Getting in Touch with our Feminine Sides? Men's Difficulties and Concerns with Doing Intensive Interaction

Andrew Culham has been a lecturer in further education for seven years. During this time he has worked primarily with students with learning difficulties. He now works for Oxford and Chen/veil College as a coordinator of provision for students with profound and multiple learning difficulties within the supported learning curriculum unit. In this article, Andrew Culham addresses a number of concerns expressed by male practitioners using Intensive Interaction.
The issues raised in this article are based on the outcomes of a research project that used a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results indicate that men who use Intensive Interaction are concerned about issues of touch, especially when working with female clients, and about the potential for their interactions with learners to be misinterpreted and misrepresented. Respondents suggest that targeted professional development opportunities are required to support men in delivering programmes of Intensive Interaction and to provide practical responses to their difficulties. Intensive Interaction has been demonstrated to be of benefit to people with learning difficulties. Andrew Culham proposes that professionals, colleagues and managers can support male practitioners more effectively through policy creation, staff development and professional dialogue. He argues that an 'inclusive' support structure should be established to provide all staff with practice-focused advice and guidance.