Intensive Interaction and those who appear to avoid engagement

Sometimes I long to return to the UK where, while they are struggling with many of the same issues as we do in Australia, there are a greater number of communities of practice, professional development, policy engagement focusing on people with severe and profound levels of intellectual disability (or learning disability as known there).

Here is one of the great upcoming opportunities that I’ve cut and paste from my inbox:

Dear Intensive Interaction practitioners and advocates,

This is a reminder about the 2019 Intensive Interaction Weekend Workshop: ‘Using Intensive Interaction with people who exhibit demand avoidance’ from Friday 18th – Sunday 20th October, at Hill Top Farm Barn, Malham, North Yorkshire. We still have a few final places left to fill. This inexpensive (just £95!) development event focuses on using Intensive Interaction with people who, to some degree, actively or passively avoid engagements with others (but don’t necessarily have a diagnosis of PDA!). Over the weekend we will look to address the following three issues:

  1. Why might demand avoidance occur for some of our learners or service users?  
  2. 2. How might demand avoidance be presented?
  3. How might  Intensive Interaction help us work with people who present with some level of demand avoidance?

I have attached an application form for this event above, but if you would like more information please don’t hesitate to contact me at: graham.firth@nhs.net or by phone at 0113 8555162.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *