The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Penny Lacey, Rob Ashdown, Phyllis Jones, Hazel Lawson, Michele Pipe, Penny Lacey, Rob Ashdown, Phyllis Jones, Hazel Lawson, Michele Pipe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317511410
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties is a timely and rich resource with contributions from writing teams of acknowledged experts providing a balance of both academic and practitioner perspectives.

The book covers a myriad of topics and themes and has the core purpose of informing and supporting everyone who is interested in improving the quality of education and support for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and their families. Each chapter contains careful presentations and analyses of the findings from influential research and its practical applications and the book is a treasure chest of experiences, suggestions and ideas from practitioners that will be invaluable for many years to come. The chapters include many vignettes gathered from practitioners in the field and are written specifically to be rigorous yet accessible.

The contributors cover topics related to the rights and needs of children and young adults from 0-25 years, crucial features of high quality education, characteristics of integrated provision and effective and sensitive working with families to ensure the best possible outcomes for their children. Crucially, the voice of the learners themselves shines through. Historical provision that has had an impact on developing services and modern legislation aimed at improving provision and services are also discussed.

The contributed chapters are organised into six themed parts:

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• Provision for learners with SLD/PMLD.

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• Involving stakeholders.

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• Priorities for meeting the personal and social needs of learners.

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• Developing the curriculum.

• 
  
  

• Strategies for supporting teaching and learning.

• 
  
  

• Towards a new understanding of education for learners with SLD/PMLD.

This text is an essential read for students on courses and staff working in and with the whole range of educational settings catering for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, not just for teachers but also for support staff, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other specialists.

1

INTRODUCTION

Penny Lacey, Rob Ashdown, Phyllis Jones, Hazel Lawson and Michele Pipe

Bringing together all these wonderful writers has been a very exciting project! However, an edited book is always difficult to join up seamlessly and with 39 chapters and more than 70 writers, this particular book has been especially challenging. We believe that we have achieved what we set out to do, which was to produce a textbook that would appeal to both students on advanced and postgraduate courses and to practitioners in schools, colleges and adult education provision. By practitioners, we do not refer just to teachers but also to support staff, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other specialists interested in improving the quality of education and support for children and young people with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and their families.

We wanted to balance contributions from acknowledged experts in the field of severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties with encouraging newer writers and thus set up as many writing teams as possible. Most of the chapters have indeed been written by teams, especially on the topics where both academic and practitioner perspectives are important. For some chapters we have indicated the main writer/s and then added ‘with…’ for those who have provided examples from practice to illustrate the topic.

Each chapter has been reviewed three times by the editors, twice in chapter development where editors offered comments back to authors on clarity and coherence across the chapter. Chapter authors have engaged in this chapter development in a most gracious way, and we would like to thank them all for their willingness to engage in this process. We hope that in doing this, coherence and clarity across the book as a whole has been nurtured.

It was planned that there would be photographs of learners throughout the book and we have included as many for which we have permission. Where pictures are sparse, we hope you will substitute your own learners in your minds.

This book is about children and young people who have ‘severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties’. We have shortened that phrase to SLD/PMLD in most places to save precious space. In this group, we include children and young people who have additional needs that often co-occur with SLD/PMLD, for example autism, sensory impairments, physical disabilities and a whole range of conditions and syndromes. Where an identified need is important to highlight, we have mentioned it, but throughout the book we have in mind a heterogeneous group of children and young people brought together by the severity of their learning difficulties.

As this book is about education, development and learning, the word ‘learner’ has been chosen to denote babies, children, pupils, teenagers, students and adults where actual age does not matter but have used specific terms where they are important or where it would be clumsy to make the substitution. The groups that are most often referred to are learners in schools, including early years settings, and colleges. However, much of what is discussed is relevant to adult learners in educational provision and to very young children not yet at school.

The chapter authors have used a range of terms to denote the practitioners involved in the education of learners with SLD/PMLD. Probably the term ‘teacher’ is used most often but we do stress that it does not necessarily denote a trained teacher but could mean anyone who is in a teaching role. Again, we affirm that the chapters are of relevance to a wide range of professionals from different disciplines, not just teachers.

The authors have written their chapters in such a way that they will not date rapidly. It is true that some chapters inevitably refer to newly introduced policies and legislation or innovative practices, but the content will stand the test of time. Indeed, the chapters convey long-established teaching approaches and methods that have not dated at all. Also, we do believe that the book will be entirely relevant to readers throughout the UK and abroad. We appreciate that most of the authors are based in the UK and the majority in England but we know that their writing is not limited to the UK context, except for some discussion on English legislation that will still be of interest to practitioners outside England. Moreover, a good many of the authors have strong connections with practitioners throughout the UK and abroad through consultancy and training activities and have international profiles through writing books and papers for journals.

When planning this book, we invited potential writers to tell us what topic they wanted to write on, rather than decide on the topics and find suitable writers. We were delighted by the response to the call and the richness of the proposed chapters. The result is a treasure chest of discussions, experiences, suggestions and ideas that we expect to provide support for students on courses and practitioners for many years to come. One of the difficulties with an open invitation is that we (the editors) struggled with finding a structure for the book that would be helpful for readers. Eventually we decided on six parts:

1 Provision for learners with SLD/PMLD.

2 Involving stakeholders.

3 Priorities for meeting the personal and social needs of learners.

4 Developing the curriculum.

5 Strategies for supporting teaching and learning.

6 Towards a new understanding of education for learners with SLD/PMLD.

We hope that you (the reader) find the part divisions helpful for finding your way around the topics.

Part I: Provision in the United Kingdom for learners with SLD/PMLD

The first part in this book introduces the nature of learners with SLD/PMLD and provides historical and current contextual information and perspectives on policy, provision and practice for these learners in the United Kingdom. Chapter 2 provides definitions and examples that describe learners designated as having SLD/PMLD. It also outlines related ‘conditions’ and terminology: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities and Challenging Behaviour. Provision over the past 70 years is discussed in relation to ideas around inclusion and ‘quality of life’ is suggested as a guiding principle regardless of placement. Chapter 3 brings us up to date with policy and legislation, particularly in the light of the Children and Families Act 2014 and subsequent Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 0–25 years. Chapter 4 takes us back in time to reflect upon the education of learners with SLD/PMLD from 1800–1970 exploring the prominence of medical views; the date of 1970 is an important milestone as legislation in this year meant that these learners were no longer considered ‘ineducable’. Chapter 5 continues the journey from 1970 focusing on changes and developments in curriculum models to the present day – the introduction of a National Curriculum in 1989 was a particular challenge. The content of this book, however, goes beyond school-aged learners and Chapters 6 and 7 contextualise provision and practice for learners in Further Education (aged 16 years and over) and for those in Early Years provision (from birth to 5 years).

Part II: Involving stakeholders

Part II contains topics of differing perspectives related to learners with SLD and PMLD. Joint working across different disciplines can raise challenges and in Chapter 8, examples are given of successful strategies for joint working, as well as exploring issues, barriers and some underpinning theories. Chapter 9 raises the concern of involving parents and the wider family group. The authors consider how we can engage, strengthen and support our work with families and overcome difficulties that may occur. The theme of parents is extended in Chapter 10, where provision, needs and issues related specifically to learners and families from ethnic minorities are examined. The views of parents provide powerful insights into this topic. The importance of involving learners is considered in Chapter 11, where the voice of the children and young people are discussed, through the concepts of participation, citizenship and voice. Theoretical aspects are supported by real-life, successful examples of gaining learners’ opinions. This part also includes two chapters related specifically to teachers of learners with SLD/PMLD. In Chapter 12, the training of teachers in special education is explored. Newly qualified teachers can face particular issues within the context of special education, and these are considered. In addition, the development needs of educators throughout their professional life are discussed. In Chapter 13 the voice of teachers is heard through research carried out. Teachers share their thoughts about working with learners with SLD/PMLD and the issues raised are discussed. Finally, in Chapter 14, the powerful voice of our learners is heard through interviews with students. The authors suggest more time and consideration of the learners’ views need to be taken into account.

Part III: Priorities for meeting the personal and social needs of learners

In this third part, there are chapters that underpin learning in educational settings. They include topics that are important to understand before plunging into curriculum and classroom teaching. Chapter 15 contains advice on the effects of sensory impairments and suggests strategies that can be used when teaching learners with SLD/PMLD with sensory impairments. Chapter 16 focuses on the place of care in the curriculum; Chapter 17 considers sex and relationship education and Chapter 18 concentrates on physical contact and its nature in the lives of learners with SLD/PMLD. All three of these chapters have important messages to give on fundamental well-being topics. Chapters 19 and 20 continue this theme of well-being. The first is centred on behaviour that challenges and positive and proactive management of that behaviour and the second is designed to help practitioners to identify and address mental health concerns. The final two chapters in this part concern inner feelings. Chapter 21 deals with the roles played by faith, culture and ethnicity, alongside a more general view of spirituality, while Chapter 22 focuses directly on death, loss and bereavement: necessary but difficult subjects for learners with SLD/PMLD and their families.

Part IV: Developing the curriculum

This part, the largest part in the book, explores the broad concept of curriculum for learners with SLD/PMLD. Chapters 23 and 24 frame the part by presenting chapters on curriculum and progress. Chapter 23 offers a historical perspective of curriculum going on to discuss the tensions of developing a curriculum that responds to standards based curriculum and individual student need. Chapter 24 focuses upon recognising progress for this group of learners; it covers different types of assessment with emphasis upon formative assessment and principles/strategies for ensuring moderation and best use of assessment tools. The subsequent eight chapters each take a curriculum focus; three are focused on communication with Chapter 25 discussing the fundamentals of communication, followed by Chapter 26 giving a thorough overview of Intensive Interaction and Chapter 27 exploring the whole notion of inclusive talking and language learning. This is followed by five subject-focused chapters that illustrate the importance of planning enhanced curriculum opportunities for learners with SLD/PMLD. There are two focused on reading and literacy (Chapters 28 and 29), one on number (Chapter 30), one on Physical Education (Chapter 31) and the part ends with Chapter 32 taking a focus on drama. Across this part, educators of learners with SLD/PMLD are invited to engage with approaches to planning the curriculum that are both meaningful for individual learners and enriching in terms of access to planned learning experiences through a learner’s education. The chapters offer examples of application to real-life classrooms to enable readers to envision the impact of the approaches in practice.

Part V: Strategies for supporting teaching and learning

This part provides support and advice for practitioners seeking to develop appropriate and stimulating environments for learners with SLD/PMLD. Over the last 30 years, technology, along with increased specialist knowledge about how to use it, has improved immensely. Chapter 33 explores how the use of technology enlivens teaching and provides access to learning in ways that cannot be provided by other means. Chapter 37 explores the opportunities provided by well-designed buildings and that of carefully planned use of resources, both indoors and outdoors. It is argued that learners with SLD/PMLD should be supported to learn through exploration in carefully designed environments that help them to begin to understand their world. Opportunities for learning through play are viewed as crucial and Chapters 34 and 35 explore the concepts of ‘play’ and ‘playfulness’ respectively. Chapter 34 explains why learners with SLD/PMLD struggle to play and play cooperatively with their peers. It suggests that it is not the case that they cannot learn to play but that they learn to do so differently and we must therefore teach them differently. Chapter 35 shows why playfulness is important and, with particular reference to learners with PMLD, how we can encourage learners’ playfulness by naturally incorporating playfulness into our teaching practice and daily routines. The core subjects (mathematics, English and computing) are often prioritised at the expense of creativity and Chapter 36 reminds us why we must cherish creativity. Creativity, it is suggested, entails personalisation of learning which is essential both for teachers’ planning to meet diverse needs and for learners’ social inclusion and fulfilment.

Part VI: Towards a new understanding of education for learners with SLD/PMLD

This is the shortest part and contains just two chapters, one on research past, present and future and the other, a brief conclusion to the book and a glimpse into the crystal ball of the way ahead. A clear message from many chapters has been that there is a need for more research to throw more light on issues and to identify different or better solutions. Chapter 38 explores strengths and weaknesses in past studies and the new demand for research into evidence of what works in education to improve outcomes for learners. This chapter examines why teachers should get involved in research and how they might do their own studies. Finally, Chapter 39 records key themes that keep recurring throughout the book. It is suggested these themes must be fully explored and all issues addressed if there is to be a genuine impact on the quality of education for learners with SLD/PMLD and on their quality of life and ...