Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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Professional and training supports
• It has been recognised that parents labelled with intellectual
disability need flexible support, varying in intensity, and provided
over a long period of time (McConnell, 1997, Tarleton et al., 2006).
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
• Accessible information is crucial to help parents and where
possible should include easy-to-read leaflets, information on
tapes/DVDs, fully accessible websites, and opportunities to talk
to people face to face about services. Information about universal
and specialist services should be made available in places where
they will be seen by parents, such as GP surgeries, day centres,
colleges, and supported housing (DH and DfES, 2007).
• Services need to take into account the special learning needs of
parents when designing and implementing programs involving
providing opportunities for repetition, for demonstration, for
learning to take place in the natural setting; the requirement for
suitable teaching resources for people with little or no literacy
skills as well as the involvement of parents in selecting and
setting personal parenting objectives (McConnell et al., 1997).
• Support workers and professionals working with parents with
intellectual disability should have some specialised training and
supervision to ensure that they are sensitive and responsive to
the difficulties and barriers faced by parents (Ely et al., 1998).
• Assigning a worker with a genuine liking for the family is
essential (Booth and Booth, 1995a; 1994). Workers having an
understanding of the families’ point of view, which is not seen as
interfering, has been highlighted as important (Booth and Booth,
1994).
• The recognition of the emotional needs of parents with
intellectual disability is crucial (Booth and Booth, 1994).
• As intellectual disability is a difficulty in learning, one of the
important roles of support workers is an educative one (Llewellyn