Training materials for teachers of learners with severe, profound and complex learning difficulties

1. Financial hardship.
2. Strained emotional relationships.
3. Restricted social life.
4. Higher stress levels.
5. Modifications to family activities and goals.
6. Time restrictions caused by care demands.
7. Sleep deprivation.
8. Performing unpleasant procedures.
9. Lack of babysitters.
10. Challenges in day-to-day life.

This list is drawn from Olssen and Hwang (2003) and Runciman and McIntosh (2003)

John and Carrie worked hard to buy their first home. They were overjoyed at Carrie's much longed for pregnancy, but Joshua was born 15 weeks premature, weighing only 900g. To his anxious parents, looking into his incubator, there seemed to be more tubes than baby.

Joshua was a fighter. After five months and three operations, he left hospital with oxygen to aid his breathing, and special food for his nasogastric tube. He thrived at home, although his developmental delay became quickly apparent, and every milestone was hard won.

By 18 months, his profound physical disability meant he needed a side lying board to aid positioning and postural drainage. Where, in the modern semi, do you store oxygen cylinders, cases of special food and side lying boards? John and Carrie's mortgage for their home was based on two salaries, but Joshua's care needs and frequent epilepsy meant Carrie could not return to work. Mortgage repayments became a nightmare.

After five years of struggling, John and Carrie lost their home when it was repossessed.