Background: Interactive engagement, specifically attention and initiation, are considered important skills for facilitating development and learning in students with severe/profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Prior research has suggested that music therapy and multisensory storytelling are two promising interventions for supporting…

Of individuals with an intellectual disability, 1% are recognized as having a profound intellectual disability and commonly present at a mental age of roughly three years or below. While inclusive music education models and therapeutic models have received considerable attention, there is a scarcity of literature on music education for students…

The feasibility of a pedagogical approach--MultiSensory Music Drama (MSMD)--was investigated in collaboration with a teacher and a student with severe/profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (S/PIMD). Educational research for this group of learners is scarce, but research has suggested the potential of integrating music and multisensory…

The Rochford Review heralded new arrangements for statutory assessment for children with SLD and PMLD working below the national curriculum standard. New assessment arrangements, the pre-key stage standards and the engagement model, relate to two groups of pupils: pupils 'not yet engaged' and pupils 'engaged' in subject-specific study. This…

Background: All children have the right to express their views about matters affecting them and participate in decision-making for their future irrespective of their intellectual ability. This study explores the adult role in understanding the views of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties who are not using a formal…

This brief covers issues related to the assessment of dual sensory loss in students with significant cognitive disabilities, including the impact of suspected dual sensory loss on communication and learning and recommendations for assessment.

Supporting children and young people's mental health and well-being is central to UK Government policy, with statistics suggesting post-16 students and those with learning difficulties are vulnerable. This case study explored how practitioners at a special school for students with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties promote…

'Profound and multiple learning disabilities' ('PMLD') is a term used in the UK to refer to children with extensive impairments to cognitive development. The majority of children with PMLD are taught in special schools where specialist interventions are deployed to help PMLD children progress through the preverbal stages of development. Despite…

There is on-going debate about whether mainstream education is desirable for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Whilst some hold that 'inclusion' is a human right, and that interaction with mainstream peers leads to socio-cognitive gains, others argue that profoundly disabled learners require developmental curricular…

The activity area-based curriculum model (AACM) is used in the Finnish basic education to support pupils--most of whom have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD)--who could benefit more from skills that advance independent life coping. Existing studies have concentrated mainly on the Individual Education Plan (IEP) goal-setting…