In placing Play at the heart of the 2nd edition of Equals Pre-Formal Curriculum, we are recognising the central importance of Play in every human society no matter where that society is. Free Play, entered into freely and freely maintained over time, enables all learners to engage, irrespective of any difficulties and disabilities that they may experience, as long as we, the people supporting learners to find their place in the world,
(i) understand the difficulties and disabilities associated with PMLD
(ii) understand the very early developmental levels those with PMLD are working at, irrespective of their chronological age and
(iii) understand each individual learner as well as that learner’s own parents do.
Teaching Play for those with PMLD is however, different to teaching Play in the other Equals pathways. Here, we not only have to consider teaching in the moment, but also the crucial consideration of choice, and how learners with PMLD are likely to express free choice. Once we enable this, we can build our Curriculum around each individual learner’s response to Free Play as being the most likely area where we might discover real engagement. Only when we ensure real engagement can we expect real learning to take place.
