'At home with Tom: maximising my son’s potential with Intensive Interaction' - interesting quotes from a chapter by Sara Moroza-James.

Sara Moroza-James' son Tom has diagnoses of autism and epilepsy. Following Tom's success with the approach, Sara trained as an Intensive Interaction coordinator. She also now runs the 'Intensive Interaction for parents’ Facebook group, and works part-time training people, mainly with other parents, in Intensive Interaction. 

Below are a series of quotes I have chosen from her chapter 'At home with Tom: maximising my son’s potential with Intensive Interaction' in the book Delivering Intensive Interaction Across Settings' (Barber & Firth, Eds, 2019) which is now available as a paperback book (£4.43 from Amazon).

'A full-time Intensive Interaction programme has allowed this once obsessive and lost little child to blossom into a happy, social, and connected thirteen-year-old who has an ever-expanding repertoire of activities and interests'.

'Not only do parents understand their children best but our children would surely choose us as the people they’d most like to do Intensive Interaction with'.

'On our darker days, parents may see no way out of circumstances as difficult as severe sleep deprivation, extremely high anxiety, severe mood swings, self-injury, aggression or incontinence, all of which affected Tom.  My solution was to train up others to do Intensive Interaction with Tom on the days when survival was my only goal'.

'It felt as though Tom and I existed alongside one another in two separate bubbles - closed off from the outside world, but also from one another'.

'Studies reveal a disconnection between what professionals think parents want from an intervention and what they actually look for: Professionals believe parents most value evidence-based approaches whereas, in reality, parents are most interested in the benefits that the approach will bring for their child'.

'Doing Intensive Interaction out and about – at the swimming pool or on the swing at the park – made connecting with Tom easier in the early days – and many autism-parents report similar successes'. 

'Informal home life does not lend itself easily to formal record-keeping but is essential when proof of progress is needed for funding or to encourage a school to take on Intensive Interaction'.

'Introduced the right way, Intensive Interaction can help parents have hope instead of despair'.

'Professionals should always be very careful when talking to parents not to use language in way that might be perceived as blaming the parents– reference to specific academic papers or theories should always be used with great care to avoid making parents feel part of the problem rather than part of the positive Intensive Interaction solution'.

'I am indebted to Intensive Interaction for the transformation in my son, for the wonderful changes in my own life and the happiness it has brought my family as a result. My dream now is that long-term high quality and a high quantity of Intensive Interaction, involving both professionals and parents becomes accessible to all individuals with autism'.   

Sara has also written her own book about using Intensive Interaction - 'Learning through Social Connection: How Intensive Interaction can help your child who has autism to learn more naturally'.

Read more from Sara's chapter in the book 'Delivering Intensive Interaction Across Settings: Practice, Community and Leadership' 

Kindle edition - £0.99 from Amazon 

Paperback edition - £4.43 from Amazon 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NRGFS3R/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550225112&sr=1-5