Category Archives: Research Summaries with Child Participants

Zeedyk, M. S., Davies, C., Parry, S. & Caldwell, P. (2009) British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37 (3), 186-196. This paper reports on a study on the effectiveness of Intensive Interaction being used in Romania with children with severe communicative impairments. The children, aged 4–15 years in state care, attended a specialist day centre. The childrenContinue reading “Fostering Social Engagement in Romanian Children with Communicative Impairments: Reflections by newly trained practitioners on the use of Intensive Interaction”

Barber, M. (2008) European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23 (4), 393-402. In 2003 Intensive Interaction was introduced to Bayside Special Developmental School in Melbourne, Australia. The school had 80 pupils with moderate to profound learning disabilities (aged from 2-18 years).  Class sizes varied from 4 to 8 pupils staffed by one teacher and oneContinue reading “Using Intensive Interaction to add to the palette of interactive possibilities in teacher-pupil communication”

Anderson, C. (2006) British Journal of Special Education, 33(3), 114-120. This article examined interactions between teachers and pupils, and looked to see if the communication strategies employed impact on interactions. Beveridge & Hurrell (1980) found that teachers could maintain an interaction by immediately responding either verbally or non-verbally or could discourage pupils by ignoring orContinue reading “Early Communication strategies: using video analysis to support teachers working with preverbal pupils”

Kellett, M. (2005) British Journal of Special Education, 32 (3), 116 – 121. This paper summarises case study evidence of how an 11-year-old girl’s quality of life was transformed by the adoption of Intensive Interaction. Despite the objective research perspective of such a paper, published as it was in such a highly regarded academic journal,Continue reading “Catherine’s Legacy: social communication development for individuals with profound learning difficulties and fragile life expectancies”

Kellett, M. (2004), Westminster Studies in Education, 27 (2), 175-188. In this paper Kellet looks at the pedagogical role of Intensive Interaction for students with severe and complex learning difficulties. She begins with an overview of the theoretical context of ‘interactive pedagogy’, and describes how Intensive Interaction can support sociability and communication development for theContinue reading “Intensive Interaction in the inclusive classroom: using interactive pedagogy to connect with students who are hardest to reach”

Kellett, M. (2003) Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 3(1), 18–34. This paper reports on the use of Intensive Interaction with Jacob, an 8 years old boy with severe learning difficulties. A multiple-method methodology was used, with the findings showing substantial progress in sociability and communication: Jacob’s stereotyped behaviour was also observed to substantiallyContinue reading “Jacob’s journey: developing sociability and communication in a young boy with severe and complex learning disabilities using the Intensive Interaction teaching approach.”

Nind, M., Kellett, M. & Hopkins, V. (2001) Child Language and Therapy, 17 (2), 143-159. Some Background: the authors of this paper argue that the communication difficulties experienced by those with severe or profound learning disabilities have been typically attributed entirely to the learning disabled person, and therefore interventions are usually aimed at enhancing theirContinue reading “Teachers’ talk styles: communicating with learners with severe and complex learning difficulties”

Kellett, M. (2000) Support for Learning 15 (4), 165 – 171. This research paper concerns a single case study that was part of a larger, more comprehensive longitudinal study of the use of Intensive Interactionin the early education of children with severe learning disabilities. The Participant  Sam was a five year old boy at aContinue reading “Sam’s Story: evaluating intensive interaction in terms of its effect on the social and communicative ability of a young child with severe learning difficulties”

Watson, J. & Fisher, A. (1997) British Journal of Special Education, 24 (2), 80-87. This research evaluated two teaching methods, including the use of Intensive Interaction, and was carried out in a Scottish school for pupils with very severe learning difficulties and multiple impairments. Six staff-pupil pairs were studied over nine months, with the studyContinue reading “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Intensive Interaction Teaching with Pupils with Profound and Complex Learning Disabilities”

Watson, J. & Knight, C. (1991) Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 7 (3), 310-25. This article describes an exploration of Intensive Interaction by staff at a school for pupils with severe learning difficulties, in Edinburgh. In this one-year study, the researchers attempted to analyse the skills used in infant-parent interaction and apply them to theirContinue reading “An Evaluation of Intensive Interactive Teaching with Pupils with Very Severe Learning Difficulties”