Understanding autism and learning disability (LD) impacting the care/support given to the patients

1-day workshop

• What is a learning disability
• Causes and prevalence
• Be aware of historical issues/experiences and the impact of these on people
• Identify support needs of adults with learning disabilities and ways of ensuring person-centred support
• What is autism and learning disability
• Prevalence of autism in people with learning disabilities
• Know how to identify and support communication needs of autistic people with a learning disability
• Understand diagnostic overshadowing and how to avoid it
• Identify ways of supporting anxiety and stress
• Understand STOMP and how to use this in practice
• Establish what good support would be in your service

2 day workshop

DAY 1

• Understanding the importance of autistic perspectives
• Reflection on own values
• Describe diagnostic criteria and areas of difference in autism
• Discuss neurodiversity and co-occurring conditions
• Discuss adjustments in approach and environment to meet the needs of young autistic people in your service
• Describe some of the theories around autism and their impact on young autistic people
• Understand stress and anxiety in relation to the areas of difference
• Describe causes for increased anxiety
• Reflection on adjustments and how to support autistic people during meltdowns/shutdowns
• Recognise the importance and impact of language used when supporting autistic people
• Understand why autistic people rely on repetitive behaviours and interests to manage anxiety levels
• Identify ways of supporting autistic people with high-levels of anxiety and the importance of low-arousal approach
• Understanding how and when PBS may be useful in supporting autistic people
• Identify tips and strategies for developing a therapeutic relationship with someone and engagement with families

DAY 2

• Understand how autistic people can be affected by trauma and how Mental Health services may contribute to this
• Explain how the survival system is triggered and why this happens
• How to use the Window of Tolerance model to understand how behaviour can appear unpredictable
• Plan for how things could be done differently from the start of an admission (using a case study)
• Understand what forensic settings are
• Autism and criminal justice system and how behaviour may be misunderstood
• What the diagnostic challenges of secure services are
• Understanding risks and ways of managing these
• Understand interpersonal and engagement challenges faced by autistic people in secure services
• Identifying reasonable adjustments and SPELL framework
• Identify challenges and ways of overcoming these in discharge from secure services

This is a fully co-produced training with subject matter expert clinicians and autistic people, following the standards of the Autism Core Capability Framework 2019.