Managing money: the path to independent choice-making

Living WELL, Sep 2004 by Suto, W M I, Clare, I C H, Holland, A J

To find out whether someone has this ability, s/he could be asked:

* Can you tell me what choice must be made here? or

* What choice do you need to make?

3. Understanding the information that is relevant to the choice

What is considered relevant, or what needs to be understood, will be different in every choice-making situation. There may be various opinions on the matter. However, it is always important to understand the main advantages and disadvantages of each of the options in the choice. For example, someone buying a second-hand car will need to understand that although the car is cheaper than a new one, it is older and might not last as long. On the other hand, a new car might last longer but would be more expensive. To find out whether someone understands relevant information, s/he could be asked:

* What are the advantages of doing...?

or

* What would be good about doing...?

and

* What would be the problems (disadvantages) with doing...?

4. Reasoning with the relevant information in order to make a choice

The person needs to be able to use relevant information to come to a logical conclusion about what to choose. For example, someone who attempts to buy an item that costs more money than s/he actually has might have weak reasoning abilities. To find out whether someone is able to reason with the relevant information, s/he could be asked to explain his or her choice. S/he could be asked:

* What do you think you should do? and

* Why do you think you should do this?

5. Appreciating that s/he will be personally affected by the choice and possibly other people might be too

It is important to realise who will be affected by the choice. For example, someone might think s/he is discussing a friend's problem, or a story, rather than his or her own life. When deciding what to buy for dinner, the choice-maker might not realise which meal is being discussed, who will eat it, and who will pay for it. To find out whether someone appreciates the significance of a decision for him/herself and for other people, s/he could be asked:

* Who does this choice affect? and

* Will it affect anyone else?

By asking the above questions, and adapting them to different situations, practitioners and carers can gain a detailed understanding of an individual's abilities to make choices. Whether or not these abilities are sufficient to make a particular choice is then ultimately a matter of opinion. The assessor must use his or her own judgment.

Maximising capacity to make financial choices

In addition to providing more opportunities, there are many other ways of improving someone's ability to make choices. For example, the more relevant information a person understands, the more likely it is that they will be able to make an appropriate choice. With regard to money, educating people about quantity, numbers and value are particularly important. So if someone had talked with James about the value of money, he might have chosen to give his neighbour smaller presents and been able to buy more of what he needs. The Government has recognised the high value of basic skills education (Department of Health, 2001), and further education for people with learning disabilities has been a focus of the Learning and Skills Act 2000. It is important to remember too that people can be helped to acquire useful knowledge during ordinary day-to-day activities like shopping, cooking and using public transport, as well as in formal educational settings.