Removal of barriers to social inclusion and social participation for children and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities

There is an increasing number of children and young adults with Intellectual and Development Disabilities (IDD) with complex mental health conditions and challenging behaviours. They result in barriers to the social inclusion and social participation in society by these children and young adults. Students studying courses to work with these children and young adults received their education separately and this results in a skills gap and mismatch in the competences that they currently received in their professional education. Due to the complex mental health conditions and challenging behaviours there is a need to support educators to develop new and innovative inter-professional curriculum that brings together students and academics from different professions to learn together.

This project addresses the critical issue of the mental health and challenging behaviours experienced by children and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and the barriers that exist to their social inclusion and social participation. This is important as the number of children and young people with IDD and mental health conditions and challenging behaviours is increasing with many more now living into adulthood (Taheri et al., 2016). Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) refers to conditions that occur around the time of birth and affects an individual's physical, intellectual and emotional development and is lifelong. An intellectual disability is usually present with other disabilities such as sensory impairments, epilepsy, mental illness and challenging behaviours. A developmental disability, such as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) may also be present in many of these children and young adults. There have been major policy changes and developments in recent years regarding the rights of children and adults with disabilities to have the same life opportunities as the typically developing, yet for many with complex IDD they experience a lack of social inclusion and social participation (Bartolo et al., 2016). Current literature on the needs of children and young adults with IDD evidences that many also have significant mental health conditions and challenging behaviours that presents significant challenges in meeting their education, care and support needs (Salazar et al., 2015). Mental health conditions including depression and anxiety disorders are very common as is challenging behaviours such as self-injuries behaviour and self-harm. There are now significant pressures upon families and teachers and other professionals and when not addressed leads to barriers that results in social exclusion and opportunities to participate in society.

As a result of the IDD, many of these children and young adults have complex needs and require access to specialist assessment, education, treatment and support from different professionals and agencies. The professions include special education teachers, social workers and nurses. Due to the complexity of their IDD and mental health and behaviour needs, the education and support of these children and young adults can be challenging and leads to difficulties in social inclusion and social participation. As this population increase and to make sure that their education, care and support needs are met in the future, it is necessary to develop new, innovative models of shared inter-professional education as an integral part of initial professional education. Current professional education focuses on single professional education and preparation with limited exposure to shared learning with the other professions involved in the education care and support of the children and young adults and their families. Developing new and innovative education for professionals training to work with children and young adults with IDD and mental health and challenging behaviours is needed. This needs to involve new education collaborations that develops shared inter-professional curriculum, curriculum planning and shared learning across professions disciplines to develop an understanding of the roles of different professions and how they need to work together to meet the needs of the children and young adults. Through shared-learning the rofessionals will be better prepared to work together with the children and young adults and support their social inclusion and participation in society (Milot et al., 2018).