Day services for young adults with LD's

[Kaytejones]

What are your experiences of these? My daughter will be leaving school next year and has autism and LD's. We have accepted that she will never live independently and have tried to make peace with that but it doesn't stop the worrying.

Would be keen to understand what experiences other people have of day services.

Tia

I'm keen to hear people's experience with this too. My Daughter is still in primary school but I worry a lot about her life as an adult.
I have another thread going which a few people have said that there is further education courses available until they are 25.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2963946-To-dread-my-future-with-DD

Thank you Sunshinegirls. I utterly sympathise, the stress is indescribable isn't it. I will have a look at your thread. Yes there are a few courses near us which we are currently looking into. Hopefully there are lots of people who have similar experiences and who can advise. Best wishes

It probably really depends on your area. I worked for SS with people with LDs and services varied a lot between London boroughs, even.

They were closing the services 10 years ago so I don't know what it's like now

I have recently finished a placement with an organisation that supported adults with LD's to access the community and provide support allowing people to do the things they enjoy. It may be worth checking out your LA website to see if their ate any local organisations doing this. There was also a local drama group that met every day, put on shows, danced, sang and acted that was aimed at being inclusive so that all coukd take part. There are good services out there but there are awful ones too so do lots of research and make sure its delivering what interests your daughter. Good luck

Thanks MrsTerry.

My husband and I are in our early fifties and we just worry about how we might be able to facilitate her having her own 'life' post school. We want her to have a full and enriched life and not just be sat in the house with us day in day out.

This might sound like an awful q but it is t meant to be..what is the severity of disability in young adults who use day centres typically. Ultimately my DD is verbal but very much like a naive 8 year old if that makes sense.

Where I live there is a day centre or people can have direct payments to employ their own carer/support person. It is typically for 20 hours a week for those with learning difficulties. The young person has to pay towards this from their esa.
The alternative is assisted living but this is typically a long way from their parents home. There are residential college placements but these are difficult to get funded.

what is the severity of disability in young adults who use day centres typically. It really varies. In my day, everyone from people who might, with support, live mostly independently, to people who were non-verbal and had a lot of services.

Have you checked out your local authority online? www.careplace.org.uk/ and similar. That's for London.

My information is really really out of date though. I haven't worked in the field for a decade. I miss it though. I loved my job so bear that in mind. SWs really care about how people's lives are.

I work with adults with LD. There's quite a lot of support here (Cardiff area) - I have clients who rarely go out and others who have a much more active life than I do! It may be worth speaking to adult social services in your area and discussing the long term planning for your child - they may be able to reassure you a bit. Also check if there are advocacy services available, they usually have a good idea of what's around.

Hi. I used to work for a council run day services up until about a year and a half ago. I'm not sure where you are, but where I live services are being drastically cut as there just isn't the money.
Personally, depending on your daughters needs, id look into assisted or supported living. It's my understanding that day services are moving on from the more traditional sit in a chair and play a jigsaw kind of thing, howevef personally I think threres still a long way to go and I think day centres will probably be a thing of the past soo. In my experience, most individuals thrive in supported living provided it's right for them and the service suits their needs.
I'm sure you must have social service involvement already, but if you don't maybe have a chat with your local adult services team to see what's out there. However, it's also worth doing your own research too - local supported living charities, activity nights for those with learning disabilities etc - as it's all too common that even social workers aren't aware what services are available. Also, does your daughter have a care manager? If not, you can ask for one, but remember if you don't feel they're right for you, you can request a new one. Also look into getting an advocate if you need to fight for a certain service for your daughter I.e assisted living placement.
Anyway, sorry for a bit of a rambly post that probably isn't much help but just wanted to give my opinion.
Hope all works out for you and your daughter.

I work in day service support for adults with LDs in Surrey, happy to give more info if relevant. It really does depend on where you are.

FWIW where I am, day seevice activities include woodwork, bowling, swimming, art, adult ed, jewellery making, dance, drama, cycling etc. It's not all writhin the centre either, many of the activities involve accessing public facilities, and we have connected groups of people who don't go into the day centre at all but are out in the community all the time

Sorry yes, I should've also said, the day service I worked for had moved entirely out into the community which is great, however wasn't without its problems. No changing rooms for service users who required personal care, lack of bus routes etc. Of course there were positives too and I hate to sound negative but they are things to consider too.

Around here education for young people with disabilities similar to your daughter's ends at 25. My friend's dd attends specially tailored college provision 2 days per week , studying music, photography and food technology (cookery in old money) and volunteers as a cook at a church lunch club twice a week.

I know some people who are involved in running a care farm. To clarify, that means people with disabilities (adults of all ages I think) come for 1-2 days a week and pay to undertake supervised but useful work (e.g. planting crops, harvesting, animal care etc.) I think there are quite a few round the country. Do be aware that you/your daughter would need to pay for this - I don't know if she gets/will get some kind of allowance that would help?

There are care farms where the clients live on site, but I don't know what level of disability they cater to - one petting farm we went to did this; some of the clients had Downs Syndrome, but I know that those with Downs Syndrome can have widely varying abilities, and that autism can manifest in ways that require a lot of care and supervision.

I have extended family members with learning difficulties, but no experience of trying to find them suitable employment/occupation.

You'll find that unless people have very severe LD, traditional day services are closing. The move is towards volunteering or employment.

My brother has LD and has a part time job in a supermarket which he initially got through a supported employment scheme.

Education should continue till 25 and there should be support open to you with helping to decide on college etc.

If she has an EHCP and she wants to continue in education then the EHCP should continue. The school, sen post 16 officer at LA and adult social care (asuming your DD will be 18 when she leaves school) should be looking at a package of education/care for your DD. You should also be discussing supported living if she is not going to a residential college. The assumption is often made that the young person will carry on living at home - but this is far from the only option - it is the cheap option as far as SC are concerned but it is not necessarily the best for your DD. You won't be around for ever so unless she has siblings who have agreed to care for her in future, then you need to be preparing your DD to move into a level of supported living which is appropriate to her needs.