The new December issue of In Focus magazine is out now! This issue explores how health and social care professionals can ensure that people with learning disabilities receive the same effective, safe, compassionate healthcare as everyone else.
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The new issue of In Focus magazine - the ageing issue is available to download from the LDT website at
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Thank you to @dimensionsuk@BILDUK Darren for contributing articles to the latest issue.
🎉The latest issue of Learning Disability Today In Focus is now available to download.
Subscribers can request the July issue of In Focus, which is about supporting people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) and includes articles on:
* How to make a difference to the lives of people with PMLD
* The Good Lives Framework and PMLD
* Ensuring good postural care
* SEND and PMLD
* Communication needs
* Healthcare needs of people with PMLD.
Tap on link in biođź”—
ARTICLE: How to improve water safety for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Autism, wandering and drowning have been described as the deadly triad that destroys lives. This article examines efforts to improve swimming skills and water safety for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
#autism #swimming #watersafety
To read, see the link in stories...
It's 1 week until our FREE webinar how to manage difficult behaviours using non-violent resistance in families with neurodiverse members. Learn about flexible, relationship-centred strategies and sign up via the LDT website under future events.
News: Over 1.3 million children and young people with Developmental Language Disorder risk being overlooked in the Government's SEND reforms, according to Speech and Language UK.
In its new report, The Missing Million, the charity calls on the Department of Education to build a SEND system that no longer misses children and young people with Developmental Language Disorder, but instead supports them and creates space for them to thrive.
It notes that while the Schools White Paper refers broadly to speech, language and communication, it does not clearly identify or protect one of the largest groups of children with additional needs, those with Developmental Language Disorder.
For more, see link in stories
#send #DLD #SALT
News. A new painless method of performing blood tests, currently being trialled by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), could help people with learning disabilities who are afraid of needles, pain, or clinical environments.
To read more, see the link in stories...
#learningdisability #autism #reasonableadjustments #learningdisabilitynurses #bloodtests
News: The Government has called for evidence on Personal Independence Payments (PIP), encouraging the public to share their experiences and insights to help ensure that any future reform remains fair and appropriate.
See more at the link in stories...
We're super excited to share @alexis.quinn.unbroken is speaking about how to end inappropriate detention of people with learning disabilities and autistic people at our webinar on 29 April. How do we shift from crisis-led institutional care to community-based support?
Register for your free place on 'future event's on the LDT website (link in bio).
Tomorrow is the closing day to enter the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders' Awards 2026, sponsored by Learning Disability Today.
Do you have a learning disability or autism?
Have you been involved in a project that has made a difference?
Would you like to shout about it from the rooftops?
Would you like to celebrate at an excellent ceremony in Bristol on 25 June?
Then sign up below. 👇
We look forward to hearing from you! 🥳
/how-to-enter/submit-your-entry/
*You can also nominate someone else!
#learningdisability #autism #selfadvocacy #Dimensions
Debate. After months of speculation, debate and delay, the Government has published its schools white paper, saying it “sets out a vision for education for the next decade, for a generation of children who will live into the next century”.
In her speech, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that the white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, is a blueprint for opportunity for all children, as the “disadvantage gap is still wide, children with SEND are sidelined, and bright children from ordinary families are still not achieving all that they should.”
She added: “The SEND system designed ten years ago for a small number of children is now broken. Parents end up fighting tooth and nail for entitlements on paper that don’t see them getting additional support. Children’s educations and lives have suffered.
“Today’s plans will take children with SEND from sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included. Every child will get the brilliant support they deserve, when they need it, as routine and without a fight.”
It all sounds promising in principle, but as always, the devil is in the details. So, what will the new reforms mean for children with learning disabilities and autistic children?
To read more, see link in stories...
#SEND #SchoolsWhitePaper
News. Campaigners have expressed concerns about a series of leaked reports in the national media suggesting reduced support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the long-awaited Schools White Paper, expected to be published early next week.
A report in The Times said that children’s legal right to special needs support will be reviewed under stricter criteria when they move to secondary school, to scale back “rigid” statutory requirements that have driven soaring costs.
It also suggests that pupils in England with less complex and serious needs, including many with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, will no longer be deemed eligible for education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
To read more see link in stories...
#SEND #EHCPs #SaveOurChildrensRights
