The PMLD ambiguity:articulating the life-worlds of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties

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A leading cooperative bank in the Philippines has demonstrated that cooperative banking can be a viable approach to microfinance. Established in May 1975, the Cooperative Rural Bank of Bulacan, Inc. (CRBBI) integrates the components of rural banking and cooperativism: it is a rural bank owned and controlled by 180 primary organizations in Bulacan. CRBBI was registered with the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pililipinas (BSP) as a stockholding company in April 20, 1978. It has an authorized capital stock of P10 million ($263,158 at December 1998 exchange rate), of which P7.689M ($202,342) or 77% have been subscribed and fully paid. Its Head Office is located in the municipality of Plaridel at the heart of Bulacan province, while its seven (7) branches are spread in other municipalities of the same province. CRBBI?s Board is composed of 11 members elected by the general assembly constituted by the Chairmen of primary organizations. The Board meets once a month together with some permanent invitees such as the Treasurer, the Secretary, the legal adviser, and the ex-Chairman who is retained as consultant to the bank. --

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From individualism to co-construction and back again:Rethinking research methodology for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities

Children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are said to experience severe congenital impairments to consciousness and cognition stemming from neurological damage. Such children are understood as operating at the pre-verbal stages of development, and research in the field typically draws conceptual resources from psychology to devise educational interventions and assessment tools. Criticism has been levelled at studies that treat children with PMLD as objects of research rather than subjects to be consulted. Proponents of the latter view have attempted to redress the situation by exploring how personal experiences can be gleaned through adapted qualitative methods. Debate about methodology in the PMLD field tends to coalesce around these individualist polemics: either children with PMLD are positioned as incompetent and lacking voice; or researchers are positioned as lacking the appropriate tools to gain access to such voice. This paper offers an alternative position to the individualism of post-positivist/constructivist approaches, identifying the need for a critical and participatory approach that sees knowledge about children with PMLD as situated and co-constructed through regular and longitudinal interaction between the researcher, children with PMLD, and significant others. Context to this argument is provided by exploring the application of this approach to an inclusive education research project for a child with PMLD