Staff at Wilsic Hall School are adopting a new approach to communication with some of their most challenging students and the initial results seem remarkable.

They have focussed their efforts on four students in the post-16 group, but if the early results hold true following a full evaluation of the project, it is likely to be introduced with other groups at the School.

Senior teacher John Wardle is leading the intensive interaction project and said, “The sort of students we are targeting here are hyperactive, with short concentration spans and obsessive behaviour. They are uncomfortable in a classroom situation and, because of this, their behaviour is always getting in the way of their learning.”

Interactive communication turns the tables, so that communication starts on the students’ terms. It involves engaging them by repeating their sounds or attracting their attention in a non-threatening way rather than issuing instructions and telling them what they can’t do. The emphasis is on listening to the student and playing games with things which interest them. All staff working with the four post-16 students have been trained to adopt this more personalised approach to interaction and communication.

John adds, “What this system does is take communication back to basics and adopts the sort of approach applied to infants, but in an age-appropriate way. It invites them to come out of their world and into ours for an extended length of time, and ultimately we hope that they will interact with us and their peers.”

The system being piloted with the post-16 group at Wilsic Hall was devised by Phoebe Caldwell and David Hewitt, co-authors of the book Intensive Interaction, and experts in communication for people who have learning difficulties.

Head Martin Henderson said, “This is a project which was adopted by our school communication group and which links behaviour back to communication. Over the past few years we have placed much greater importance on communication, and not surprisingly, the number of behavioural incidents has gone down.

“We are still only part way through the project, but the results so far are impressive.”