‘Jack’ has Down syndrome and a tendency to use over-familiar touch when greeting people, which could leave him vulnerable to abuse. Carol Potter and Anita Claridge Lawrence describe how key staff collaborated with Jack and his mother on a programme designed to encourage more appropriate behaviour

Sex education for people with learning disabilities is a contentious issue (Craft 1987, Hinsberger et al 1991, Cole and Cole 1993, Beebee 2003). According to McCarthy and Thompson (1998), ‘formal sex education for people with learning disabilities is clearly more significant than for other adults’. This is also the case for children and young people with learning disabilities. Atkinson (2002) highlights that for these groups in particular sex education is not just a one-off series of lessons, but a lifelong process.