Background: Previous research has found that active support is effective at increasing levels of participation in activities and supporting a good quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities. However, there has been little research on the effect of active support on other outcome measures. Methods: This study uses observational…

Background: Studies of engagement in meaningful activity often focus on a short period during the afternoon. The question arises whether this produces different results from studies covering the whole day. Methods: Data collected for 18 individuals using a 20-s momentary time-sample from 08:00 to 19:00 over a number of days for each person were…

Background: Adult protection monitoring data held by local authorities in England provide opportunities to examine referrals for alleged sexual abuse for people with intellectual disability to identify patterns of risk. Methods: Adult protection monitoring data collected by two local authorities was analysed, with referrals for alleged sexual…

Background: There has been increasing recognition of the importance and extent of abuse of vulnerable adults, including people with intellectual disabilities, leading to the development of monitoring systems. This paper reports findings from one of the largest databases in the UK collected between 1998 and 2005. Method: Analysis of the 1926…

Background: Despite the acknowledged difficulties of measuring satisfaction for people with intellectual disabilities, the current study examined the quality of life (QoL) of the Camberwell Cohort, a total population sample of people with severe intellectual disability and/or autism [Wing & Gould, "Epidemiology and Classification," 9, 1979, 11].…

Background: National minimum standards for residential care homes were introduced following the Care Standards Act 2000 in response to concern about the lack of consistency and poor quality services. These standards are intended to reflect outcomes for service users and to be comprehensive in scope. Method: This study compared ratings made by care…

Background: An important question in community living is what factors influence the extent to which staff provide "active support". Methods: Engagement, care practices and a range of staff and organizational characteristics were studied in 72 residential homes serving 359 adults with intellectual disabilities. Managers in 36 settings were trained…

Background: This study presents data on the characteristics of the Camberwell Cohort, 25 years after they were first assessed in the 1970s [Wing & Gould (1979) "Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia" vol. 9, pp. 11-29]. It also presents data on changes over time which adds to that presented in Beadle-Brown et al. ["Journal of Intellectual…

Background: This critical review considers the nature and importance of person-centred planning in the context of current British policy and service development in intellectual disability. The difference between person-centred planning and other kinds of individual planning is discussed. Materials and method: The scale of the task of implementing…

This paper responds to four commentaries on our original paper in this issue. We respond to issues raised under three headings addressing the scale of the task envisaged in the 2001 White Paper "Valuing People," the feasibility and effectiveness of individual planning and how to achieve person-centred action. We conclude that there is substantial…

Background: It was proposed by Rogers & Pennington (1991) that an early deficit in imitation, together with a cascade of developmental disorders in emotion sharing and Theory of Mind, could be important in understanding autism. Having already found that imitation appeared not to be specifically or universally impaired in autism, the present study…