Intensive Interaction Down Under conference next year

For people interested in Interaction with people with PIMD, check out the 2014 Intensive Interaction conference http://www.ammp.com.au/iid3/

Approaching Best Practice for adults with PIMD in day services

I had the pleasure of spending a day at WALCA in Bexley, NSW, last week.

There were many things about the service that make me suggest they are approaching best practice.

Most notable was their InterCom service in IGLO:). This part of the day service included two staff dedicated to supporting the communication of the service users. The staff had built particular expertise in Intensive Interaction and other communication strategies. They had an area of the day service where they could bring clients for one to one work. In addition, they had other staff spend a day in the part of the service so that they could model and share what they'd learnt. 

They showed and discussed a video that they had made of the work. They impressed me with their ability to describe the outcomes for service users and how these had been bought about: people who were now taking turns in sound play, people who had started the service screaming most of the day and now smiling in interactions... Very impressive, and showing the value of day services when time is dedicated to staff learning and nurturing their ability to bring about and describe outcomes.

Intensive Interaction course at Deakin Uni

Cross posting for Mark

barber.mark.m@edumail.vic.gov.au


Dear colleague, the accredited Masters Level Unit of Study: Intensive Interaction: Theory to Practice is available again in 2013, at Deakin University Burwood Campus

Intensive Interaction is an approach to supporting the communication of learners with complex intellectual disabilities and often severe communication impairments which originated in UK and has been gaining increasing interest in Australia since its introduction in 2003.

The approach is recognised an evidence based practice by APS

WHERE :
Deakin University, Burwood Campus.
HOW:
Participants complete the required readings prepared for this unit. Tutorial support is provided by email.
The unit follows 3 phases of on-campus days at Burwood Site, through the trimester with face-to-face teaching by the unit lecturer

·      Phase 1.....3 consecutive days in January

·      Phase 2......a weekend in March

·      Phase 3.....3 days in April

NB To gain accreditation for learning, participants should attend all 8 days and complete 1x 3000 word assignment and 1x 3000 word reflective diary.

WHEN : Begins January 2013
WHO : anyone who works with people with complex or profound intellectual disabilities

Contact Anne Savige Manager of Educational Projects anne.savige@deakin.edu.au+61 3 924 46384


NB More detail is available in the attachment
regards

Mark
Mark Barber PhD
Intensive Interation Coordinator
Bayside SDS
Genoa Street
Moorabbin
Vic 3189

New report: UK

From the PMLD Network listserve:
Dear All,

The report on "Communication and people with the most complex needs: What works and why this is essential," which Sue Caton and I started last year, is now finished. The final report is available at

http://www.mencap.org.uk/document.asp?id=20568 for the main report and

http://www.mencap.org.uk/document.asp?id=20570 for the Easy Read version.

Sue and I would like to thank, most sincerely, all the members of this forum who contributed to the report. Your input was really appreciated, and we hope you like the final version.

Best wishes
Juliet Goldbart & Sue Caton, MMU j.goldbart@mmu.ac.uk

I've had a flick through the report and I think it is excellent. It will be of interest to speech pathologists, teachers, service providers, and families. I think it also provides a a good template for other interventions (e.g., physio, OT, music therapy). I must say I'm also well chuffed to see HOP in there (a commitment to give a person 10 minutes of 1:1 time).

Intensive Interaction ‘DownUnder’ 2

Sharing this information...
Intensive Interaction ‘DownUnder’ 2
Friday 4 & Saturday 5 March 2011
Adelaide, South Australia
Our first conference in Brisbane 2008 heard presentations about a broad range of practice and celebrated the many interesting journeys which had led to excellent beginnings and practices in schools and other settings.
However all practitioners know that following the initial surge of response and interactive exploration that is associated with their learners’ early encounters with Intensive Interaction, at some time reaches a plateau. The plateau often begins to open up as the learner begins to explore the familiar structure of established interactions. A similar plateau occurs in the practitioners’ certainty about the direction they are travelling and their own confidence While we are sure many delegates will still be interested to hear accounts of how your interactive seeds have sprouted and your cultures are growing, the theme for the conference in 2011
Australasian Conference on Intensive Interaction in Adelaide is "Exploring the Plateau"
We welcome your contributions about the interactive paths your learners have explored and how you have accompanied them the measures you have taken to embed Intensive Interaction into the ethos of your workplace the good practices and organisational structures you have identified as the most useful to give you the freedom to practice Intensive Interaction in your context. We welcome submissions and contributions from special educators, therapists, administrators, carers
and parents using the approach with learners who experience profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, or those learners whose severe-profound intellectual disabilities are augmented by autistic spectrum disorders.
Building on the momentum that is accumulating in Australia and New Zealand, our conference will again present a forum to reflect on and refine the uses of evidence based practice in a variety of settings, including schools, home and workplaces and provide an opportunity to develop the professional networks which are emerging across the region.
For more information go to http://www.ammp.com.au/iid2/

Intensive Interaction in Australia

Just realised I hadn't said much about Intensive Interaction in Australia. Mark Barber is doing an amazing job spearheading the development of it in schools in Australia. He and Karryn Bowen has released a new DVD illustrating the technique and some of the use in schools. Give Mark a buzz if you want to find out more about the regular training that he offers. This is a technique with accumulating evidence for how it helps children and adults with PIMD develop fundamental communication skills. http://drmarkbarber.co.uk

handy online resource accross issues

In 2001 Judith Samuel and Marie Pritchard from Oxfordshire UK wrote an article called the The Ignored Minority: Meeting the Needs of People with Profound Learning Disability, in which they outlined the development of a specialist service focusing on the needs of people with PIMD. Nearly ten years later I thought I'd look at where the service is at. It was great to see that they appear to be going strong and have published some of their tools online (e.g. pre hearing screening, continence audit, comfort assessment, and intensive interaction work). Very handy.http://www.oldt.nhs.uk/aboutus/ourservices/community/MDRTResourceCentre.aspx