Worth Listening To? Life with Learning Disabilities

This two-hour event will bring together education, research and performing arts in an effort to give a full account of priorities in the life of people with Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (SPMLD).

Hosted by Dr Lila Kossyvaki

In an easy-to-access format, special education expert Peter Imray and Dr Lila Kossyvaki, Lecturer and Programme Lead, in SPMLD will share from their perspectives what people with SPMLD are taught in schools, how effective this teaching is and also highlight what is the current existing research on SPMLD.

This event will explain the implications on the life of people with SPMLD and their families, as well as why teaching staff often 'hit the target but miss the point', failing to teach meaningful and life-long skills to these people.

The evening will close with some examples of the work of the One of a Kind theatre group - a group of emerging performers with learning disabilities who work with non-verbal physical theatre relying on music, prop work and improvisation. This promises to be a truly memorable session proving that theatre can be experienced beyond language and traditional performances.

At the end of the performance, the audience will have the opportunity to participate in brief discussions with the speakers and the One of a Kind group.

• Peter Imray will give a talk on the main characteristics of people with Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (SPMLD) and their need for different pedagogies and curricula at school.
• Lila Kossyvaki will give an overview of current research in the field. She will focus on the need for practitioners to use research in order to inform their practice and disseminate existing good practice.
• Richard Hayhow, Carl Sealeaf and the ‘One of a Kind’ group of the Open Theatre will present who they are and how they work and show examples of their non-verbal physical theatre.