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The purpose of this paper is to outline the role played by different aspects of the social, physical and organisational environments in preventing behaviour described as challenging in people with learning disabilities.

Conceptual elaboration drawing on research and practice literature.

Community placements for people with learning disabilities should develop the characteristics of capable environments. Such characteristics are associated with prevention of challenging behaviour and improved quality of life outcomes.

The notion of the capable environment may help to shift the focus from the individual who displays behaviour described as challenging to the characteristics of the social, physical and organisational supports that they receive.

The purpose of this paper is to present data about the experiences of adults with learning disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic across the UK.

Interviews were conducted with 609 adults with learning disabilities. Family carers and support staff of another 351 adults with learning disabilities completed a proxy online survey. The data were collected between December 2020 and February 2021 and concerned both worries/negatives and anything positive that had happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social isolation was the most commonly reported worry/negative for adults with learning disabilities, with other frequently reported worries/negatives including: changes to/loss of routine; loss of support/services; and decreased health/well-being/fitness. A large proportion of participants indicated that nothing positive had happened because of COVID-19, but some positives were reported, including: digital inclusion; more time spent with important people; improved health/well-being/fitness; and, a slower pace of life.

Future pandemic planning must ensure that adults with learning disabilities are supported to maintain social contact with the people who matter to them and to support their health and well-being (including maintaining access to essential services and activities). Some adults with learning disabilities may benefit from additional support to improve their digital confidence and access. This may in turn enable them to maintain contact with family, friends and support services/activities.

This is the largest study about the experiences of adults with learning disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. The authors primarily collected data directly from adults with learning disabilities and worked with partner organisations of people with learning disabilities throughout the study.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the difficulties highlighted by Ntinas around supporting change in services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This commentary examines what is needed for change and reflects on staff culture.

The authors propose that it is not sensible to separate the culture of a service from the implementation of person-centred approaches and attempt to map how the concepts overlap and are interconnected.

Whilst some elements of culture are clearly important in order to start the process of change, other elements will change as an intervention is introduced and embedded.

Bowring et al. describe ways of using the Behavior Problems Inventory – Short Form, illustrating how to use clinical norms to evaluate change. This commentary focuses on the importance of considering information gained directly from people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) during assessment. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A pilot project involved interviews with four children with IDD. A Talking Mats® (TM) framework was used to gather children’s views regarding challenging behaviours (CBs) and variables relevant to a functional behavioural assessment, such as things they found to be reinforcing, things that set the occasion for CB and things that helped prevent this.

The children were able to provide information and insight into several areas that are influential in the maintenance of behaviour that challenges. Some of this information may not have been obtainable from other sources or informants using traditional assessment methods alone.

Gathering the views of people with IDD is important. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2009) states that people have the right to be heard. Many people with IDD have difficulties communicating. A TM framework is one method by which people may be able to express their views. Taking the views of the individual into account during the process of gathering information about behaviours that challenge should lead to greater understanding of the functions of any behaviours and therefore to more targeted, acceptable and effective forms of support.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the effectiveness of Talking Mats® (TM) in evaluating service users’ experiences, and explore their views of the implementation of person-centred active support (PCAS).

This is a mixed-methods study, employing qualitative interviewing and observational measures.

Both qualitative and quantitative measures indicated inconsistent implementation of PCAS. It was possible to effectively gain participants’ views on positive and negative aspects of quality of support and quality of life, using TM, across three themes, My life, My support and Self-determination.

Generalisability of the research may be limited due to the sample, and the potential for researcher and interviewer bias is acknowledged.

TM provides a mechanism that may facilitate the inclusion of the views and experiences of people with intellectual and developmental disability (PWIDD) who have limited verbal skills. Their views need to be reflected in adaptions made to PCAS.

This study included a population who are often left out of qualitative research because of the methodologies adopted. It also included older PWIDD, where there has been less research about the effectiveness of TM.

The purpose of this article is to provide a commentary on Harding et al.'s article about the involvement of people with learning disabilities in university teaching and conference presentations.

The article reviews research into communication strengths and needs and into communication partnerships between service users and members of staff with a view to identifying communication barriers to the involvement of people with learning disabilities.

The generally poor communication environments in which people are supported are likely to limit opportunities for involvement.

It is suggested that increased involvement is likely to result from increased quality of daily communication. This may best occur as part of general service‐wide approaches to improving service quality, such as person‐centred active support.