Educational courses for adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome
Heatherington House in Kettering, Northamptonshire, supports eight male adults (service users) with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), a rare, genetic eating disorder that is associated with learning disabilities.
A number of service users expressed an interest in attending a course at the local college, preferably GCSE Maths and English. A member of the care team looked into this but the college stated that the service users would have to undertake a minimum of four GCSEs. Unfortunately, this was not achievable for those involved.
Support Worker Joy Smith-Innes, an ex-primary school teacher, decided to purchase GCSE work books for English and Maths and set work for the service users to complete. This proved to be an instant success and each service user worked hard to carry out and achieve the work that had been set for them. The achievement in the subject area of Maths is all the more remarkable as people with PWS have poor numerical skills.
The confidence of being able to achieve in areas of education that they had previously struggled in gave the service users the self-belief to try pursuing other educational goals in a formal college setting in the community. The care team worked with the service users to meet their objectives, empowering them even when their confidence was low.
One service user wants to work towards a formal qualification; another attends night school to further his Maths development, while a further service user attends the Kettering Centre for the unemployed to further his Maths skills. One gentleman has a history of mental health problems and he particularly benefitted from the in-house, one-to-one tutoring. He attends college to learn sign language, which is of particular importance as a family member is profoundly deaf. He has now gained confidence in his educational life. None of these things would have been considered or possible without the crucial underpinning work being completed first.
Myles Kelly, Prader-Willi Syndrome Liaison Officer
