Mental Health Needs of Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities

Citation

Allington‐Smith, P. (2013), "Mental Health Needs of Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities", Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 124-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/20441281311310225

In a previously rather neglected field and a topical one for many a CAMHS team this book has to be welcomed. It sets out to guide clinicians how to assess and manage young people with a learning disability and complex co‐morbidities. It clearly delineates the roles, skills and available literature needed to provide a service to this often overlooked group of children half of whom are likely to have significant behavioural and/or psychiatric problems. As they point out services in the UK are patchy and often provided by different professional groups if they are provided at all. This book is a good argument for the development of a multidisciplinary team which these days is likely to be through CAMHS. As a skill shortage has led to considerable anxiety in those asked to provide a service, reading this publication should make them feel a lot happier.

The book's title will probably limit it to a domestic audience which is a pity. Using the term “Intellectual Disability” would have attracted a more international audience. I would also have liked to have read more on sensory interventions which are becoming increasingly important in clinical practice. In pharmacological interventions the author quite rightly pointed out the relative poverty of clinical trials. I was not happy to find then that a paper which used, in my opinion, excessive doses of Risperidone should have been quoted and will no doubt be taken up by its readership as a guide on how to use this medication. If no suitable literature is available then common sense clinical judgement is preferable.

Overall though this is an excellent text book for the subject and well worth purchasing.