Background: The terms idiot, imbecile, and moron are generally associated with notions of intelligence, having served both scientific and mundane roles across cultural-historical contexts and in many different countries. This study seeks to explore the degree to which the use of these terms is an everyday part of our lives and to map out the…

Background: The mental health and well-being of individuals can be positively affected by improving facial appearance through orthodontic treatment. However, research is limited on the relationship between facial appearance and self-concept of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Materials and methods: This scoping review includes 19…

Background: There is a wealth of research on adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) covering a large range of topics such as obesity, speech and language, education and health-related quality of life. However, for quality of life, much of the available literature for adolescents with DS relies on parent proxy reporting. This results in more research…

Background: Young people with learning disabilities are frequently underrepresented in research accounts. This study describes the experiences of young people moving from the care system. Methods: We scoped the English and Swedish literature for first-hand accounts and interviewed four young people with learning disabilities leaving the English…

Background: Health consultations are an interpersonal activity that influence health outcomes and attitudes towards self and health professionals for people with learning disabilities. Annual health checks have been introduced to improve health inequalities for people with learning disabilities. Method: A narrative literature review of health care…

Estimates suggest that around a quarter of adults with learning disabilities living in the community have difficulties controlling their anger. Angry or aggressive behaviour can have serious repercussions, including loss of residential or day placements, admission to hospital and reduced quality of life. In addition, the psychological well being…

The article begins with a critical look at the existing literature explaining self-injury by people with significant learning disabilities and self-harm by those with mental health difficulties. It suggests that the different conceptualizations are perhaps less distinct than might initially appear, and that behavioural similarities between those…

Background: Buccal midazolam is widely used in children for the emergency treatment of epilepsy, and these children are graduating into adult learning disability services. Aims: The aim of this paper was to appraise the evidence for buccal midazolam as a treatment for prolonged seizures in adults with learning disabilities. Method: A literature…

In his capacity as a Clinical Psychologist the author provides psychological support to people with learning disabilities living in hospital and in the community. Frequently, the problem behaviour highlighted in referral letters (such as sexualized behaviour, anger management or self-harm) is formulated as relating to a past history of abuse and…

It is argued that challenging behavior can be better understood if a correlational analysis (looking for correlations between behavior occurrence and other variables) is used in addition to functional analysis. A case example is provided of a man whose aggressive outbursts were negatively correlated with trips out of his unit. (Contains…