LEARNING WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF PLAY - PROVIDING TYPICAL EARLY-CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES FOR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

Early childhood educators regard child-initiated, child-directed, teac her-supported play as the primary context in which young children lear n, whereas special educators have relied more heavily on teacher-direc ted activities that are focused on specific skill development. The pur pose of this manuscript is to suggest that a play-based environment is the most natural instructional context for young children with severe disabilities. The application of a play-based curriculum requires nei ther an abandonment of effective instructional special education pract ice nor a violation of early childhood education best practice. Adopti ng such an approach, however, does represent a conceptual step away fr om existing practice. Further, allowing play activities to form the fo undation on which effective instruction and classroom organization are built requires the utilization of best practice in the fields of earl y childhood education and early childhood special education in conjunc tion with effective practices for educating students with severe disab ilities.