The Transition of Young people with Learning Disabilities and Complex Health Needs: What can the data tell us?

The Plan o The ‘transition cliff’ o Some indicative numbers o PMLD o Visual impairment o Challenging behaviour &/or mental health problems

The ‘Transition Cliff’ o 80% of children with SEN associated with learning disabilities vanish from national statistics on leaving school o Most of these have mild learning disabilities o How many have complex health needs? o Some health needs (e.g., obesity) and risky behaviours (e.g., smoking, unsafe sex) are more common among young people with less severe learning disabilities

Some Indicative Numbers o Every year in an ‘average’ area with a population of 350,000 approximately o 130 young people with learning disabilities will become adults (have their 18 th birthday) o 20 people with severe learning disabilities o 5 people with profound multiple learning disabilities o 5 will have a significant visual impairment o 45 will have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder (including 25 with ‘conduct disorders’/challenging behaviours)

But What About My Area? These numbers will vary between areas (sometimes very significantly) o Local age-profile o year olds make up 3.6% of the local population in Wandsworth, but 8.2% of the local population in North Dorset o Affluence/deprivation o More derived areas will have more young people with (especially less severe) learning disabilities and more young people with mental health problems o Ethnic composition o Areas with higher concentrations of families with Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage will have more young people with PMLD

Variation Across England MLD: Q1 2.4% PMLD: Q1 0.15%

Getting More Information o o Your local termly school census data