Challenging the notion that young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) should be taught in a linear, target-driven way, this book presents an innovative model for creating learning opportunities to suit the needs and abilities of each individual student.
Focusing on students with PMLD aged 14 and over, and addressing their unique needs as they progress towards adult life, the author explains how to create a truly personalised programme for each individual that recognises their right to autonomy whilst also acknowledging their learning difficulties. Practical strategies for dealing with common areas of difficulty such as communication and behaviour are included, and the book contains useful solutions to practical considerations such as timetabling, staffing, assessments and target-setting, and adapting the physical and sensory environment for students with PMLD. A final section looks at opportunities for students with PMLD post-secondary education.
Realistic and accessible, this book is essential reading for teachers, teaching assistants and others involved in educating young people with PMLD.
Industry Reviews
This is an intellectual triumph that justifies the presence of teachers in the lives of people who were once defined as 'ineducable'... [It] is a book full of practice wisdom, not a model of how we ought to do it but vibrant examples of how we could do it if only we could work out what is going on in the lives of complicated people. Andrew Colley's rapport with other professionals and the families of his client group demonstrate how much more can be done with thoughtfully coordinated resources. My enduring impression is of a determined professional focused on his task with a respectful sensitivity to tensions in schools and families coping with everyday, ordinary events. This is not a call for change but encouragement to persist within the parameters we set for ourselves when we insist that education is for everybody in the institutions we provide. It is pragmatism at its productive best - unashamedly giving us permission to do whatever works in the case of every individual whose personalised curriculum is the only way forward.
