Resources and Information
You are welcome to use these resources and information as long as the source is acknowledged and there is no infringement of copyright.
Please get in touch if you have any queries about this.
Scroll through the resources or jump to a topic using boxes below.
How to be part of the world of work
One of our latest resources is a new section of the I’m Thinking Ahead guide: ‘How to be part of the world of work’. There is more information about the guide on the ‘Young people’ and the ‘Adult life’ pages.
The PDF contains fillable text boxes (tinted blue) that you can type into to save your ideas. You will first need to download and save to create an offline copy. The coloured tint in the text boxes will not appear when you print a copy.
Download the guide here
Would a localised version of this guide be useful in your area? We can create a version, with additional information about services and organisations, for your local authority (you can view the version for Essex County Council on our Resources and Information/Essex page). Please email if you would like to discuss.
Thinking Ahead: a planning guide for families
A guide to support families in talking about, and planning for, the future. The PDF contains fillable text boxes (tinted blue) that you can type into to save your ideas. You will need to download and save to create an offline copy. The coloured tint in the text boxes will not appear when you print a copy.
Click here to download.
Individual sections of the guide (without fillable text boxes)
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2. Making plans for the future in a person-centred way
3. Building friendships and support networks
4. Talking about difficult subjects
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7. Making a plan for emergencies
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I’m Thinking Ahead
An easy read book for people with learning disabilities that helps with thinking and talking about their ideas for their future. Some people may choose to use it on their own but family members, paid supporters and practitioners in social care, health, education and advocacy can use the templates to have better conversations and give support with future planning.
The PDF contains fillable text boxes (tinted blue) that you can type into to save your ideas. You will need to download and save to create an offline copy. This helps with sharing ideas with others, saving for future reference and updating. The coloured tint in the text boxes will not appear when you print a copy.
Individual sections of the guide
Thinking Ahead: Improving support for people with learning disabilities and their families to plan for the future
A short report about the research and development work behind the planning guide as well as recommendations to implement good practice in planning the future in your area.
Information for family carers to get the support they need and put emergency plans in place.
A guide for family carers, people in their network and organisations providing support.
Making a plan for emergencies: guidance and templates
This guide to making a plan for emergencies is part of Thinking Ahead: a planning guide for families (see above). It brings together in one document information about the steps to create a well thought through emergency plan, and templates to fill in to store possible options, important information and contacts. The template can be shared with other family members, support workers/PAs and health and social care organisations. It helps families to think about what they can put in place to prevent an emergency situation, such as a family carer going into hospital, turning into a crisis.
Template for your Annual Review: thinking about what’s working well and what could be better
A template to help people plan for their review. Use it to think about what’s working well and what could be better. Make sure discussions at the meeting are focused on what is important to the person whose review it is. Comments can be written under headings for topics you are likely to want to cover in a review. There is space for the views of:
- the person whose review it is
- their family carers
- providers of support
Download here
The PDF contains fillable text boxes (tinted blue) that you can type into to save your ideas, share with others and update. You will first need to download and save to create an offline copy. The coloured tint in the text boxes wil not appear when you print a copy
How to support people with learning disabilities and/or autism to take part in their Annual Review
A guide written for family carers and support providers who are helping people to take part in their annual review (and other meetings) with Adult Social Care. Use it to help people participate, particularly those who find meetings stressful, difficult or boring. It also includes ideas to help people who do not feel able to go to meetings, to contribute in other ways.
Growing Older Evaluation Toolkit
The toolkit provides an assessment tool and action plan for organisations to improve support to people with learning disabilities as they grow older. It can also be used by families to check the quality of their relative’s support.
Planning Ahead: supporting families to shape the future after a diagnosis of dementia (chapter in Intellectual Disability and Dementia)
This book chapter, written by Christine Towers and Heather Wilkinson, is based on the ideas in Thinking Ahead for planning the future. It suggests ways in which practitioners can support families to think about the options, following a diagnosis of dementia, to make sure their relative is supported in a person-centred way.
Talking Together: facilitating peer support activities to help people with learning disabilities understand about growing older and living with dementia
This handbook describes 20 activities to help people with learning disabilities to think and talk about the changes that may occur as they get older. The activities will be helpful to a variety of people including those working in housing and support, daytime activities and community teams.
In addition, we wrote training resources for Pavilion Publishing:
- A self-study guide (useful in any support organisation, for PAs, family carers, community organisations)
- A training manual (for organisations and trainers)
People with Learning Disabilities as Carers
An easy to read presentation about people with learning disabilities having a caring role.
Being a Carer and Having a Carer’s Assessment
An easy to read resource pack to help people with learning disabilities, who help to look after someone else, to have a carers’ assessment and get the support they need.