For anyone with severely disabled children or those with PMLD

[Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads]

I may be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but I have just come across intensive interaction and wow. I am reading Phoebe Caldwell's book "Finding me, Finding you" which is mainly about using intenisve interaction with autism, but there are other more general books out there. I've tried a couple of exchanges with ds1- and wow- he responded instantly. I think the main benefit (from reading the book), is that it reduces, stress, anxiety, and therefore self harming, and teaches the individual that there is a world out there that they can iteract with, and provides some connection.

Hi, I am/was an OT and when I was at college I saw a really inspiring video with Pheobe Caldwells work and it was amasing. The current OT of the year won after being nominated by the parent of a boy she workrd with using II.

I've never had the opportunity to work with in this field but it makes sense to me and seemed to benefit the young man she was working with. WHen we first saw the video it seemed strange and a self-conscious was of working but I suppose to people who have no experience of the world of people with autism it would?

I hope it works well for you and gives you and your DS a world that you can share toghether.

Interesting Jimjams - dd's nursery have been talking about using this kind of approach with her. Haven't got around to doing any research into it but will maybe get hold of Pheobe Caldwell's book. have you come across any good synopsis of how it works on the web?

Not really-did find a very simple "how to" guide there are a couple of pages I'll post later (got to dash off now). Phoebe Cadlwell's book is very easy reading although the first half is about sensory issues and autism so may not be entirely relelvant (mind you if you did buy it and it was no use I reckon it would sell on amazon really easily). I'd lend you my copy but I'm thiking of basing my dissertation on ii now so need to hold onto it at the moment.

BAsically you observe the child/adult, see how they are talking to themselves (this may be through making sounds, or through touch etc) and then you repeat those to the child/adult, sometimes changing them slightly to make them interesting.

I;ll give a couple of excerpts:

1. "A women has extreme self injury.......occasionally she has days when she sniffs people's hair. Otherwise she runs away form contact. She self injures, banging her face.... repeatedly to the point where the cheekbone is exposed. I stand well away from her. It takes about 20 minutes before she realises that every time she hits herself I tap my face. She is astonished and her jaw drops......She hits herself more gently and looks at me to see what I will do. I tap my cheek, she responds. Gradulally I am able to walk over to her, leading to an exchange where is she taps one side of her face i tap the other. She is laughing. Over time she becomes extremely responsive to this type of interaction. Her wound heals"......

1. "The timing f the seminar (on II) for us could not have been better...we were just embarking on our 5th attempt a toilet training our severely autistic dd. Jeny is 5, has very little language and displays very challengin behaviour. Two days in and things weren't going well.....After tea I took jenny downstairs to the loo with me, I got her to sit on the potty and I sat on the toilet. Jenny was totally disinterested and got off to play with the taps. ....I asked jenny to sait again and she did with a little process. At that point Jenny started to make a clicking sound with her tongue and twisting her fingers. I tried to make the same noise whiulst wiggling my fingers too. Immediately Jenny looked up, almost amazed and started to laugh.....The noise wasn;t loud enough for her so she started clapping. We then went into a wonderful clapping game......At this point Jenny's attention was totally on me and her eye contact was fantastic. I very quietly asked jenny to "do a wee". Jenny looked away for a few seconds and I thought I'd lost her. She appeared to concentrate then stood up and looked in the potty. To both our amazement there was a small amount of urine in the potty......We had been in the loo for abou 45 minutes.....And that was it.....The very next day she was dry all day and has remained so. She still insists on a nappy for poos but we are working on that."

Thanks - really interesting. Will look into it.

That sounds really impressive. I hope it keeps working, what a brilliant way of thinking about communication.

hi jimjams,
i love that sort of interaction.sooo good on so many levels ...every one feels good afterwards.
ive got some experiences like the ones you quote....ooohhh im all goose bumpy and watery eyed...

i just tried to write one down but it was far too long and rambly,jumbled and emotional...

i just tried to summarise it and i cant do it justice even then.

summary of this post :it's great innit!

ooh where have you done it beansontoast? I need to learn more as having read one tiny book I don't know what I am doing at all.

HITC- this \link{http://www.nwtdt.com/\link} takes you to a site where you can download a handbook by Phoebe Caldwell. It's very basic, and ASD biased (useful for schools actually with ASD kids wherever they are on the spectrum) but gives a brief idea.

As I saaid though I know nothing. I do know someone who used it and raved to me about it a year ago (with PMLD students), but its taken me this long to follow it up

Brilliant - thanks Jimjams.

Oooh thanks for that jimjams, it sounds great. I've just seen on Amazon that she has another book out - Person to Person: Establishing Contact and Communication with People with Profound Disabilities. Will place an order :)

We'll have to swap stories....... :o I'm interested in the training videos (nothing like seeing it in action) but they appear to be 80 quid!

and we were moaning about the price of the Something Special DVDs????? :o

jimJams - You are in/near Plymouth no? Why not ask at ST.Loyes College/ Uni of Plymouth in Exeter if they would let you see the video they have?

You mentioned a dissertation? - You should be able to get visiting rights to the library if thats not your own library anyway?!

I've done quite a bit of intensive interaction and have heard Dave Hewitt talk (he did work with Phoebe Cauldwell but they have gone their separate ways) his books are also good.

I've been looking at Dave Hewitt's as well,all have quite long delivery times but it's a good idea to look and see if the videos are in the library.

jimjams,
ive been to that link and am printing off the handbook as i write...feels like christams.

i used to be a support worker in a day service for people with pmld.i have to say my most striking experience of this was not with a person on the autistic spectrum....but it is such a powerful way to engage with people.

we had some info about Nind AND hEWITT'S INTENSIVE INTERACTION FROM slt INPUT/TRAINING SESSIONS (oooops...im rubbish at typing)...but some of the approaches are/feel quite instinctive ...prob due to years of trying to connect with people with no intentional communication....and as such a couple of us were interacting similarly anyway.

other than it being brilliant,i think im such a fan cos it suits me personally...it's sooo individualised/ idiosyncratic and informal.however, some otherwise brilliant support workers, really really couldnt get their heads around it..ie how powerful it was/is, and then value it accordingly.it was seen as bit 'soft' ,i suppose.[quietly exasperated face]

im on a mission to find more info too...will keep an eye on this thread.

can you buy the book, rather than download it?

The download is just a leaflet type thingy fio (well wokbook). You can buy the book from amazon or jessica kingsley.