28/09/2025
The power of Intensive Interaction
Some described him as “non-verbal.”
That’s a phrase I’ve always had trouble with. “Non-verbal” seems to suggest “without a voice." But Daniel had a voice. It was in the rise and fall of his hums, in the rhythm of the way he tapped the table, in the glance he sometimes gave before darting his eyes away. His voice was there.
For a long time, his humming was just background noise, a familiar noise for someone who had profound and complex disabilities. A voice we heard but didn't respond to. But then as a team we learned about an approach called Intensive Interaction, and we started listening differently.
When Daniel hummed, we hummed too, slightly softer, slightly slower.
I remember vividly the first few times we did this. Daniel would stop. He would look back at us, his eyes wide as if to say, Did you hear that? Did you hear me?
Then he would hum again.
And again, we joined him.
What happened in that moment was simple, but wonderful. For the first time, Daniel’s humming wasn’t something to be ignored. It was something shared. A conversation had begun.
Day by day, we continued this way. We didn’t rush him. We didn’t lead him. We followed, echoed, and gently invited him into moments of connection. Sometimes it was humming. Sometimes it was tapping the table. Sometimes it was just sitting quietly side by side. Over time we noticed a change in Daniel. He began to smile more. He began to hold his gaze longer.
One afternoon, after weeks of this gentle back-and-forth, Daniel leaned toward one of the staff called Lisa, caught her eye, and laughed. A laugh that came from deep in his chest, full and free. We had never heard Daniel laugh before.
Intensive Interaction is not about teaching people to do things our way. It’s about meeting people where they are and celebrating every moment of connection.
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Open Future Learning has a full module on Intensive Interaction, created with leading experts, where stories like Daniel’s come to life and staff can see the approach in action. Visit openfuturelearning.org to learn more.
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ID: Image shows a young man clutching some plastic balls and smiling broadly. Text reads: A conversation in the humming.
