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The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Learning disability services: user views on transition planning”.

The commentary provides a discussion of the concept of continuity of care (Forbes et al., 2001; Freeman et al., 2000) in relation to transition from children’s to adults’ services for young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.

Continuity of care is an important consideration for this population and is emphasised in recent policy initiatives in England, as well as being highlighted by young people and their families as a significant aspect of their transition experience. Despite this, evidence suggests it is not currently achieved for many young people and their families, and a number of challenges that may contribute to this are highlighted.

The commentary emphasises that continuity of care should be a key consideration for services supporting young people and their families at transition.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “A logic model for the implementation of a regional workforce strategy in Positive Behavioural Support”.

This commentary provides a discussion of the importance of evaluating positive behaviour support (PBS) training and key issues relating to this. This provides a springboard from which researchers/practitioners may consider these issues when designing and evaluating PBS training courses.

Three main issues are explored: the necessary diversity and breadth of PBS training approaches, the outcome domains to be evaluated and wider systemic issues that may influence PBS training and evaluation of its effectiveness.

Effective PBS implementation requires robust training. To achieve this, it will be important for the field to overcome issues relating to the evaluation of training approaches.

Little is known about the characteristics of residential educational settings for young people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) in England. Previous research has focussed on the characteristics and experiences of the young people attending such settings rather than the setting itself; therefore, an overview of national provision is needed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

As part of a larger project, data were collected for all residential schools and colleges in England. Data relate to settings offering residential provision for at least 4 nights per week for 30 weeks per year, either at the school/college itself, or in an associated residential home. Due to the remit of the main project, settings offering placements only to young people aged under 16 were excluded. Data were collected from a range of sources, including school/college websites, Ofsted and Department for Education resources, and liaison directly with the setting.

In total, 342 residential educational settings were identified with 57 of these offering post-16 provisions only. A range of data is presented about these settings, including location, placement numbers and types available, age range catered for, special educational needs categories registered for, governance arrangements (e.g. LA maintained, privately owned, and charitable organisation), and Ofsted educational ratings.

These data provide a national overview of residential educational settings for young people with IDD. This enables a clearer picture of the location and type of provision offered and allows comparisons both within and between areas.