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Intensive interaction introduction course dates have been changed to 27th to 28th June.

INTERNSIVE INTERACTION INTRODUCTION COURSE

Hosted by Amazing Speech Therapy 

What is Intensive Interaction?

Intensive interaction is an approach designed to help children and adults who have severe learning difficulties and/or autism who are still at an early stage of communication development.  Intensive Interaction teaches and develops the ‘Fundamentals of Communication’.  These includes (but are not limited to):

  • Use and understanding of eye contact and facial expressions
  • Learning to share attention and concentrate on another person
  • Taking turns in exchanges of behavior
  • Developing vocalisations leading to speech
  • How to enjoy being with others and have fun together

Who is Intensive Interaction for?

Intensive Interaction is used to meet the social communication needs of people who have, for a range of reasons, a communication and social impairment.

Intensive Interaction has been successfully used with:

  • people who have severe and complex learning difficulties
  • people with multi-sensory impairments
  • people who have a diagnosis of autism
  • people who have a range of self-stimulatory or socially isolating behaviours
  • people with a learning disability and challenging behaviour


Equally, the approach has been used successfully with people who may be highly social in many ways, but who still need to further develop their social skills in areas like:

  • use and understanding of eye contacts and facial expressions
  • taking turns in sequences of social behaviour
  • developing and furthering vocalisations

Who should attend this course:

Intensive Interaction Introduction Course is for all professionals (speech therapists, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists, special education teachers) and parents or helpers involved in the care of children who have severe learning difficulties and/or autism.

Expected Results:

Across the increasing body of published research into Intensive Interaction there are a number of common findings, these being:

  • increased initiation and/or levels of social engagement
  • increased toleration of, or responsiveness to physical proximity
  • increased levels of contingent smiling
  • increased levels of eye contact or looking at another person’s face
  • increased use of communicative vocalisations
  • increased levels of socially significant physical contact
  • improved levels of joint attention

Intensive Interaction ‘techniques’

Although generally used in combination, the techniques set out below are the most easily identified social communication practices used within Intensive Interaction engagements.

Sharing personal space
In Intensive Interaction we look to share proximity in a mutually acceptable way e.g. somehow lying, sitting, standing or even moving together, touching or apart.

Vocal echoing
Echoing some aspect of a person’s sounds (even any non-symbolic sounds) can be socially acknowledging and even develop into conversation-like exchanges e.g. echoing a person’s sounds or vocalisations, perhaps even echoing their breathing patterns.

Behavioural mirroring
Mirroring some aspect of a person’s posture, movements or behaviour can be socially acknowledging and can develop into dynamic behavioural exchanges e.g. mirroring some aspect of a person’s movements or physical activity; adopting someone’s posture.

Physical contact
Sensitive, sociable physical contact can sometimes promote mutual trust and sociability e.g. holding, squeezing or clapping hands together; hand-over-hand games; rhythmically stroking arms or shoulders; walking arm-in-arm; touching foreheads or rubbing noses.

Making or exchanging eye contact
Sensitive eye contact can be important for exchanging inclusive social signals e.g. looking at, and looking away games, making dramatic glances, looking in the mirror together.

Exchanging facial expressions
Using clear and sustained facial expressions with a person creates opportunities for these to be better understood and reciprocated e.g. clear smiling, winking; even pulling faces.

Joint focus activity
This is when both people focus their attention on the same object or activity, structuring their social engagement around this object or activity e.g. jointly exploring objects, books and pictures; doing a structured activity together; reading to or listening to music together.

Turn taking
Turn taking involves two people intentionally sequencing their actions in some way e.g. via sequenced vocal or physical exchanges e.g. clapping or passing things in turns, etc.

Burst-pause sequences
This is when an action is preceded by an extended pause, building an expectancy that something is about to happen e.g. hide-and-appear games; playing ‘catch’ with a ‘1-2-3’ countdown; using noise escalation games that gradually build then abruptly go quiet.

Using ‘running commentaries’
The timely use of a positive ‘running commentary’ on someone’s actions, or on the visible actions of others in a shared environment, can provide a socialising element to an engagement e.g. using limited language to describe a person’s activity e.g. “wow, great, yeah…”, “I can see you looking…”, “from me to you…” etc.

Finally, there are also three other procedural concepts that underpin the use of Intensive Interaction:

  1. Ascribing Intentionality this is done by responding to a person’s actions (or vocalisations) as if they are intentional communications, even if they aren’t.
  1. The activity being ‘Taskless’ in nature i.e. there being no set ‘task’ to complete during an Intensive Interaction engagement; it is the quality of the interaction that is important, not any predetermined outcomes.
  1. Establishing mutual pleasure we endeavour to make every Intensive Interaction engagement enjoyable and therefore intrinsically rewarding; there is no external reward offered or given, just the mutual pleasure of being with a person.

Course Information:

This Course is conducted in collaboration with the Intensive Interaction Institute (UK).
Date: 27th & 28th June
Time: 7 pm to 10 pm

Course fees:

 Fees per participant
Original (from June 16th)$360 nett
Early Bird Promo (until June 15th)$299 nett
Amazing Speech Therapy clients and partners (until June 15th)$260 nett

Registration Form

Registration is full!. If you would like to attend the next training, please register your interest below. 

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