Topic One: Violent and Challenging Behaviour in Children with Learning Disabilities and Autism – how you can help to make a difference

Guest speaker: Yvonne Newbold, World Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) Ambassador – Learning Disabilities, Autism, and their Families

Around 25% of children who are diagnosed with a learning disability or autism will develop violent and challenging behaviour, yet there is very little understanding or awareness of this issue, even among clinicians and other professionals who work with affected families. This means that affected families, who are already coping with frightening and dangerous situations every day at home, are often met with disbelief, judgement and blame from the people they turn to for help. This can be one of many barriers to accessing the help that families need; most families never get the appropriate help and interventions on behalf of their child. Without such help, these children are at a high risk of entering the criminal justice system as young adults, or spending long periods of their adulthood in locked mental health units. We can do much better than this for our children and young people. Please join Yvonne Newbold who will talk us through some simple strategies that could make all the difference.

Topic Two: Creating a Positive Behaviour Support organisational and workforce development framework for TCPs and Service Providers

Guest speaker: Sarah Leitch, British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD)

The overall aim of Positive Behaviour Support is to improve quality of life. This webinar describes the Positive Behaviour Support workforce development framework Black Country TCP commissioned from BILD. This provides other TCPs with a model to prevent the need to reinvent the wheel.

The framework had to be flexible enough for a workforce who provide support to people with a range of needs within a range of different service types and structures. It also had to be robust enough to ensure clear competencies were established at every level and underpinned by knowledge of how learning is best transferred into practice. It used the Positive Behaviour Support Competence framework (developed by PBS Academy) as an underpinning structure. The importance of practice leaders to support organisational and workforce development is also discussed in the webinar.