David Maguire (Principal Officer for Engagement and Involvement), Kirsten Adamson (Commissioning Officer) and Kerry Millar (Strategic and Quality Development Officer) have written to tell us about recent efforts to consult on services for disabled children. As they explain, this generated an enormous amount of comment, suggestions and views on a wide range of issues, including some rather ambitious suggestions!
Children and Families staff have undertaken an extremely wide-ranging consultation over the past year to develop services for disabled children. As part of the engagement with service users, service providers and staff on our approaches to commissioning services, about 300 people took part in focus groups, completed online surveys or completed pictorial questionnaires with staff support. Feedback was also gathered through an online survey of service providers and a marketplace event for providers and senior managers.
Two questionnaires were developed about activities, learning, social/friendship groups and how young people feel within services – one using text, the other using pictures. The pictorial questionnaire was developed using boardmaker symbols. It enabled children and young people with learning disabilities and communication issues to express their views about activities they like and what they’d like to do more of. 163 young people completed these surveys.
Alongside this, a parent/carer and sibling questionnaire was developed. 72 parents/carers and 24 siblings completed the survey.
A series of focus groups were held to explore issues coming out of surveys in more depth. We explored parents and carers’ experience of using children’s disability services and how this could be improved with three parents groups, at FABB Scotland, The Yard and the Parents’ Forum.
We also met with a group of siblings aged between 6 and 13 at Barnardo’s CAERN to discuss their feelings (using a tree with leaves representing what they liked and disliked and picture of the world to talk about the support they have now and what they’d like).
Some of the feedback from siblings was particularly harrowing as they spoke of how torn they were between loving their brother or sister on the one hand and experiencing violence and feeling sad, embarrassed, upset, different and scared on the other.
So, what’s going to change as a result?
Unsurprisingly, the consultation generated an enormous amount of comment, suggestions and views on a wide range of issues. Children, young people and parents/carers are overwhelmingly positive about their experience of using services but they want more access to particular activities, more support at particular times and more, and better, information about what’s available. Many of their key suggestions have fed directly into the tender for disability playschemes including:
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Much more access to swimming, including drop-in sessions and access during the school holidays
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Fun activities for disabled children and young people to take part in with their siblings
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Cafe environments for parents/carers to facilitate peer support
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Increased provision and more equity of access to provision
In addition, a post has been created to raise awareness amongst parents/carers of the implications of Self-Directed Support, a major change in the funding of services; providers will be able to use swimming pools in special schools during school holiday playschemes; more support will be available in school holidays in general (from 2 weeks each year to 6 weeks from summer 2014) and a newsletter will be produced for parents/carers to provide more information about services.
There was also feedback which was relevant to a range of services including social work and schools. These will taken forward by the Disability Team.
Finally, some quotes from the children and young people themselves:
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‘Wish one – unlock the swimming pool’
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‘Check all toys for faults, check the colouring books to make sure they’ve not been done already, check jigsaws for missing pieces, check pens to make sure they are working’
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‘When my worker’s on holiday, I would like another worker to go out with’
And one that may take some time to address:
- ‘Teleporters so trips would last longer’
