Early cognitive enhancement in intellectual disability: the Pre-Instrumental Learning Program – PILP – Volume 2

The PILP, Pre-Instrumental Learning Programme, is an early cognitive enhancement programme built with the aim of helping all children, particularly those with intellectual disabilities, to develop the cognitive strategies and thought processes which underlie any form of learning necessary for future autonomy. The proposed intervention allows:

• for giving timely responses to families and to make the most of the peak of childhood brain development;
• for structuring correct cognitive habits and to prevent the establishment of dysfunctional behaviours;
• for building the conceptual tools necessary for a profitable educational path in kindergarten and primary school.

Each activity has been extensively tested and is described in detail with precise operational indications and explanatory photographs.

The core of the PILP is to build a programme based on activities rich in meaning, i.e. enriched by an intrinsic motivation, embellished with emotional value. It is therefore very important that the proposals are experienced by children with a perspective that helps them understand the importance of learning for their future. In this way they will become adults capable of participating in life as freely and actively as possible.