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The BSc (Hons) in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is designed specifically for those who provide community and school-based services, such as home leaders, peripatetic team leaders, instructors, community support staff, special educational needs teachers and teaching assistants.
Overview
The programme integrates your learning with practical work carried out in your own organisation (most students continue to work part-time or are seconded by their employers). Each year, you work with at least two children or adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. You complete assignments in the workplace and get feedback from a team of academic experts. You also tackle important practical problems against a background of shared experience with other students.
The course structure details the individual modules that you will study. The fixed structure has been designed in conjunction with employers (please note that there are no optional modules).
Taster sessions
You can find out more about our work and speak to some of our lecturers and students at our taster sessions.
The Tizard Centre: UK centre of excellence
The Tizard Centre is at the forefront of learning and research in autism, intellectual disability and community care and in 2013 received a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in recognition of its outstanding work in these areas.
Independent rankings
In the National Student Survey 2013, Social Policy (the discipline closest to Health and Social Care) was ranked 4th and Social Work 9th for student satisfaction.
Social Policy was ranked 4th in The Guardian University Guide 2014 and Social Work 6th in The Complete University Guide 2014.
Course structure
The course structure below gives a flavour of the modules that will be available to you and provides details of the content of this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules, you may also have the option to take ‘wild’ modules from other programmes offered by the University in order that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas of interest to you or that may further enhance your employability.
Teaching and assessment
For Stages One and Two, modules are taught in four-day workshops at Canterbury (Monday to Thursday 9.30am - 4.30pm).
Teaching methods include formal lectures, individual and group exercises, some with the use of video feedback. Exercises vary in length, with practice ‘simulations’ spread over several hours. There are exercises involving local services and people with intellectual disabilities.
Work-based learning includes the production of assessed work, systematic reflection on practice, participation in supervision/mentoring arrangements and training/leadership of others.
Assessment is mainly based on reports and videos of your practical work undertaken with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders. This allows us to integrate assessment with the development of practice.
To see assessment details for individual modules, click 'read more' within each module in the course structure.
Programme aims
The programme aims to:
- encourage the participation of students from a variety of backgrounds, some of whom may not have ‘traditionally’ recognised qualifications
- provide the personal, communication and problem-solving skills required for specialist roles within the care sector
- develop an understanding of the factors underlying challenging behaviour
- encourage an understanding of the theories applicable to 'applied behaviour analysis' and 'ordinary living'
- enable students to work in constructive and ethical ways with people who are often marginalized and vulnerable
- develop person-centred values
- develop practitioners who can support communication, choice participation and independence in others
- develop the ability to conduct individual assessments of challenging behaviour and develop interventions
- prepare practitioners for a leadership role in families, schools, workplaces and communities
- fulfil the need for specialist practitioners, both nationally and in the region.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
You gain a knowledge and understanding of:
- social role valorisation, ordinary living and person-centred approaches as a value base for the provision of services
- behavioural learning theory, its use in skills teaching and service organisation
- scientific method and its application to evidence-based practice
- scientific method as the basis for the critical analysis of research material
- the collection, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data relating to quality of life and challenging behaviour
- needs assessment within a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency framework
- active support and the development of social networks
- the communication partnership and communication strategies with individuals
- applied behaviour analysis as a way of understanding the development of challenging behaviour
- the development of multi-element intervention plans
- organisational psychology related to theories of change, motivation and successful intervention with the individual, carers and organisations.
Intellectual skills
You develop the ability to:
- review literature that is at the forefront of the discipline
- analyse data in relation to issues of method, reliability and validity
- cross-reference data from various sources to draw conclusions on people’s needs and factors influencing their behaviour
- interpret available data and to aware of alternative interpretations
- recognise limitations in data or its method of collection
- use assessment information to develop strategies for problem-solving and improving people’s quality of life.
Subject-specific skills
You gain subject-specific skills in the use of:
- tools relating to needs assessment, communication, participation, skills development and the functional analysis of behaviour
- intervention plans relating to the development of communication, participation and skills for people with learning disabilities
- intervention plans for the management and replacement of challenging behaviour
- recognised strategies and techniques to support the provision of high quality care within services including Active Support and Periodic Service Review.
Transferable skills
You gain transferable skills in:
- communication – how to communicate ideas and arguments to others, both in written and spoken form; make short presentations to fellow students and staff; prepare written assignments and reference the materials referred to
- working with others – developing interpersonal and team work skills to enable you to work collaboratively, negotiate, listen and deliver results
- improving you own learning: how to be reflective, adaptive and collaborative in your learning; explore personal strengths and weaknesses; review your working environment; develop skills in time management by delivering academic work to deadlines and to the required standard
- problem solving – you learn to identify and define problems; explore alternative solutions and discriminate between them
- information technology – you develop your skills in producing written documents; online research; studying and learning using library and internet sources.
- numeracy – you learn to use statistics in your analysis of data and how to represent data visually.
Careers
Our programmes provide you with knowledge and skills that will appeal to employers such as the NHS, local authority adults’ and children’s services, and the voluntary and private social and healthcare sector. You also develop transferable skills such as planning and organisation, teamwork, leadership.
This course is ideal for carers or practitioners in services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, including health, social care and education. Special educational needs teachers and teaching assistants will also find this course invaluable.
For more information on the services Kent provides you to improve your career prospects visit www.kent.ac.uk/employability.
Entry requirements
Home/EU students
The University carefully considers each applicant on a individual basis. For this programme we consider candidates who meet the academic criteria below and also those with relevant experience. We usually expect candidates to have been employed for at least six months working directly with children or adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities and often require an employment reference to be provided.
If you would like to discuss your circumstances in more detail, please contact us.
| Qualification | Typical offer/minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| A level | CCD Mature students who do not hold appropriate qualifications can apply, but you need to demonstrate that you have the skills/experience to study at degree level. All students must have appropriate work, volunteering or personal experience. |
| Access to HE Diploma | The University of Kent will not necessarily make conditional offers to all access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis. If an offer is made candidates will be required to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above. |
| BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma (formerly BTEC National Diploma) | Merit, Merit, Pass |
| International Baccalaureate | 34 points overall or 13 at HL |
International students
The University receives applications from over 140 different nationalities and consequently will consider applications from prospective students offering a wide range of international qualifications. Our International Development Office will be happy to advise prospective students on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about our country-specific requirements.
Please note that if you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes through Kent International Pathways.
English Language Requirements
General entry requirements
Please also see our general entry requirements.
Fees
As a guide only, the 2014/15 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
| UK/EU | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time |
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
Exceptions may apply. If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk
Funding
Kent offers generous financial support schemes to support eligible undergraduate students during their studies. Our 2014 financial support package includes a £6,500 cash bursary. Find out more about the support package, eligibility and terms and conditions on our fees and funding pages.
General scholarships
Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.
The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created a new scholarship, The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence, which will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of AAA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications as specified on our funding pages.