For Practioners, teachers and support staff.

I offer study sessions for Practitioners who wish to support children with communication difficulties using VERVE Child Interaction. 
The sessions support analysis of Practitioners working with individual children and in facilitating small group activities. 
These sessions are targeted at Nursery staff, Teaching Assistants, Support Assistants and Teachers

VERVE Child Interaction assumes that:

  • Communication development is a process that should take place within the child’s own interaction relationships and settings.
  • Each Practitioner is already using inherent interaction skills to support each child’s communication development; these need only be made explicit.
  • Every child is using inherent skills to communicate and is looking for support in how to extend and shape these.
  • The role of the Practitioner is a research partner with the Therapist
  • The role of the Therapist is to highlight how and what each adult does that facilitates a child, to provide observations of the child’s communication and language skills and to predict the next developmental phase through observation of change over time.
  • Communication development is achieved through trial and feedback.  It has little to do with knowledge of linguistics but is based more on intuitive interaction.

VERVE-child interaction therapy for practitioners :

I work within your designated setting e.g. Early Years settings, primary schools, secondary schools

The VERVE child interaction course consists of weekly sessions over a period of four weeks.

Two practitioners share a session of one hour.

Up to 12 staff members may participate. The practitioner brings a short video of the child and themselves at play.

Each video is analysed in terms of the practitioner’s innate interaction skills.

The timing of the child’s communication is explored and the practitioner invited to select a specific identified communication ‘strategy’ to utilise and experiment with over the next week, for five minutes daily.

At the end of the week a new video is taken and observed. The practitioner discusses their strategy, it’s impact and any changes in the child. A further strategy is then ‘scaffolded’ on top and applied over the next week.

The next two weeks gradually extend on the preceding sessions.

Following the four-week course a staff meeting may be arranged within which each course participant presents their first and last video and gives visual evidence of the changes they have inspired in the child.

Parental consent for use of video is mandatory.

Where the child is working with a Speech and Language therapist liaison will be sought.