We were delighted to hear that Dr David Hewett, co-founder of Intensive Interaction has been appointed OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2020. Dr Hewett, who developed the approach in the 1980s alongside Dr Melanie Nind, was granted the honour for his services to 'People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities'.
At MacIntyre, we know that communication is a vital part of making each person we support feel included and in control of their life. So, for a number of years we have proudly adopted Dr Hewett’s Intensive Interaction approach. The technique which teaches early interaction skills to people who find it difficult to communicate, has positively affected the lives of so many people we support, from helping young people at MacIntyre School and Children's Homes to become confident communicators, to encouraging adults to initiate communication and better express themselves.
Tara Whiteford, Occupational Therapist at MacIntyre School said:
"The relationships we've built through Intensive Interaction have been so incredible. It's really about slowing it all down and being there with the person."
The approach has also helped our staff to engage with people who have a diagnosis of dementia.
Gwenne McFadzean,Facilitation Advisor at MacIntyre said:
“I first met Dave 10 years ago on an Introduction to Intensive Interaction course. His passion and knowledge enthralled the room and I was so engrossed that I didn’t want the session to end. My role is to provide support so that our 2,000-strong staff team can have interactions with the people they support that are of the highest standard. Since incorporating Intensive Interaction into our repertoire we can clearly evidence the impact this approach is having. We continue to learn from him as we read blogs and listen to him at conferences: he is the most influential and inspiring man.”
Congratulations to Dr David Hewett, for this deserving award.
To find out more about Intensive Interaction at MacIntyre, please contact us using the form below.
