Intensive Interaction

Meeting the fundamental communication needs of people who have severe learning difficulties and/or autism

Basic usual course:

1 day. 2 day courses recommended for more in-depth study, follow-up courses and on-site consultancy available. Course Programme includes:

the development of Intensive Interaction
how people learn to communicate and relate in infancy
the fundamentals of communication
the principles of Intensive Interaction
how to do Intensive Interaction
organising work on Intensive Interaction
record-keeping and documentation
issues: age appropriateness, challenging behaviours, physical contact, teamwork, ethics, emotional bonding/professional objectivity.

Course Details

This course will be of interest to staff of all disciplines who work with adults and children with severe learning difficulties, including social services staff, teachers and assistants, nurses, staff from voluntary organisations, therapists and indeed parents and other carers. The focus is on the communication needs of people who have not achieved use nor perhaps understanding of speech and who may be “difficult to reach” in various ways. Intensive Interaction is an approach where the member of staff is seen as the main teaching resource, using personal qualities of face, voice and body language to involve the learner in progressive sequences of interactive activities. These activities provide the person with learning difficulties with the opportunity to learn the pre-speech fundamentals of communication such as enjoying being with another person, giving sustained attention, turn-taking, use and understanding of eye contacts, facial expressions, body language and non-verbal signalling.

The course will include extensive use of video examples. Comprehensive handouts will be given. Course members should expect to work in a warm, humorous and supportive atmosphere.

I am flexible about group sizes. A school staff group of fifty to sixty is common and is probably my preferred group size. However, smaller groups can make for a highly informal and interactive atmosphere, whilst I am also accustomed to working at conferences with one hundred plus people in a lecture theatre.