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The British Journal of Developmental Disabilities Vol. 47, Part 2, JULY 2001, No. 93, pp. 99-104 PATTERN OF REFERRAL TO A CHILD LEARNING DISABILITY SERVICE Satheesh Gangadharan, Karen Bretherton and Bob Johnson Summary This paper describes the pattern of referral to the Child Learning Disability service available in Leicestershire, UK, over an eight month period. This service accepts children with moderate, severe or profound level of learning disability for the assessment and management of mental health problems. Sixty three children were referred and fifty were seen in the eight month period. Although in more than half of the sample, the main reason for the referral was aggressive behaviour, the children presented with a wide variety of problems. Two thirds of the sample had additional disabilities i.e. epilepsy or autistic disorder. Severe disability and presence of multiple additional disabilities make the assessment and management of this group difficult in a generic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team. This indicates the need for a team with specialised skills in the assessment and management of mental health problems of this group of children.
*Satheesh Gangadharan, MRCPsych. Lecturer in Learning Disability Psychiatry, Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE3 0QU, UK Tel: 0044 (0)116 2252880 Fax: 0044 (0)116 2252881 E-mail: skg6@le.ac.uk Karen Bretherton, MRCPsych. Consultant Psychiatrist, Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE3 0QU, UK Bob Johnson, RNMH Senior Clinical Nurse, Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE3 0QU, UK * For Correspondence |