Author Archives: sheridanforster

Off to Japan

Next week Curtis and I are off to Japan for The first Asia-Pacific regional roundtable on Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD). I’ll be speaking about what’s happening in Australia (as far as I know). There will be presentations from Vietnam, Japan, and other places. I’m really excited to see what’s going on locally!
Full report forthcoming.
20th-21st, October, 2011
Kyoto-Japan
Chair person: Prof. Tadashi Matsubasa
Professor and Chair of the Division of Severe Motor and Intellectual Disabilities, Kumamoto University Hospital
Sponsored by Japanese Society for Severe Motor and Intellectual Disabilities

Involve Me


Great new resource from Mencap in UK. A beautiful multimedia package. Check out the website at http://www.mencap.org.uk/involveMe.
The Involve Me resource aims to increase the involvement of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in decision making and consultation. The resource is the result of a three year project, supported by the Renton Foundation and run by Mencap in partnership with the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).

People with PMLD and staff took part by learning about and using different approaches to communication: sharing stories, creative communication, peer advocacy and multimedia advocacy.
I also requested the DVD and got my hot little hands on it yesterday. If you do get hold of it check out the Robbie video. It’s a great video of a man who enjoys throwing a spoon and this is valued by staff rather than seen as a problematic behaviour – I love it. One day when I get time I’d love to do something on the valuing of idiosyncratic skills!

back on board slowly

Just a quick note to say sorry that has been so many months since I last wrote. On April 10th 2011 Keith and I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy: Curtis Calum McVilly.

We’re all going well.

The experience has made me think about the developmental model that we often use to aid our understanding of adults with PIMD. Curtis at 4 months has communication skills that far surpassing the communication skills of many of the people with PIMD that I meet. He has intact vision and hearing, which contributes to his ability to gaze, smile, socially reference, and perceive distant cues. In these things the developmental model clearly does not fit in applying to adults with PIMD. However, I think some of things I do to engage with him could make sense in engagements with adults with PIMD: visual tracking of close items, locating sounds in space, using touch to reassure and calm, the use of sounds to share emotions together, the swiping of close objects.

I think I need to keep thinking about this – where the developmental model is or isn’t helpful…