Special Passports
Passports are usually little booklets, but they do not have to be – they can be laminated sheets, wall charts, a card case clipped to a belt, a mealtime place mat, a folding leaflet etc. The precise form that a Passport takes is not important – what matters is the 'look' of the Passport (it must be attractive and easy to read) and the quality of the content (it must be accurate, up to date, and useful).
Passports generally contain information about a whole range of aspects of the person's life. However, not all Passports need to be 'Full Passports'.
Sometimes it is important to alter the focus and format of a Passport, in response to some particular situation or need, for example to:
- summarise all of the key information down on to one page (or its equivalent, in different layouts), to make it easier to take in quickly
- focus in on one particular aspect of a child or adult's life, to highlight its importance, to address a specific concern and/or to give more specific detail (often also on a single page)
Angela Crocker, a speech and language therapist in Belfast, has been pioneering Personalised Place Mats as a simple and effective way of summarising the information that can help adults with learning disabilities to positive, safe and successful mealtimes. Learn more about Personalised Placemats and download of a Placemat Template, with instructions
This is a form of 'Specialised Passport' or 'Single Focus Passport', in this case for eating and drinking; (could also be for such as IT access; behaviour triggers; using my vision; my medication; or topics where photos are needed to permit correct positioning and/or equipment use).
Not everyone would necessarily call one of these a 'Passport' as such. But whatever 'name' is used, the principle is the same, i.e. important information distilled into a simple and easily accessible format.
