Secondment as a means of practice development for Community Learning Disability Nurses working with children.

Many Community Learning Disability Nurses (CLDNs) in Scotland who work with children will have had some child health input during their registered nurse education programme, but often not specific to the needs of children who might be referred to them now as result of population changes, community care policy and improved methods of diagnosis (PHIS, 2004). Community nurses have relatively poor skills in detecting and managing mental health problems and identify training as a means of addressing this (Fox et al., 2003).

The fatty acid compositions of erythrocyte and plasma polar lipids in children with autism, developmental delay or typically developing controls and the effect of fish oil intake.

The erythrocyte and plasma fatty acid compositions of children with autism were compared in a case-control study with typically developing (TD) children and with children showing developmental delay (DD). Forty-five autism subjects were age-matched with TD controls and thirty-eight with DD controls. Fatty acid data were compared using paired t tests.

The Role of Consultation Clinics in Services for Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism.

Background:   Consultation and supervision are familiar to many professionals, and their relevance to those working with children with learning disabilities and autism is discussed.

Method:   Consultation Clinics for Community Learning Disability Nurses and others were set up by a specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health team servicing an area with a general population of 750,000. They were provided by a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist, and data on their use were collected over a 16 month period.