Janet Carr, until her retirement in 1992, was regional tutor in the Psychology of Learning Disability at St George’s Hospital, London. Her principal research interest has concerned a longitudinal study of a cohort of children with Down syndrome and their families, and a matched comparison group of non-disabled babies and their families. The study has followed the intellectual, language and academic development of the children, their daily living skills, and social and employment experiences, and has also looked at the impact of the child in each group of families. The study was initiated when the children were 6 weeks old and has continued (so far) until the age of 45, carried out in the summer of 2009.
She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, was on the BPS Board of Examiners from 1985-86, and a Dissertations Examiner for the Society's Diploma in Clinical Psychology from 1988 to 2002. Currently she is chair of the BPS Welfare Fund. She is a member of and Assistant Editor for the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy.
Apart from Down syndrome, her main interest has been in the use of behavioural methods in the teaching of people with intellectual disabilities, and she has been Behavioural Advisor to the Down's Syndrome Association UK since the late 1980s.
She has written about 60 book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 6 books, four of which are detailed below.
Carr, J (1975) Young children with Down's Syndrome: their development, upbringing and effect on their families. London. Butterworth
Carr, J (1995) Down's Syndrome: Children Growing Up. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carr, J (1980) Helping your handicapped child: a step-by-step guide to everyday problems. Harmondsworth. Penguin. 2nd reprint 1985, 3rd reprint 1987, 2nd edition 1995
Carr, J&Collins, S (1992) Working towards independence: a practical guide to teaching people with learning difficulties. London. Jessica Kingsley Publishers
