Practice Leadership refers to individuals who have direct front-line responsibility for leading the practice of staff on a day-to-day basis, such as operational leaders and managers in services for people with autism and intellectual disabilities. A good practice leader creates cultures and puts values into action. They deliver great support. A practice leader implements our best endeavours. A good leader makes all the difference. This book lays out the steps to achieving great practice leadership in services for people with autism and intellectual disabilities, such as care homes or supported living. It explains how practice leadership delivers support and care using the principles of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS). The book outlines what practice leadership should look like in context, how to do it and why it matters. It draws from real-life case studies throughout and each section encourages discussion and reflection. Refreshingly warm, humorous and jargon free, this is an indispensable guide for professionals in services working with people with intellectual disability or autism at any level.

This highly practical book is an accessible and grounded handbook for addressing challenging behaviour in children and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), including autism. It recognises that challenging behaviour does not appear out of nowhere and is meaningful for the person exhibiting it. Behaviour can be communicative and an important signifier of underlying sensory or environmental issues. Focusing on a person-centred approach throughout, the book has advice and strategies for working with the client's families, support staff and professionals. It also presents best practice for analysing and addressing challenging behaviour in various settings such as schools, hospitals and the home, all while stressing the need to keep the human story at the heart of any assessment and intervention. Each chapter features questions for discussion or reflection and exercises for the reader to complete. Informal, frank and free of jargon, this is indispensable for professionals, parents, and anyone working with people with intellectual disability or autism.

This handbook presents a diverse range of effective treatment approaches for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Its triple focus on key concepts, treatment and training modalities, and evidence-based interventions for challenging behaviors of individuals with IDD provides a solid foundation for effective treatment strategies, theory-to-implementation issues, and the philosophical and moral aspects of care. Expert contributions advocate for changes in treating individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by emphasizing caregiver support as well as respecting and encouraging client autonomy, self-determination, and choice. With its quality-of-life approach, the handbook details practices that are person-centered and supportive as well as therapeutically sound. Topics featured in the handbook include: Functional and preference assessments for clinical decision making. Treatment modalities from cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy to mindfulness, telehealth, and assistive technologies. Self-determination and choice as well as community living skills. Quality-of-life issues for individuals with IDD. Early intensive behavior interventions for autism spectrum disorder. Skills training for parents of children with IDD as well as staff training in positive behavior support. Evidence-based interventions for a wide range of challenging behaviors and issues. The Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in clinical psychology, social work, behavior therapy, and rehabilitation.

This textbook provides a state of the art of the knowledge on the prevalence, risk and etiological factors, clinical features, assessment procedures and tools, diagnostic criteria, treatment, and prognosis of the psychiatric disorders encountered in people with intellectual disability (ID) and low-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ID and ASD represent two meta-syndromic groups of several different conditions, each with particular cognitive and communication features. People with ID/ASD display an increased prevalence of a variety of psychiatric disorders, including psychotic disorders, mood disorders, anxiety and stress-related disorders, somatoform disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well behavioral syndromes, personality disorders, and disorders due to psychoactive substance use. This book will enable readers to understand the specificities of psychiatric disorders in the context of ID/ASD. It explains clearly how diagnostic criteria and assessment procedures for psychiatric disorders that were created for the general population have to be modified for use with ID/ASD. Above all, it will enable clinicians to overcome difficulties in diagnosis and to deliver more effective care that meets the particular needs of patients with ID/ASD.

Challenging Behaviour and People with Intellectual Disabilities (second edition) addresses the need for an up-to-date handbook which, while well-grounded in research and latest clinical practice, is essentially non-academic and accessible for staff occupying many roles, for example, support workers and managers in learning disability service settings, community learning disability teams, psychologists, psychiatrists and other professionals who may find themselves supporting a person with an intellectual disability from time to time, as well as family members and students of both mental health and intellectual disability. The new edition is a complete revision and updating of content, aiming to address key knowledge requirements and concerns of people working in the field, with opportunities for reflection and professional development. The content is illustrated by case studies to help the reader explore how to best to address issues in practice.

Intellectual disability (ID), once called mental retardation, is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. People with intellectual disabilities can and do learn new skills, but they learn them slowly. The proposed book argues for alternative and innovative approaches to leadership in intellectual disability service provision. It does this in the light of service scandals including Winterborne View (UK), Oswald D. Heck (USA), Aras Attracta (Ireland) and many others. The book will explore the failed leadership issues underpinning such debacles and then examine how the context for intellectual disability service provision has changed. It will then propose alternative models for service leadership that are contiguous with the changed landscape, ending with exemplary vignettes outlining situations where such innovative change is happening.

This open access book critically engages with the social, political and ethical implications of support for people with disability to be fully included in society. The authors examine contemporary issues of quality and safeguarding in disability services, translating research and practice wisdom into foundational knowledge. Written by leading researchers, the book provides a comprehensive overview of knowledge and practice necessary to prepare readers to deliver enabling support.