to the highest standard of health care for all people with disabilities is a law that was adopted on 13 December 2006 under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Special Olympics Poland have taken the initiative leading to beneficial changes in quality of life for the players and their families in the context of health and modeling appropriate health behavior through the implementation of the Health Programme, which includes the two related projects: Healthy Athletes and Healthy Special Olympics Community.

Education for All or for Some? International Principles and Practice

1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Mittler
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Educational Facilities ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
The World ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

It is axiomatic that people with intellectual disabilities have the same human and civil rights to education as other citizens and that they must therefore have the same opportunities to attend their local schools and educational facilities. This is a fine vision. But it is far from the reality experienced by the majority of people with intellectual disabilities across the world.No country in the world has reason to be satisfied with the quality of the educational facilities which it provides for people with intellectual disabilities. But enough examples of good practice exist in different countries to make it possible for all of us to reappraise ways in which a higher quality of inclusive education and schooling could be provided for people with intellectual disabilities and the contribution that we can make personally and professionally to that process.In the field of intellectual disabilities, we need to define education in very broad terms as anything which systematically promotes learning and development. Defined in this way, education is a lifelong process which neither begins nor ends with schooling. Similarly, it is carried out by many people who are not teachers. Parents are at the heart of this process from the outset. The years spent at school are clearly of vital importance but they are only one element of the educational process. There is a sense in which all work with people with intellectual disabilities is educational, whatever the setting, in so far as it helps them to learn and to develop knowledge, skills and understanding.

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