Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire (BOB) regional Special Interest Group CPD event: Using the Scale of Emotional Development- Short (SED-S)

This article reports on a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) event held by the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire (BOB) Learning Disability Special Interest Group (SIG), which explored the use of the Scale of Emotional Development – Short (SED-S) in clinical practice. The event featured a presentation by Allan Skelly and Jade Wigham on the emotional development (ED) approach used within a Community Learning Disability Team. The SED-S is an assessment tool designed to identify an individual’s phase of emotional development and guide interventions that align with their emotional needs rather than focusing solely on intellectual or adaptive functioning. The presentation highlighted how understanding emotional developmental levels can support more compassionate, relational, and person-centred care for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Overall, the event emphasised the potential value of the SED-S in improving understanding of emotional needs and informing more appropriate interventions, while highlighting the need for further research on cultural applicability, staff engagement, and implementation across diverse clinical contexts.