Supporting Adults with Communication Impairment (Team)

This pack can assist professionals supporting adults with communication impairment to make decisions.

The decisions may relate to their care, home circumstances and hospital treatment, supporting good practice under the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
Jodi Allen and Hayley Bryer, speech and language therapists developed the prototype of this pack. For this, they were awarded the Sigmund Sternberg Award for Clinical Innovation by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in 2011.

Black Sheep Press was invited to collaborate on the further development and publication of a comprehensive resource pack. This pack is the result. It is intended for professionals assisting those with communication impairment to make their own decisions.

This pack contains supported communication ideas and materials to facilitate assessments of decision-making capacity. It is designed for use in the hospital setting by health care professionals with adults who have communication impairment. The design and content of the pack are based on our extensive professional experience in supporting such individuals.

This resource consists of:

The Manual

• Background
• The decision-making pathway
• Supporting communication during a capacity assessment
• Case studies

Evaluation tools

• Informal Evaluation of Basic Orientation for Individuals with Communication Impairments
• Problem Solving and Reasoning in the Home Environment

Picture resources

• 190 photos and diagrams arranged in categories including:
• Emotions, Health care professionals, Symptoms, Investigations
• Treatment, Activities of daily living, Destinations

Forms

• Forms to support the capacity assessment for completion on paper or iPad/computer
• Summary of Preliminary Assessment
• Summary of Communication Skills for Capacity Assessment
• Summary of Capacity Assessment

Format: PDF file, 230 pages