Social embodiment in early childhood education for children with PMLD

Abstract

There is on-going debate about the extent to which mainstream education is appropriate for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Whilst the United Nations (2006) has declared that ‘inclusive education’ is a fundamental human right, proponents of special education have argued that the severe learning impairments of children with PMLD preclude them from meaningful participation in mainstream schools (Imray and Colley 2017). Despite strong views for and against the inclusion of children with PMLD in mainstream schools, there is very little research on the topic and there are no published studies that focus on early childhood education. This chapter addresses the status quo by presenting a project that explored how mainstream and specialist early years settings supported the social interaction of children with PMLD. The findings suggest that there can be parity between mainstream and specialist settings in terms of how staff support children with PMLD. The findings also suggest that peer interaction is not a given in either setting, and may require support from teaching staff. An enactivist lens (Fuchs and De Jaegher 2009, Kyselo 2014) is applied to the findings which illuminates who leads social interaction, and how this shapes the social identity of children with PMLD.