How to draw parents with learning disabilities into meetings
Child protection meetings can be daunting for anybody and even more so for a parent with learning disabilities struggling to understand what is being said. Alison Matthews explains her system using drawings to communicate crucial information.
A significant proportion of people with learning disabilities have problems with communication. These can often be hidden, especially with understanding spoken and written language. Meetings increase the load on someone’s ability to understand and retain information and when the subject is child protection a lack of understanding can be perceived as non-compliance.
When I first experienced a child protection meeting as a speech & language therapist, I felt powerless. The process was daunting but my over-riding concern was that I knew the mother involved was unlikely to follow the content of the meeting at the pace it was delivered and in the style used. I was also concerned that the social worker would not get across crucial information and it would be unlikely their guidance would be followed.
I asked to introduce some adaptations which after much practice became known as a communication facilitator role (Matthews and Stansfield 2013). This can have a positive impact on meetings and enhance the work of the social worker, ensuring guidance is understood and processes adapted.
Slowing down the pace
There are several straight forward steps which can improve a parent’s ability to process information. These include some obvious changes such as slowing down the pace of the meeting, avoiding jargon, only one person speaking at once and explaining why some advice is offered.
Another aid is the introduction of line drawings. Using flip charts at a core group meeting we introduced the idea of line drawings as communication support and altered the structure of the meeting to take into account the person’s learning needs and their communication impairment. The structure centred around two questions: ‘What’s going well?’ and ’What are we worried about?’ with a ‘Next steps’ action plan on a final sheet.
Each person was invited to say what they felt was going well, including the parents. A corresponding simple line drawing was drawn by hand onto the flip chart paper, supported by a simple sentence. There are many benefits to this for the individual with learning disabilities: it reduces the memory load, acts as communication support and shifts the focus of the meeting towards shared understanding.
The ‘What’s going well?’ section really had an impact as the parent received positive comments which made the section on ‘What are we worried about?’ easier to listen to. The collective concerns were then explained and discussed supported by simple drawings and writing. The reason behind any concerns is often implied but with this approach they are explicitly stated ensuring the parent has a fuller appreciation of the concerns raised about their children. Understanding risk and weighing up decisions can be tricky for people with learning disabilities and they may need support to think through the reasons why certain choices are more advisable.
We sometimes fail to recognise that the language used in meetings can be abstract as we are so used to our terminology. Prioritising tasks may seem obvious to us but for a parent given so much advice may struggle to work out what needs to happen first, when it needs to happen, or what the consequences will be if they don’t follow the steps. The use of simple line drawings can make a real difference to social work led meetings. It doesn’t have to be a meeting for parents with learning disabilities; many people would benefit from picture-based support.
In our new organisation Total Communication CIC we have set about trying to promote the use of line drawings. We offer courses in supporting parents with learning disabilities and we are developing resources to support communication with a variety of groups. We recognise not everyone feels confident drawing but would urge people to give it a try.
Culturally sensitive ways
Another factor is how appropriate the images are for different cultures. My business partner, Shahnaz Ashraf, and I, both speech & language therapists, are often at a loss to find culturally appropriate images. We addressed this by beginning with some images depicting families from Asian backgrounds. Our service aims to promote person-centred communication support for adults with learning disabilities, choice, inclusion and personalisation. We worked with our graphic artist Angie Brain and with financial support from Small Good Stuff and the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists, we created a bank of line drawings, enabling others to support choice and understanding in more culturally sensitive ways.
To access our image bank TC Pix, please sign up to our mailing list by contacting us on info@totalcommunication.org. We will be releasing the pictures in batches of 25 to give us time to organise them. We have 225 images to give away for free!
Reference
Supporting communication for parents with intellectual impairments: communication facilitation in social work led parenting meetings.
Alison Matthews and Jois Stansfield, British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 42, 3, p.244-250, Sept 2014.
Alison Matthews, Speech & Language Therapist, Total Communication CIC
Website: http://totalcommunication.orgTwitter: @TotalCommOrg
E mail: info@totalcommunication.org
