Priory Education Services has formed an innovative partnership with Coleg Gwent to provide specialist educational facilities for students with Asperger’s syndrome and tackle the long-term employment issues associated with the condition.
In 2007, the National Autistic Society launched a report calling for better support and services for young people during the crucial transition stages between school, higher education, training and employment.
The ‘Don’t write me off’ campaign found that only 15% of adults with autism in England were in full-time paid employment, which could be greatly increased if the right planning, support and service is offered to people with autism during the transition stage.
NAS Head of Policy Amanda Batten said at the time: "Young people with autism can find change particularly hard to deal with, so the transition from school to adulthood can be very difficult. Many are failing to fulfil their potential due to a lack of appropriate support at this vital stage in their lives. It is imperative that there is early and effective transition planning for every young person with autism. Many have a great deal to offer and should have access to appropriate support.
"If transition fails, young people can find themselves embedded more firmly than ever in the family home, increasing stress on the family and resulting in more isolated lives. Making transition work benefits everyone.”
Research* in 2007 found that only 15% of adults with autism are in full-time paid employment, which could be greatly increased if the right planning, support and services is offered during the transition stage between education and work. Priory Education has colleges in England, which students from Wales have in the past attended. Outstanding outcomes were achieved at the Swindon centre in 2008/2009. 100 per cent of students progressed to employment, supported employment, further or higher education or independent living destinations.
A report by the National Assembly Specialist Provision for Young People with Autism in Further Education in May 2010 concluded that ‘the gap between strategy and policy for provision for young people with autism within further education, and delivery and implementation must be closed if Wales is truly to meet its objective of putting the citizen at the centre of its public services system.’ Priory Coleg Wales will provide a solution to that delivery and implementation.
Priory Coleg Wales is a co-educational college for students aged 16 to 25 designed to meet the academic, social and emotional needs of its students. The Coleg will accept its first students in September 2010.
Priory Coleg Wales is set within the grounds of Coleg Gwent, the largest further education college in Wales with 5 separate campuses. The learning centre is located on the Pontypool campus and comprises of classrooms, IT facilities, a therapy room, learning kitchen and dining room.
The learning centre is a safe area within a mainstream setting providing retreat when students feel challenged by social situations. It is also the base for the College’s in-house programme of support. Local buses and transport are used to travel between the campuses with the help of support workers where required, but with the overall aim of increasing independent travel skills for the future.
A number of therapies are also offered to students to help with their on-going personal development including art therapy, speech and language therapy and counselling.
The Priory Coleg Wales will initially create 10 jobs in the area, potentially reaching 50 plus jobs in the next couple of years.
Simon Coles, School Principal of Priory Coleg Wales said: “The philosophy of Priory Coleg Wales is based on providing as many learning opportunities within mainstream educational settings as possible to provide students with choice, equality and diversity.
“Our young people will benefit from successful partnership agreements with local colleges and have access to over 150 academic and vocational courses including A levels and GCSEs. We aim to meet individual needs through tailored programmes of education and care with additional support for literacy, numeracy and independent living skills if required.
“Work-based learning, work experience and employability skills are embedded into the study programmes to help with transition and preparation for further study or employment. The ultimate outcome is for students to be prepared for a fulfilling adulthood, to feel empowered to make choices and to optimise their independent living skills.”
Fiona Rawlings, Deputy Director of Coleg Gwent’s Pontypool Campus said: “We are delighted to be working with the Priory Group on this exciting project. It will provide a wonderful educational opportunity for these learners and we are looking forward to welcoming the first cohort in September.”
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Priory set to help A Level students
Priory research is being used in 'Issues' - a study guide for A Level students. The research looked at people's knowledge of and attitude towards the recommended safe drinking guidelines. It includes advice from Dr Mark Collins on alcohol consumption.
Hopefully the advice will not only help with exams but also guide the teenagers towards healthy attitudes towards drinking.
Hopefully the advice will not only help with exams but also guide the teenagers towards healthy attitudes towards drinking.
Louisa celebrates 107th birthday
How amazing! Louisa Watts, a resident at Bentley Court care home in Wolverhampton, is celebrating her 107th birthday on 18th July.
Louisa has had a difficult year. The home she previously lived in was closed by the local Council but thankfully she is now happy and content at Bentley Court. She will be surrounded by friends and family on Sunday and I'm sure will have a wonderful day, including a greeting from The Queen.
Louisa has had a difficult year. The home she previously lived in was closed by the local Council but thankfully she is now happy and content at Bentley Court. She will be surrounded by friends and family on Sunday and I'm sure will have a wonderful day, including a greeting from The Queen.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Imagine a world without colour...
Can you imagine a world without colour? It wouldn’t just be drab
and dreary. In fact, you would be entering a world that was very
unpredictable and extremely frightening.
Additionally, colour can play a huge impact on an individual’s diet
and nutrition. To demonstrate this, let us consider the Colour
Museum in Bradford: there I saw an advertising leaflet which
showed a plate of attractive-looking food in one half, and in the other half a monochrome version of the same plate. Now the peas were grey, the broccoli almost black and the off white potatoes marked with grey patches.
Imagine what that must be like – to perceive food like that day after day?
I invited some friends to dinner after seeing this just to do a little experiment (they never complain, just as long as I don’t make them go in to my laboratory!!).
I boiled some potatoes and separated them into 4 batches, dyeing them red, orange, green and blue with food colouring and then putting them in the oven for a few minutes to toughen the outsides a little and disguise their origin (just for the record, I am not a great chef and don’t cook very often so there’s no point anybody expecting me to cook a meal at any time, ever!).
At dinner, my friends were told that the vegetables had been bought at a range of ethnic shops. The red and orange potatoes were much enjoyed, the green were not all that popular and nobody touched the blue ones.
This may seem logically irrational, but actually it makes immensely good biological sense. We have millions of years of evolutionary experience to help us spot the foods that are good to eat – the ripe red apples for example. Similarly, we are able to spot the bad stuff: the meat that is green in colour, or the potatoes with blue-black patches on the outside. Without colour, those tasks would not be possible and we would have survived less well. It is therefore hardly surprising that we have innate responses to colour, and that these are often difficult to verbalise. Nevertheless, that does not make them any less real or any less important.
In a world where orientation to time and place may be deficient, where immediate memory may be impaired and where visual acuity is likely to be present, colour psychology has a very important role to play in the lives of people living with the everyday challenges of dementia.
It is paramount that we make use of the research and resources available to us when planning the design of both interior living environments and exterior leisure areas for people living in our facilities.
The book Designing Interiors for people with Dementia is a valuable resource and can be purchased from the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling for approximately £15. The back cover consists of a piece of yellow Perspex which, when viewed through, will give you a rough indication of what the world looks like for many older people with dementia. Couple this with something like macular degeneration or glaucoma and the experience will change your perception and challenge current belief systems and personal biases.
So, whenever you are in the process of creating specific environments for people living with dementia, consider the impact that colour has not only on their visual system, but also their personality, character and behaviour as a whole. Include colour psychology as part of our holistic approach to care.
Dr Dan Nightingale
and dreary. In fact, you would be entering a world that was very
unpredictable and extremely frightening.
Additionally, colour can play a huge impact on an individual’s diet
and nutrition. To demonstrate this, let us consider the Colour
Museum in Bradford: there I saw an advertising leaflet which
showed a plate of attractive-looking food in one half, and in the other half a monochrome version of the same plate. Now the peas were grey, the broccoli almost black and the off white potatoes marked with grey patches.
Imagine what that must be like – to perceive food like that day after day?
I invited some friends to dinner after seeing this just to do a little experiment (they never complain, just as long as I don’t make them go in to my laboratory!!).
I boiled some potatoes and separated them into 4 batches, dyeing them red, orange, green and blue with food colouring and then putting them in the oven for a few minutes to toughen the outsides a little and disguise their origin (just for the record, I am not a great chef and don’t cook very often so there’s no point anybody expecting me to cook a meal at any time, ever!).
At dinner, my friends were told that the vegetables had been bought at a range of ethnic shops. The red and orange potatoes were much enjoyed, the green were not all that popular and nobody touched the blue ones.
This may seem logically irrational, but actually it makes immensely good biological sense. We have millions of years of evolutionary experience to help us spot the foods that are good to eat – the ripe red apples for example. Similarly, we are able to spot the bad stuff: the meat that is green in colour, or the potatoes with blue-black patches on the outside. Without colour, those tasks would not be possible and we would have survived less well. It is therefore hardly surprising that we have innate responses to colour, and that these are often difficult to verbalise. Nevertheless, that does not make them any less real or any less important.
In a world where orientation to time and place may be deficient, where immediate memory may be impaired and where visual acuity is likely to be present, colour psychology has a very important role to play in the lives of people living with the everyday challenges of dementia.
It is paramount that we make use of the research and resources available to us when planning the design of both interior living environments and exterior leisure areas for people living in our facilities.
The book Designing Interiors for people with Dementia is a valuable resource and can be purchased from the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling for approximately £15. The back cover consists of a piece of yellow Perspex which, when viewed through, will give you a rough indication of what the world looks like for many older people with dementia. Couple this with something like macular degeneration or glaucoma and the experience will change your perception and challenge current belief systems and personal biases.
So, whenever you are in the process of creating specific environments for people living with dementia, consider the impact that colour has not only on their visual system, but also their personality, character and behaviour as a whole. Include colour psychology as part of our holistic approach to care.
Dr Dan Nightingale
It's time for uniforms to go!
It seems to me that the true meaning of person centred care (PCC) has been lost amongst all the beaurocratic nonsense that now dominates care of the older person.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that policy and procedure and the safeguards in place are not necessary. What I am saying is that local, in-house policy based on personal bias and misconceptions of the professionals must stop. Not an inquiry. Not an observation and recommendation exercise. Let’s simply just stop.
John Major once famously uttered that the UK needs to go back to basics. What I am arguing here is that we need to go back to basics. The basics of true person centred care. What better way to start than removing the barriers we really don’t need? The barriers that separate those with the power and those that are regularly disempowered by those with the power!
We all use the phrase ‘person centred.’ It has become a buzzword. It is written in documents and care plans. I am using it here. Sadly, the meaning has been diluted somewhat. We can all make it stronger by implementing it fully.
Barriers in care homes! Why do we need them? Does it make the nurses, carers and doctors feel safe? Feel protected? Are we using our own inherent coping strategies through the building of barriers? For example, I’m in uniform so I will never get dementia. That will never be me?
The uniform; this must be one of the biggest barriers ever to grace those care home corridors of power – why on earth are we so hung up about wearing a damned uniform?
Dr Dan Nightingale
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that policy and procedure and the safeguards in place are not necessary. What I am saying is that local, in-house policy based on personal bias and misconceptions of the professionals must stop. Not an inquiry. Not an observation and recommendation exercise. Let’s simply just stop.
John Major once famously uttered that the UK needs to go back to basics. What I am arguing here is that we need to go back to basics. The basics of true person centred care. What better way to start than removing the barriers we really don’t need? The barriers that separate those with the power and those that are regularly disempowered by those with the power!
We all use the phrase ‘person centred.’ It has become a buzzword. It is written in documents and care plans. I am using it here. Sadly, the meaning has been diluted somewhat. We can all make it stronger by implementing it fully.
Barriers in care homes! Why do we need them? Does it make the nurses, carers and doctors feel safe? Feel protected? Are we using our own inherent coping strategies through the building of barriers? For example, I’m in uniform so I will never get dementia. That will never be me?
The uniform; this must be one of the biggest barriers ever to grace those care home corridors of power – why on earth are we so hung up about wearing a damned uniform?
Dr Dan Nightingale
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