ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that a ‘person-centred’ approach has to first and foremost acknowledge the particular woman’s multiplicity of impairments, including the manner in which their gestalt impacts on her day-to-day life. It demonstrates how it is possible to move beyond discussion of ‘placement breakdown’ due to ‘challenging behaviour’ to issues of comprehension and communication. The chapter outlines a number of domains and describe ways staff and families can work together to support people towards ‘a good or better life’. The tool is useful for care workers to use their observational skills and work together to understand people more fully. For example, someone who knows an individual well may have filled in sections relating to when someone is ‘content.’ The tool can help, especially when people have unusual ways of signalling distress. In fact the tool does what families have done over many years.
