It is good to start from the beginning‌‌ How can you expect a child to do these that are on the branches, WITHOUT having the roots and trunk first?
What Is Intensive Interaction ? Practical approach - interacting with a child/ young person
with learning disabilities that find it hard to communicate. Enabling a child/young person to develop a social connection at a basic level. Enabling a child/ young person to take the lead and indicate communication. (Initiation)
Being reflective NOT directive.
Without conversation there is a battle for control. (Geraint Ephraim 1998)
Intensive Interaction …..it is designed to help children/young people who are at early levels of
development to learn the
‘Fundamentals of Communication’ 4
Fundamentals of Communication •Enjoying being with another person •Sharing personal space •Developing the ability to attend to a person •Concentration and attention span •Learning to do sequences of activity with another person (simple games) •Taking in turns in exchanges of behaviour •Using and understanding eye contacts •Using and understanding facial expressions •Using and understanding physical contact •Using and understanding verbal communication •Using vocalisations with meaning (emotions) •Learning to regulate and control arousal levels •Emotional understandings and outcomes
Parent-Infant Interaction Intensive Interaction technique is borrowed from the natural model, which is a mother interacting with her baby. (Parent-infant interaction) For a baby, the first year of life is 'chit chat' (Phatic communication) during this 'chit chat' babies begin to learn the Fundamentals of Communication. Anyone the baby comes into contact with is ready to interact in a fun, silly, warm, happy way. Totally appropriate to the baby’s needs. The principles of the parent interaction style with babies
The principles of parent-baby interaction provide the guiding framework for how to interact with people with SLD in Intensive Interaction.
Being available
Enjoyment
Let the baby lead
Responding
Creating and repeating familiar activities
Pausing
Extending
Turn taking
The ‘Natural Model’ of communication learning
Dynamic, free-flowing, pleasurable activities with the infant operating as a full and active participant
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The ‘Natural Model’ of communication learning Mutual Enjoyment – interest and delight to one another Basically, the adult constructs the content and flow of the
activity by following the infant’s behaviour and responding to what the infant does. Pauses - therefore the activity contains many pauses while the adult watches and waits for the infant to do the next thing.
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Who? Generally used with children/young people who are non-verbal or limited communication behaviours. Children/young people who are socially withdrawn i.e. ď‚— find it hard to interact with others ď‚— seem to find no/little pleasure in interacting with others Children/young people that display various stereotyped behaviours or self-stimulate - this makes it hard for them to interact with others. We CAN use Intensive Interaction with good communicators also.
The major resource is you – the main idea is for you to: • Relax and enjoy yourself with the child and allow some of your natural communication abilities to guide what you do. • Think carefully about how to have a successful interaction with a child/young person, by using some principles borrowed parent-infant interaction.
•Vocalisations – grunts ,humming, hissing etc •Movements – hand arm movements, rocking , swaying etc •Facial expressions – smiles, grimaces, mouth opening face position etc •Physical contact – pats, taps, reaching to hold you etc. •Stereotyped behaviour – many children with SLD have a rich and organised range of repetitive and rhythmic behaviour they enjoy, so TRY and join in .
How do we respond ? • Imitating – by providing a recognisably similar imitation of what the other person just did, but combined with clear signals of enjoyment from you. • Joining in – self stimulating behaviours – rocking, flapping etc. •Saying something – a good celebration might be to simply say something which is approving like: “oh yes” “that’s good” and so on. •Being dramatic – a sudden movement ad delighted face , a vocalisation • Non-verbal responses – facial expressions, touch (where appropriate) •Running commentary - on what they are doing or on an object they may have.
Intensive Interaction can happen anywhere at anytime!
Age Appropriateness? We are basing the communication style of the communication partner on how babies learn complicated things successfully with adults. There may seem to be apparent conflict with important ideas of age appropriateness in our work. We suggest that there is not conflict. It is now common in our services to observe staff who do everything they can give proper importance to the age and adult status of a person with SLD. At the same time staff recognise the reality that this is a person who is at an early stage of development. To be happy and fulfilled, this person may also need communication experiences which are full of fun, relaxed and understandable to that person. Doing both of these are important.
Physical Contact Physical contact is a very important form of communication for babies. It is also important in that it gives reassurance and security. It is a very basic form of communication which can make quite complicated messages easily understood. It is inevitable that many people with SLD , of whatever age, may need to receive physical contact and indeed may demand it. There can be a tendency in work place situations to refuse physical contact on the grounds that it is ‘not appropriate’ We need to bear in mind the very important purpose of physical contact for a person who is at an early stage of development. Issues of ‘appropriateness’ may not be as important to that person as an understandable human need.