Routes for Learning (First published 2006)

Children with Profound learning disabilities all have, in
addition, a complex range of other physical, motor,
sensory, behavioural or medical difficulties .
Conventional planning and assessment materials have
always assumed that all children will follow a “normal”
pattern of development; these materials tend to follow
linear, box-ticking formats.
Teachers working with PMLD children have historically
felt intuitively that the existing curricula, with their
product-based, behaviourist approaches were inadequate
for these children; what they need is process-based,
interactive approaches.
In other words, children with PMLD need a holistic,
flexible approach. We must not try to fit them into a
“one-size-fits-all” framework.
We shouldn’t be teaching sequential steps, controlled by
the teacher, but rather focusing on broader attainment
that is not necessarily easy to measure or record.