When age-appropriateness isn’t appropriate

Nind, Melanie and Hewett, Dave (2018) When age-appropriateness isn’t appropriate. In, Whose Choice?: Contentious Issues for Those Working with People with Learning Difficulties. Taylor & Francis, pp. 48-57.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

This chapter examines the origins of the intensity of commitment to ageappropriateness and how intensive interaction highlights the problems of the concept as it is currently often applied. Practitioners with regimented ideas of age-appropriateness tend not to be those who have moved on in their thinking about normalization. As A. L. Chappell highlights in her critique of normalization, no debate remains static and there is growing recognition amongst those associated with the normalization principle that people with learning difficulties are not a homogenous group. The practitioner using the approach modifies her or his interpersonal behaviours with, for example, exaggerated facial expression, more dramatic use of body language, repetitive, simplified language. The practitioner responds to feedback by constantly adjusting the content, mood and pace of the activity to maintain optimal levels of interest and arousal. Intensive interaction has been developed for the kinds of learners who are hardest to reach and for whom other approaches have failed to have impact.

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