Phoebe Caldwell visits Ricky, an 11-year-old with severe autism, to use a communication method called intensive interaction to improve his learning.
Phoebe has been working with adults and children with learning difficulties for over 30 years. Working with him both at home and school, Phoebe uses Ricky's behaviour and body language as the basis for communicating with him.
Phoebe is able to draw Ricky into shared activities as he begins to recognise his own rhythms in someone external to him. Intensive interaction is relatively simple to use and teach to others. It can make a big difference to communicating with pupils with a variety of severe special educational needs.
The method requires thinking about the way communication is made with those with learning difficulties. By placing value in every aspect of a pupil's behaviour, recognition can be made of their language, which can be used as a basis for the communication.
