assessment and treatment units

Lockdown on the spectrum: how autistic adults and families of children with the condition are coping with the coronavirus lockdown that has closed schools, slashed respite and limited access to the outdoors to one trip a day. Darren Devine highlights the experiences of one Scottish family facing struggles common to many during the lockdown.

100 learning disabled and autistic service users share vision for the care they’d like to receive.

Paid and unpaid carer sickness, stringent self-isolation measures, and increased personal caring commitments make for a depleting social care workforce. Here's what the Care Act easements under the Coronavirus Act 2020 means...

The Social Care Funding and Workforce inquiry will not examine wider questions relating to social care such as financial eligibility or how to raise extra funds for social care.

The use of drugs like stimulants, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics has been increasing with children for several decades across the world. But how far do schools force or pressurise parents into medicating? Darren Devine reports.

Supporters say animal-assisted intervention for autism bolsters social skills and provides unconditional companionship. But what does scientific research reveal about the value of spending time with a furry friend? 

Emily Burke uses her experience of being admitted to psychiatric wards to highlight the adjustments that can be made to make this already unfamiliar and often uncomfortable environment a bit less distressing for autistic people. 

Like all frontline services, Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provisions are coming under increased financial pressure. But could implementing case management technology leave more time to engage with pupils?

Deemed 'uncaring, undignified and disrespectful' in a 2019 inspection report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), St Andrew's Healthcare has plans to reduce the numbers of patients in its Child and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS) units by more than two thirds.

The Family Carer Support Service, delivered by the national charity, offers free support to any family carer in England who has a relative with a learning disability or autism.