The Pre-Instrumental Enrichment Program and ludiform activity in intellectual disability: From theory to action
Loretta Pavan, Chiara Leoni
This article analyses the educational and learning potential of play, with particular reference to pre-school children with intellectual disability. Research in education has shown that play represents a preferential modality to stimulate harmonious and all-around development of children and has emphasized the opportunities given by play activities to promote the acquisition of cognitive, representational, and creative skills. In the case of atypically-developing children, the deficiencies in different aspects of their development can interfere with the possibility of learning through play. In this case, a meaningful contribution can come from ludiform activities, which add an educational objective to the general features of play. The Pre-Instrumental Enrichment Program is a methodology devised for early cognitive intervention, which uses ludiform activities to enable children with an intellectual disability to experience guided play, which they will subsequently recombine in a creative, free, and spontaneous way, thus allowing them to access play as a source of learning and development.
Keywords
PAPS, ludiform activity, early cognitive intervention, intellectual disability.