Guest editorial

Citation

Kirby, A. and Saunders, L. (2015), "Guest editorial", Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 6 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIDOB-10-2015-0043

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Volume 6, Issue 2.

Amanda Kirby and Lisette Saunders

Professor Amanda Kirby is Chair of Developmental Disorders in Education at University of South Wales, Wales, UK.

Lisette Saunders is Deputy Director at G4S HMP and YOI Parc, Bridgend, UK.

From single diagnoses to embedded systems for LDD – lessons to be learned

In this edition of the journal there are a series of six papers describing some of the current and continuing challenges in delivering services for individuals with learning difficulties and disabilities, and encouragingly provides some examples of potential workable solutions.

Interestingly, two papers focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), two papers on Intellectual Disability (ID) and two papers on managing offenders with co-occurring learning difficulties and disabilities.

Allely's paper discusses potential gaps in research in ASD and actions needing to be undertaken. She does this from three positions, from the offender's, second, from staff working in prisons and third, considering screening, diagnosis and intervention. In the following five papers are examples of some of her "wishes" being enacted.

The development of ASD standards for prisons and the beginning of the implementation process is the focus Lewis et al.'s paper. The approaches described for ASD, if broadened a little could potentially be as suitable to be implemented for those with ID and with other developmental disorders.

Gathering meaningful service user feedback in a Community Forensic Service (CFS) setting for individuals with ID is always a challenge. Bamford and Benton describe how they attempted to do this and emphasise the need to measure success by peoples' actual experiences, and then embedding this into every day processes. In this study, while there were high levels of satisfaction from those sampled regarding the service they received, only half of the individuals could identify the function and format of their Care Plan. This is an important message as it remains a challenge to ensure we communicate clearly and in a truly accessible manner.

The paper by Kaal et al. describes the challenges in screening for ID in the Netherlands within a prison setting. They describe the use of "Screener for Learning Disabilities and Intelligence" (SCIL) which had been previously used in other settings. They identify a challenge in delivering tools consistently, and the need for those delivering them to be sufficiently trained to explain the reason for using the tools correctly and having the confidence to implement them. They allude to the need for such tools to be available in the home language of all offenders, otherwise some individuals could potentially miss out on appropriate support.

McCarthy et al.'s informative paper on screening and diagnostic assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders demonstrates some important points. The research undertaken in a male prison reminds us of the high level of co-occurrence between all developmental disorders and that segmented provision by label may miss out on key parts of an offender's profile that may be important when creating a person centred care plan and deciding upon appropriate interventions. The paper also provides food for thought in terms of the manner in which we screen for developmental disorders. They make the point that "Screening is not sufficient without training of prison staff to recognise signs of NDD and know how to respond effectively to people with NDD". Their paper focused on ADHD, ASD, ID. However, they do mention the other conditions that are also common developmental disorders such as developmental co-ordination disorder and specific language impairments, and learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and dyscalculia which also commonly co-occur.

Finally, Kirby and Saunders' paper describes an example of one prison where an embedded system for supporting individuals with LDDs' has been implemented. The use of an innovative computerised profiling system, along with staff training and use of peer mentors to deliver the screening aspect, has successfully started to change service delivery in this prison. This could be a potential model for other prisons to consider.

While it is encouraging that there is increasing awareness of the need to support individuals with LDDs' through the Criminal Justice System, there remains a challenge to ensure that all individuals with any LDD are supported and not just those conditions that are better known. This requires not only supporting the individual but considering how we make the environment more accessible starting with information we present at the start of the journey. A theme that extends across all the above papers is a need to for consistency. This includes systems to operate across disciplines; awareness by staff of all conditions and practical tools to assist; and a plea for consistent use of terminology.

Amanda Kirby is a CEO of Do-IT Solutions and one of the developers of the Profiling tool described. She is also a parent of an adult with DCD, dyslexia and ADHD.