ABSTRACT
This chapter extends the Sounds of Intent model of musical development to explore the perceptual and cognitive processes that people with learning difficulties use to engage in creative multisensory activities. The aim is to set out a theoretical framework through which different approaches to multisensory work can be contrasted and compared, and their relative effectiveness evaluated. The chapter builds on the hypothesis that the forms of mental processing set out in zygonic theory need not be restricted to sound and music. This is because all sensory domains have qualia, which can be subject to variation, and whose disposition at any given point can be perceived as being the same as another, and can be considered to be so through human agency – through imitation. This principle is shown to be theoretically applicable in the domains of art, dance and drama, and the first related empirical work, which took the form of two projects in a special school – ‘Marks of Intent’ and ‘Movements of Intent’ – is reported. The findings hold out the prospect of multisensory work with children with profound learning difficulties being open to rigorous evaluation for the first time.
