Why Intensive Interaction?

 

There is always something that comes up when meeting other parents is “why have you chosen Intensive Interaction?” I also hear a lot about ABA, how efficient it is, how can change children’s lives…

Well, let me tell you a little bit about my background… I come from a person centred background, I studied Carl Rogers, John Bowlby and Freud’s approaches… I am a firm believer of putting yourself in the other’s person position.. Empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard are words that will be with me forever and are the key for starting and continuing relationships in a manner that is safe.

When we talk about intensive interaction we talk about an approach which is person centred, gentle and very much humanistic; with intensive interaction we never try to change a person’s behaviour or character, we work with it and go along with the person’s journey.

To me it makes sense, it is beautiful to see how relationships unfolds, take my example… Z was about 2.5 when we started intensive interaction. He was very much in his own world, didn’t like children or people in general, very absent in the outside world… 2 years later Z is a total different child.

Intensive interaction gave Z the safe and trust to explore his surroundings in a secure environment, without threats or obstacles. I never tried and never will try to change his character or his world, but I will work with him closely to understand him. Intensive interaction doesn’t need any major skills, the most important thing is awareness and openness.

When I work with Z it is like being a open book that is ready to be filled in with ideas, thoughts, emotions. This is what intensive interaction is about and in my eyes this is what makes it one of the best approaches that there is when working with non verbal, ASD children.