Intensive Interaction is an approach that is used to develop positive social communication with people who have communication or social impairments. It is a social communication approach that is most often used with people who have severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties.
The approach focuses on using the ‘Fundamentals of Communication’ as a means of establishing and developing improved social communication exchanges.
These are the social communication capabilities of:
- developing the ability to attend to another person
- using and understanding eye contacts and facial expressions
- learning to share personal space
- using and understanding sociable physical contacts
- using vocalisations with meaning (for some, speech development)
- taking turns in exchanges of behaviour, and/or sequencing a social exchange with another person
- enjoying being with another person
Usually used in combination, the techniques below are the social communication practices used within Intensive Interaction engagements:
Sharing personal space
Vocal echoing
Behaviour mirroring
Physical Contact
Making or exchanging eye contact
Exchanging facial expressions
Joint focus activity
Turn taking
Using ‘running commentaries’