Intensive Interaction

Intensive interaction is a way to develop early interaction and communication skills. It might include turn-taking, understanding simple words and sharing enjoyment in interacting.

The key principle of intensive interaction is that the child leads the activity. This means that there is no particular goal to the activity. For example, the goal is not for your child to take turns rolling a ball or to play peek-a-boo with you and you are not telling or showing the child what to do.

How to use intensive interaction

Join your child

• You need to enter into your child's world, both in your physical position and the way you think and feel. Learn to accept your child as they are and enjoy what brings pleasure to them.
• Tune in to your child and watch for any signs of response from them.
• Make yourself available so your child can access you. It can be helpful to copy the body posture of your child.

Respond to what your child does

• Join in/imitate them.
• Make your voice, facial expressions and body language delighted and interesting to celebrate what your child is doing.
• Use bursts of simple speech to talk about what your child is doing.
• Stop when it becomes clear your child has had enough.

Repeat and expand

• Use repetition of actions and sequences to provide familiarity, predictability, security and a sense of control for your child.
• When repeating actions and sequences, take opportunities when they arise to develop ways to vary and expand what you are doing.

Use pauses

• Pauses are essential while you wait and see what your child will do next.
• Make the atmosphere relaxed and informal.
• Don't try and do too much.

Turn-taking

You can begin teaching turn-taking at an early age, by responding to your child when they make a sound or gesture and they then repeat your action back to you. This can be a building block for developing turn-taking in conversation later in their development.

Turn-taking in play and everyday situations also helps develop your child's ability to wait and allow others to take part in an interaction. Play time is a great way to support and develop your child's turn-taking skills.

Tips for turn-taking

• Tap yourself, or point to your child to help them understand whose turn it is. Say "My turn" or "Your turn" and talk about taking turns by saying "Who's next?" or "Now Daddy".
• If your child is reluctant at first, let them have two turns to every one that you have. Gradually increase the length of the turns once they understand they will get their turn after you.
• Include turn-taking in everyday activities, such as brushing hair, getting dressed, cooking and tidying up.

Visual Supports

Using visuals such as objects, photos, symbols or gestures to support your spoken language can help your child to understand.

Visual supports and symbols can be used to support the development of communication skills where communicating is difficult. Using visuals can reduce frustration while communication skills are developing.

Using visual support makes life more predictable, understandable and positive. If your child knows what is going to happen next, it can reduce stress and lead to calmer behaviour, as well as helping them to understand how to do something or where they are going (transitioning from one place or activity to another).

These are examples of visual supports: 

• Objects of reference
• First/then boards
• Visual timetables
• Timers
• Gestures/signing

Emotions

Children and young people with social communication needs might need support to recognise, understand and manage their emotions. They might also need support to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to other people's emotions. For example, they might not notice when someone else looks confused or feels upset or angry; or they might see someone who is upset and think, incorrectly, that the person is angry with them.

You can use everyday interactions to help children learn about emotions. Here are some ideas and tips:

• Label emotions as you come across them during the day. You can point out emotions when reading or watching videos.
• Point out your child's emotions. For example, you could say: "You're smiling. You must be happy."
• Help your child work out how their body feels when they are feeling an emotion. For example, you could say: "You look nervous. Do you have a funny feeling in your tummy?"
• Draw a picture of the body to show where people feel emotion. For example, sweaty palms or a faster heartbeat.
• Ask your child to draw how they are feeling.

Transitions

Moving from one activity to another is a transition and this might be a challenge for your child. They might not understand why something has to change and they might not want it to. An example of this could be moving from play time to lunch time or from bath time to bed time.

It's important to make sure that transitions are clear, consistent and manageable for your child. These support methods might help:

Visual support

Most children benefit from visual support systems to make sense of a situation and to support their communication skills.

Learn more about visual supports

Processing time

Language is more easily understood when it is simple, clear and repeated often. You do not have to use a complete sentence. Your child could misunderstand long pieces of information. Present information in small chunks, allowing time for your child to process the information and use repetition. It is important to check they have understood what has been said to them. 

Visual timetables and multi-sensory signing by staff will help your child and their ability to cope with transition.

Tasks around transition can be broken down into chunks and your child can be given the opportunity to practice tasks and transfer them to different situations. For example, your child may need support getting ready for play time. Try to encourage opportunities where your child has time to process and practice changes.