The focus of the challenges presented to an individual with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and or challenging behaviours can be conceptualised as occurring at the interface between the characteristics of the environment in which the individual lives and the services available. The capacity and/or competence of the environment to respond to the varying needs of our client group is determined by a number of factors among which we would see the following as being salient:

• Organisational structure
• Appropriateness of response
• Flexibility of response
• Delivery of service – staff numbers, staff skills, staff deployment
• Attitudes and attributions (cultures and values)
• Stability and focus