Glossary

Term

Active Listening    







Adjusting Communication   







Autonomy




Behaviour Support Plan 



Challenging Behaviour 
  









Choice 


Core Values  



Disengaged 




Engaged(ment) 





Every Moment Has Potential 




Exercise Rights





Graded Assistance  


Human Diversity

Inclusion  




Independence 





Little & Often 



Maximising Choice & Control



Meaningful Activities




Person Centred Approach









Person Centred Planning


Person Centred Thinking 


Person Centred(ness)  









Physical Context


Positive Behaviour Support






Positive Language






Practice Leader






Preferences

Professor Jim Mansell  



Profound Intellectual Disability




 Rights based 






Self-Stimulatory Behaviour



Social Context




Social Relationships   




Social Interactions 

Values in Action  
 

Definition

Paying attention to what a person is saying whether this is listening to their words or watching the expressions on their face, their movements or gestures. This is what one practice leader said:
“It’s listening to everything, not just what they’re saying but also body language and things like that. Asking questions about them, trying to work out what is actually going on, paying attention to everything. For example, on a recent visit I could see Paul was pacing by the door, so I could see that even though he was not verbally saying anything that he wanted to go out, but he was waiting for the support worker to say ‘It’s okay to go out”.    

Understanding as best you can a person’s level of comprehension or understanding. Do they understand single words or abstract ideas, can they understand what pictures or signs represent?  You then need to change the way you communicate, to ensure you enable the people you work with to understand.  You can do this by using signs, gestures, pictures, symbols or just slowing down and making your language simpler. It also means giving the people you work with the best help possible to get their message across to you and others. You can do this by offering simple choice, using a yes/no switch, using pictures and objects and using active listening.    

Exercising choice and making decisions about aspects of your own life.  This can extend from where to live and who to live with, to what to wear, where to sit and whether the radio is on when you wake up or not. Making choices and exercising autonomy depends on the support people receive and having a range of experiences to choose from. 

Behaviour management strategy which provides guidance about triggers and responses to a person's challenging behaviour. In most States, restrictive practices can only be used if they are set out in a person’s Behaviour Support Plan. 

“Culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy,  or which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities” (Emerson, 1995, p., 4-5). 
Some types of behaviours that are considered to be challenging include self-harming (e.g. head banging, eye poking); aggressive behaviour that directly harms another person (e.g. hitting, kicking, punching, pushing, spitting on); physical threats (e.g. fist waving); destructive behaviour which directly damages, overturns or disarranges property (e.g. throws crockery, smashes windows, tips over chairs, pours liquid onto carpet); inappropriate vocalisations (e.g. threatening, swearing, shouting, growling); inappropriate sexual behaviour or pica (consumption of substances with no significant nutritive value such as earth or ice).  

Expression of a preference from a range of options. Choice enables people to have control over their own life.    

Values and beliefs that guide the way people think, act and talk. In disability policy and disability support work, the core values are that people with intellectual disability are valued and equal members of our society.

When people are not doing anything, are bored, or isolated, they are disengaged, not through their own choice but because the assistance they need to participate in activities is unavailable.  When disengaged they may pace around, or engage in various types of self-stimulatory or challenging behaviours.  

Participating in some form of meaningful activity or in social interaction. This can range from household tasks, hobbies, leisure pursuits, exercise, social activities or social relationships. Engagement is the means to social and physical wellbeing and enriches anyone’s life. Supporting people to be engaged is a key principle of working with people with intellectual disability who often need support to initiate or participate in activities. 

One of the 4 Essentials of Person Centred Active Support. Every part of the day – every household task – every social interaction in the community holds moments of potential for a person with intellectual disability to be involved. The challenge is to find those moments and provide the right type of support. 

People with disability are entitled to the same rights as other people in the community.  Key rights are set out in disability policy and legislation and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability.  Some of the rights in the Convention are the right to live in the community and to participate in the community. All people but particularly those with a disability need resources and support to make these rights real, that means to exercise them or put them into practice. 

One of the 4 Essentials of Person Centred Active Support. Giving just the right amount and type of support to enable a person to succeed. 

Understanding that each individual is unique and recognising individual differences.  

Ensuring everyone has the same opportunities to participate in community life and to take their place in society as respected citizens. Key aspects of inclusion are: social relationships, participation in education, employment, family, and having a say about the decisions that affect your life and the community you live in.   

Doing things for yourself, making your own decisions about how you live. Most people are not fully independent and rely on others for advice, or assistance. We call this interdependence. People with intellectual disability need more help than other people to do things they want to do. It is important not to give too much help or support as this makes people too dependent on others and can take away their choice and control.   

One of the 4 Essentials of Person Centre Active Support. It is hard for some people with intellectual disability to be engaged in an activity for a long time. Little and often gives people the chance to stop, take a break and then come back to an activity. 

One of the 4 Essentials of Person Centred Active Support. Supporting people to make as many choices about how they spend their day as possible. The more choices a person can make the more control and input they have over their own life.    

Activities in the home or in the community, that serves a purpose.  For example, work that needs to be done around their home, such as washing up, or activities that reflect a person’s interests or hobbies , such as swimming or running, watching their favourite TV show, or  that they enjoy doing just for the sake of it.    

‘Supporting individuals to live as independently as possible, have choice and control over the services they use and access to both wider public and community services and employment and education. Rather than fitting people to services, services should fit the person’ (SCIE, 2010, p 5). Person Centred Approaches have three core elements; 
-   Individualisation - finely tailored to the needs and wishes of the individual; 
-   Responsiveness - adapt to the changing needs and continually shape support to the needs of the            individual;
-   Control - individuals exercise control over the type of services and support they receive (Mansell,          2005). 

Is a way of assisting people to work out what they want, what is important to them; the support they require and helping them get it.  

It means putting the person at the centre of planning for their lives, listening to them and helping them think about what they want now and in the future.

Same meaning as Person Centred Approach. ‘Supporting individuals to live as independently as possible, have choice and control over the services they use and access to both wider public and community services and employment and education. Rather than fitting people to services, services should fit the person’ (SCIE, 2010, p 5). It has three core elements ; 
-   Individualisation - finely tailored to the needs and wishes of the individual; 
-   Responsiveness - adapt to the changing needs and continually shape support to the needs of the            individual’ 
-   Control - individuals exercise control over the type of services and support they receive (Mansell,          2005).    

The nature of what is in the space around a person or object. This can range from for example, the colour of their bedroom walls and the furniture to the design and location of a person’s home. 

An approach to support people with challenging behaviour.  It seeks to understand the context within which challenging behaviour occurs and promoting outcomes that enhance their quality of life delivered through individualised and long term improvements in support. Positive Behaviour Support therefore focuses attention on the development of a constructive, functionally informed approach to providing enhancements in the environment and the capacity of the individual. Person Centred Active Support is a key element of Positive Behaviour Support. 

Avoiding simply saying ‘No’. For example, one support worker said,
“We’ve been told not to say ‘No’….But if you kept on giving [coffee] to Jimmy, he’ll have one hundred coffees a day… So you say, ‘Yes, you can have coffee, but at 10 o’clock’. So, you’re not saying, ‘You can’t have it’, but he’s going to have it at morning tea….This way, it’s reassuring. He’s going to get it, but not right now”.
Also means that support workers affirm a person’s self-worth in their social interaction with the people they support. 

A person who is either a direct line manager or in a specialist position and is a skilled practitioner whose role is to support and guide the practice of support workers. Being a practice leader involves: supervising staff, leading team meetings, coaching support workers, modelling good practice, and planning shifts for support workers so they know where and with whom they will be working. A practice leader aims to ensure that everything that happens in a disability support service is focussed on supporting people with disability to have the best possible quality of life. 

A person's choice.  So they have control over their own life.    

He was a leading researcher in the UK, who was Director of the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent and had a major influence on disability policy and services. He worked closely with Julie Beadle-Brown on the development of Person Centred Active Support.  

A person with profound intellectual disability has an IQ of less than 20.  They usually recognise familiar people and have strong relationships with key people in their lives.  They are unlikely to understand words or symbols. They will rely on facial expressions and body language and gestures to express their needs or feelings and to understand the intentions of others. 

All people participate in all aspects of society on an equal basis, regardless of their disability. People with disability are entitled to the same rights as other people in the community. Key rights are set out in disability policy and legislation and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability.  Some of the rights in the Convention are the right to live in the community and to participate in the community. All people, but particularly those with a disability need resources and support to make these rights real, that means to exercise them or put them into practice. 

Repetitive or ritualistic body movements (e.g. rocking back and forth while sitting or standing, finger-flicking, hand-flapping ) or repetitive movement of objects (e.g. opening and closing doors, turning on and off light switches). These movements are used solely to stimulate one’s own senses. 

Refers to the social aspect in the immediate or broader social setting in which people live. This includes the people who are in direct contact with them or who they may see from time to time, the culture of those people, such as the values they hold, their language, their customs and rituals. More broadly it relates to the nature of the government and social arrangements in a society.  

Connections between people which can take many forms.  Social relationships can include: intimate connections with a partner,  close lifelong connections with family members, long term connections with close friends, regular contact with friends, passing acquaintances who you might see regularly, who know your name and might say 'hello'. 

Contact between people where we act and react to those around us.  

The values we have influence the way that we work and behave. In disability support work, putting the core values into actions means treating all people with intellectual disability as valued and equal members of our society.  

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