Challenges for young people with learning disabilities transitioning to adult services
To enhance your understanding of the main challenges associated with the transition from child to adult services
To refresh your knowledge of current transition guidance and how it applies to people with learning disabilities
To consider various strategies that you could use make the transition process smoother for young people and their families
The transition from child to adult healthcare services can be a stressful time for children and parents, especially for those with a learning disability, with transition processes being convoluted and time-consuming and often involving suboptimal communication between various healthcare teams. This article discusses the experience of transition for children with learning disabilities and explores some of the measures that are being implemented to improve this process, such as employing specialist transition nurses, commencing the transition process at a younger age, and standardising the terminology used by staff to reduce any ambiguity in transition processes.
