Sound Therapy

The search for the perfect T-shirt began with Kim, our designer, not wanting to wear the little black number the facilitators prefer. A trawl around the internet later she has a tasteful purple logo on white.
Thinking that others might prefer to mix their favourite colours our cafepress shop is now up and running. The […]

May 8th 2007:Did anyone else see the recent report that the Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis has admitted that the government is losing the battle to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities?
He has told the Association of Directors Adults Social Services spring seminar that because of the struggle with achieving the Valuing People […]

If you’re looking for ideas to extend a sensory room this is the first of a series of short films showing how we use Soundbeam in our work with people with profound disabilities. We include switches for those who can use their hands - they encourage manipulation and introduce the idea of making something happen.
The […]

According to an article in today’s Irish Medical Times, wanting to walk is one of the most common challenging behaviours. Doctors were discussing the treatment of elderly patients in hospitals in Ireland and Dr. Cillian Twomey, consultant physician in Geriatric Medicine, Cork University Hospital, gave the example of a man with dementia who liked to […]

Is it any coincidence that very helpful organisations have been set up by parents of children with disabilities, seeking to plug the gap they’ve experienced in the help that’s available. The Henry Spink Foundation is one (see the last post) and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation is another.

I just happened to hear Henrietta Spink talking to John Humphrys in On The Ropes on Radio 4. Listening to her story I was amazed that I’d never heard of her before. She’s the mother of two severely, but differently, disabled sons now in their late teens who has battled for the rights of carers. […]

Here’s a glimpse of the work that goes into making the Music Gym happen every Friday in Hastings. The backing track is one of Tom’s - Don’t Bring Shame on the Family - but as the slideshow ends before the vocals start the title won’t make any sense….
For more information, please visit www.decoda.org

For a long time we’ve wanted to enable others to use our methods to engage people with profound disabilities in meaningful activities. Now we can do that, through our offshoot organisation - Responsive Environments Ltd.

We all agree and know that we really do want the very best in terms of quality of life for people with learning disabilities and especially those with complex needs. Decoda grew out of my experiences in a local home and day centre and the firm belief that there had to be an alternative to […]

Turning out the filing cabinet today I found a pile of blank self-evaluation forms from our days of running courses funded by the Learning and Skills Council. They were always a mystery to us as the people we worked with didn’t speak and certainly couldn’t read or write. So how were they supposed to fill […]