‘Parent Assessment Manual’ known as PAMS is an assessment tool used to review parents with learning difficulties.
There are a vast range of documents available to professionals to assist and support them in the assessment of parents with learning difficulties and vulnerable adults. Documents such as Learning Curves, commissioned by the Norfolk Area Child Protection Committee offers comprehensive guidance for practitioners and goes some way to providing a framework and useful resources. However, for many parents with learning disabilities, communication is a key area of difficulty. They often lack the necessary range of vocabulary to effectively demonstrate their parenting knowledge when a standardised approach to assessment is used. Questions and answers and tick box exercises alone rely on a parent’s knowledge base and their ability to articulate what they want to say.
As practitioners, we are familiar with psychological methods to assess parent’s cognitive functioning and these consider both verbal and practical intelligence. Often is the case that an individual’s verbal comprehension is impacted by learning difficulties and there is a significant discrepancy in what they can do practically in contrast to how they may describe that task. Visual aids are a practical tool for all types of learners, they are specifically useful for individuals with learning difficulties.
Learning Aids
Visual learning aids – including pictures, graphs, key words charts, videos, and photographs are invaluable resources in assisting the learning process of an individual with learning and communication disabilities. Visual supports allow the parent to recall what they are being asked to do and acts as a device to reactivate focus and direct learning. Oral instruction and questions do not permit an individual the time that they need to process information, assessments conducted within the context of Care Proceedings present additional dimensions to the parent’s functioning at a time of extreme anxiety. By repeating tasks with a similar aid, we can establish a consistency of thinking, allowing reproduction of learning processes and memory retention to form.
PAMS Creation
The need for a completely new format for the assessment of parents with learning difficulties influenced the introduction of the Parenting Assessment Manual (PAMS), developed by Psychologist, Sue McGraw. Whereas standardised assessments tend to rely on the parents knowledge base, the PAMS Assessment offers a wider and more evidence based measure of capacity.
Provided by a Qualified Practitioner
Parenting is a complex task and parenting styles are as diverse as professional opinion. Assessments rely on judgements and are subjective and whilst the PAMS Assessment also relies on the judgement of the practitioner, it offers a more measured approach to assessment. It has been developed to present complex information within a format that interfaces well with the current Framework for Assessment (2000). The assessment covers childcare and development, behaviour management, independent living skills, safety and hygiene, parent’s health, relationships and support and the impact of the environment and community on parenting. Each parenting skill is assessed through the use of discussion, observation, written tasks, practical tasks and visual aids.
Each skill is assessed for parental knowledge, quality of the parent’s skills and the frequency of parenting practice. By breaking these elements into testable components, the PAMS Assessment aims to make an assessment that is a measured, quality and evidence-based piece of work. After completion, the assessor will have a visual family profile of functioning that targets parenting support needs, as well as child protection issues. The PAMS Assessment is prepared using a specifically designed software programme that analyses the data collated and interprets the findings through a scoring system, not dissimilar to that of other psychological assessment tools.
The PAMS Assessment tool has been widely recognised as the most comprehensive method to assess parents with learning difficulties and currently, continues to be the recognised method of assessment within Care Proceedings through much of the UK.
To make a referral for a PAMS assessment, get in touch with our team today.
