02-23-2010, 11:28 PM
Being a teaching assistant working with teenagers with disabilities I have recently learnt about a form of play therapy called Intensive Interaction.
I am not sure how many of you are familiar with this, but it is an interactive therapy in which the learner/student/service user leads the activity, and the teacher/educator follows and responds, instead of guides and directs.
It is essentially play, allowing the learner to set the activity: from simple body movements to playing games to utilising an object, and the teacher responds, mimmicks or mirrors, follows on, waits, watches and so on. The idea is to get inside the worlds of people with disabilities and to bring them out gradually, by following THEIR rules; by way of allowing them to set and lead the activity, set the pace and tempo, and stop and start the activity as desired. It is all down to the learner and what they want.
As a result, the learner, without realising it, begins to understand and develop the very fundamentals communication that we tend to take for granted...
Eye contact
Body language, Gesture and other non-verbal communication
Turn Taking, Waiting and Watching
Attention / Attentiveness
Sharing
Concentration
Interaction with other people, in addition to being on your own
Facial expressions
Physical contact
Eventually developing into speech.
We talk. Many don't, can't. What an eye opening insight this was into how complex "Communication" really is. Some people think that to talk is the only way to communicate. There are so many levels of communication we don't even recognise.
Ever snuggled on the sofa or bed with a partner and played with each others hands affectionately, absent-mindedly? To simply touch or hold another person's hand would be a miracle breakthrough for, say, a severe autistic who dislikes physical contact and is very absorbed in his or her own world.
I find myself feeling immense appreciation for the small moments when one particular autistic student I work with takes my hand and strokes it, or bangs it on the table, or gestures it toward something he wants me to do.
Communication really is a powerful and complex... thing.
I am not sure how many of you are familiar with this, but it is an interactive therapy in which the learner/student/service user leads the activity, and the teacher/educator follows and responds, instead of guides and directs.
It is essentially play, allowing the learner to set the activity: from simple body movements to playing games to utilising an object, and the teacher responds, mimmicks or mirrors, follows on, waits, watches and so on. The idea is to get inside the worlds of people with disabilities and to bring them out gradually, by following THEIR rules; by way of allowing them to set and lead the activity, set the pace and tempo, and stop and start the activity as desired. It is all down to the learner and what they want.
As a result, the learner, without realising it, begins to understand and develop the very fundamentals communication that we tend to take for granted...
Eye contact
Body language, Gesture and other non-verbal communication
Turn Taking, Waiting and Watching
Attention / Attentiveness
Sharing
Concentration
Interaction with other people, in addition to being on your own
Facial expressions
Physical contact
Eventually developing into speech.
We talk. Many don't, can't. What an eye opening insight this was into how complex "Communication" really is. Some people think that to talk is the only way to communicate. There are so many levels of communication we don't even recognise.
Ever snuggled on the sofa or bed with a partner and played with each others hands affectionately, absent-mindedly? To simply touch or hold another person's hand would be a miracle breakthrough for, say, a severe autistic who dislikes physical contact and is very absorbed in his or her own world.
I find myself feeling immense appreciation for the small moments when one particular autistic student I work with takes my hand and strokes it, or bangs it on the table, or gestures it toward something he wants me to do.
Communication really is a powerful and complex... thing.
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