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This article provides advice and tips from Community Care Inform’s guide on working with and supporting parents with learning disabilities. Updated in March 2025, the guide is written by Beth Tarleton and Danielle Turney and looks at how to identify and assess parents with learning disabilities, as well as supporting them to learn new skills. Inform Adults subscribers can access the guide here and Inform Children subscribers can access the guide here.
Adults with learning disabilities often face a wide range of barriers when parenting, but have been shown to be able to parent with the right support. So it is important to be aware of the types of issues parents with learning disabilities face and general strategies for positive practice.
The fundamentally important thing to remember is that each parent is an individual, with their own strengths and areas in which they need support, and like all parents their ability to parent is influenced both by the support they have and the barriers they face. Parents need to be respected and social workers need to develop positive respectful relationships with them, in order to be able to support them and ensure the best outcomes for their children.
Engaging with parents
It is important for practitioners to recognise that parents are often afraid of engaging with children’s or adult social care services. They are aware of the negative attitudes that exist in society – for example, that parents with learning disabilities cannot be good parents and are not able to learn how to parent more effectively.
Practitioners need to be aware of parents’ fears when establishing a relationship with them and take the time to build trust through spending more time with them and sharing concerns openly and directly.
The 6Ts framework (Tarleton et al, 2018) offers a useful model for supporting engagement with parents and promoting effective relationship-based practice:
- Time: extra time is needed to get to know parents and communicate appropriately – in easy ways – with them. Parents need more time to take on board information, new skills and knowledge. Parents may need ongoing support, such as long-term or recurrent support.
- Trust: parents and professionals need to trust each other for the support to be effective; time is needed to develop this trust.
- Tenacity: ‘sticking with’ parents over the longer term, as necessary. This may include keeping working on issues with parents, teaching skills and so on.
- Truthfulness: professionals need to be honest with parents and be really clear what the issues are – ie the concerns for an existing child or an unborn baby’s welfare.
- Transparency: professionals and parents need to be really clear about what is happening and what needs to be done when and by whom, from first referral onwards. For example, midwives need to be clear with mothers why they are involving child protection or the learning disability team.
- Tailored response: understanding and working with parents in a way that works for them. Good communication is key to this.
Using the 6Ts will help you to develop positive, honest and effective relationship-based practice with parents with learning disabilities and the professionals working with the family, to build a network of support around the family that addresses their changing needs through time, and to promote best outcomes.
Communication
Parents with learning disabilities tell us that with verbal communication, it helps if you:
- Explain and explain again – check the parent has understood and use different words if necessary.
- Talk slowly and clearly.
When giving parents written information, supportive strategies include:
- Presenting the information in an ‘easy read’ format (see below).
- Avoiding handwritten notes in joined-up writing.
- Avoiding jargon or, if unavoidable, explaining new words (like “assessment”) in everyday language.
- Not assuming that a parent can read or that they have someone who can read things for them.
- Not sending lots of paperwork.
Top tips for creating ‘easy read’ information include:
- Using a clear font like Arial or Century Gothic.
- Using font size 14 or above.
- Using bold, not underline or italics for important points like dates and times.
- Using short sentences with only one point to a sentence.
- Using words consistently – ie if writing about their child, use the child’s name rather than saying ‘your child’/’daughter’.
- Using the number (eg 2) not the word (two).
- Using pictures to show the key point of the sentence. Place the pictures to the left of the written text. This is so that the pictures are seen first and the text second, so it can be more easily ignored if it confuses the person reading the document.
- Use photos that are relevant to individual parents. The ready availability of digital cameras means you can take photos of things/places that are directly relevant to a particular family. This can help them understand written communication.
Parents may also like information about meetings or outcomes from assessments provided in spoken form, via a message on their mobile. Always ask parents which strategies work best for them.
Providing information in an easy read format does not automatically mean that it is accessible or that parents will understand the information. If you are not sure how best to communicate and/or provide information, guidance could be provided by speech and language therapists.
If you have a Community Care Inform Adults licence, log in to access the full guide on working with and supporting parents with learning disabilities. Community Care Inform Children subscribers can access the full guide here. For more information about subscribing to Community Care Inform, click here.
