Evaluation of an approach for adults with profound learning difficulties

A local day care unit for adults with profound learning disabilities is a popular community project. It receives many visits from students and volunteers and is also visited by a variety of support staff. The presence of these visitors makes an impact on the Unit's communication environment. A nursing and speech and language therapy project used photography to address the visitors' perceptions of the clients' communication and identify the visitors' information needs about the clients' communication skills. As a result of this evaluation the induction policy was changed and the leaflets were introduced. The time commitment to the initial project for therapy and nursing staff is discussed in relation to the effective and alternative use of therapeutic time for this client group.