Thinking Ahead

Thinking Ahead is an approach to supporting people with learning disabilities and their  families to talk about and plan for the future, including planning for leaving school and college and thinking about adult life.

There are two planning guides to give families information they may need and ideas to encourage conversations.

Thinking Ahead: a planning guide for families is a planning guide for parents, or other relatives, who would like information to help them talk and think about the future. It has nine sections that cover:

• making decisions
• making plans for the future in a person-centred way
• building friendships and support networks
• talking about difficult subjects
• making financial plans
• housing and support
• making a plan for emergencies
• keeping an eye on things
• making a plan for the future

Each section can be used on its own or the guide can be used as a whole.

The other guide is called I’m Thinking Ahead and uses easy words, drawings and Photosymbols to make information easier for people with learning disabilities to understand and use. It can also give their families, friends and supporters ideas about how to include young people in conversations about the future.

This guide has three sections:

• how to make choices
• how to plan
• how to get the right housing and support

There is now a new section of I'm Thinking Ahead called How to be part of the world of work. It is full of ideas for family carers and others to talk with young people about steps they can take to explore work opportunities and build their confidence and understanding.

All the guides are available in the format of a rewriteable pdf which means you can download it, write your thoughts and ideas in boxes and templates and save it for future use and updating. In this way it can be used over a number of years without having to start again and can be shared with other people who are helping with making plans for the future. The guides are free to download from Resources and Information | Together Matters

Together Matters is based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich so Christine Towers ( author of the guides) may be able to come to local events for parents and carers, who have a young person with learning disabilities, to share information about the guides.