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In 2002, a Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability in Northern Ireland was launched, which reported during 2005‐6 and produced a framework for future learning disability and mental health services. This article will address three broad areas: first, it will provide an overview of the current structure of health and social services within Northern Ireland and summarise how these structures are expected to change within the next few years. Second, it will outline the key policy objectives in relation to the health of people with learning disabilities, giving particular attention to individuals among this population who develop mental health problems. Third, it will consider some key challenges that may lie ahead if the recently stated policy objectives are to be realised.

This paper reports on the evaluation of a training event conducted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Homefirst Community Trust. Participants' attitudes were measured prior to and following the training, which was designed to increase awareness of the knowledge and skills necessary for effective joint investigations of alleged crimes against vulnerable adults.

The importance of effective education for staff working in services for people with learning disabilities has been highlighted regularly as a key strategy for improving the quality of care and services. However, there has also been debate about how this could be taken forward for unqualified staff, within and across professional boundaries. This paper explores the perceived need for education to make a reality of the visions of future services that have been presented in the current learning disability policies in the United Kingdom. It is argued that increased attention needs to be given to recruitment, selection and retention, revised curriculum to reflect policy objectives, shared learning, and partnership between educational and service providers. It is also noted that it is not enough to prepare people who can work competently in existing services; they must also have a contemporary combination of knowledge, skills, values, motivation and commitment that will enable them to develop services over the next 10‐15 years, in line with the vision of existing service policy documents.

Although studies have shown that electronic media exposure can negatively affect infants’ and young children’s language development, exposure to these forms of media is increasing in North America. To better understand the types of electronic media exposure and their potential effects, we utilized naturalistic daylong recordings collected in the homes of bilingual Spanish–English infants of Latinx descent (n = 37). The present study examines contextual aspects of electronic media exposure, and the effects of electronic media on two types of parent–infant social interactions associated with child language development: parentese (a style of infant-directed speech distinguished by its higher pitch, slower tempo, and exaggerated intonation) and parent–infant turn-taking. Using Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA), two daylong audio recordings were collected from each family. These recordings were manually annotated for electronic media type, directedness, language, parental support, parentese, and turn-taking. Our results showed that the infants in our study experienced exposure to many different forms of electronic media, in both English and Spanish, and that the programming was predominantly adult-directed rather than child-directed. While both parentese and turn-taking were reduced in the presence of electronic media, the strength of these effects was modulated by electronic media sources, demonstrating that various devices differentially affect parental language input. These results provide a glimpse into what types of media young bilingual Spanish–English learning infants are experiencing and can help researchers design language interventions that are inclusive and relevant for families from these populations.

A new type of laser interferometer, developed at the National Physical Laboratory and produced by Linear Instruments, is challenging existing methods for accurate measurement and calibration. Managing director Kenneth Owen talked about it to Jack Hollingum.

Research examining multicultural competence among higher education professionals responsible for leadership education demonstrated significant correlations with racial identity and multicultural education and experiences. The Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs-Preliminary 2 (MCSA-P2) scale was used to measure multicultural competence. Variances in multicultural competence scores were significant in relation to racial identity and select multicultural education and experience measures, above and beyond controlled for demographic variables.