Research Projects

The Aiming High for Disabled Children
Short Breaks Pathfinder Programme

The Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University (CeDR) and the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) were commissioned by the Department for Education (previously Department for Children, Schools and Families) to evaluate the Short Breaks Programme and to investigate the impact of short breaks on the well-being of disabled children and their families.

Short breaks can vary in length from a few hours to a week, with disabled children being cared for in their own home or given opportunities to access activities and places in the wider community. Short breaks include and extend services that used to be called respite as well as a wide range of other provision.

Initial qualitative research was followed by large scale surveys which included an assessment of the impact of short breaks on the lives of children with disabilities and their families over time. For a detailed description of the project, follow the link to ‘Full Research Project Summary’.

The data gathering phase of the research has now been completed. We are very grateful to everyone who took part. A number of reports have been prepared and submitted to government, these have been made available to everyone involved in or interested in short breaks and links to the documents can be found by following the ‘Project Outputs’ link on this page.

Families have provided us with a great deal of information. We will make the most of this data by analysing it in different ways and presenting the findings as widely as possible. More reports and articles are being prepared and new links will be added to this site from time to time.

By email: chris.hatton@lancaster.ac.uk

By phone: 01524 593301

By post: Centre for Disability Research, Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YT