Practice Points

Practice Points provide context and recommend actions based on research and practice evidence to provide optimal services in family support, poverty and learning difficulties, parenting capacity assessment, parent education and child protection.

	Family Support This practice point briefly examines widely held assumptions about parents with learning difficulties that can impact on the way these families are supported. It provides information about how families access supports and the type of support that families want. It includes guidance for providing supports that are designed to promote competence and confidence of parents with learning difficulties.
	Poverty & Learning Difficulty This practice point outlines what evidence suggests about the relationship between having learning difficulties and living in poverty, and how living in poverty can affect people’s parenting. It describes some issues for the practitioner to be aware of when working with parents with a learning difficulty and suggests strategies for enriching parenting environments.
	Parenting Assessment This practice point outlines important issues involved in assessing parenting capacity when a parent has learning difficulties. It also highlights some important factors that need to be considered when assessing parenting capacity and outlines current best practice in this area.
	Parent Education This practice point describes best practice strategies for delivering parent education programs to parents who have learning difficulties. It outlines characteristics of effective programs, and specific teaching strategies that practitioners can use when working with parents.
	Self Directed Learning Self-directed learning is not for everybody. Some parents might prefer a more directive way of developing skills. But, we know that self-directed learning can work for parents with learning difficulties and that many parents prefer it to worker-led teaching. This practice point describes examples and benefits of self-directed learning. It also provides practice guidelines for worker-led and self-directed interventions.
	Child Protection Sometimes perceptions of parents with learning difficulties can influence the experience of these families within the child protection and care systems. This Practice Point provides suggestions about best-practice assessment and planning methods with families where a parent has learning difficulties. The aim of this information is to reduce the unusually high rates of these families represented in the court system.
	Father-inclusive Practice This Practice Point provides evidence informed ideas and tips for making a service more accessible for fathers with learning difficulties. Questions are included to highlight goals for organisational policy and practice change. The aim is to assist services to develop specific recruitment and intervention strategies that target leaning style and communication.
	Child Facts and Stereotypes In this Practice Point, common negative stereotypes about children who are raised by a parent or parents with learning difficulties are listed and paired with the international literature on child outcomes. Suggestions for future research are also provided.