I work full time as a consultant, developing communities of practice around Intensive Interaction and Musical interaction in collaboration with education and care settings. I am an expert trainer and social learning leader and I can deliver enjoyable, thought provoking training to organisations involved in the care of people living with autism, learning disabilities, dementia and mental health problems.
To learn more about the training I can offer please go to the Intensive Interaction Training page.
Recent Blog Post
Analysing and Recording – PDF Summary
The completed summary of all the level descriptions plus the recording sheets, baseline sheet and methodology is now available to download using the link below or on the front page of the website. Recording Intensive... read moreWorking for the eye contact
Communities of practice can operate at various levels in a care setting. When I began working in the capacity of Social Learning Mentor at the Hesley Group, the most obvious communities of practice involved the members of staff in a particular area or on a particular... read moreThree Pieces of Advice – Part 3
As I explained in the other parts of this series, the first two pieces of advice to people starting an interaction with a person with a communication disability is first ask “What are the offers here?” and then join in with the offers and Do What You See. The purpose... read moreThree Pieces of Advice – Part 2
In the first part of this series I explained my first piece of advice to new support workers – to observe a person’s behaviour and ask “What are the offer’s here?”. The purpose is to open the practitioner’s eye’s to new behaviours that could be a starting point for... read moreThree Pieces of Advice – Part 1
Part of my role for the Hesley Group is deliver induction training to new support workers. The autistic people they will soon be caring for have a reputation for being challenging to support and so the new starters are anxious to develop a good relationship as quickly... read moreStorytelling & Leadership – 4 Point Story Method
Storytelling is the art of engaging, moving and inspiring people but it is difficult to do without a good story. The stories that are most likely to inspire people will be about people. This 4 point story method can help leaders to quickly identify and develop... read moreStorytelling and Social Learning Leadership
I am a professional storyteller and have been trained in Social Learning Leadership by Etienne Wenger and Bev Wenger Trainer. Storytelling is the art of engaging and inspiring people and it is the skill that has most impacted on my work – being able to talk... read moreExperiences of Intensive Interaction and Dementia
It was quite natural for me to try intensive interaction and responsive communication as a way to connect with people with dementia. I think the first time I tried was in 2011 – at the time I was working at an autism care setting with the people that were the... read moreWhen a demand is not a demand (I'll choose the place, you choose the time)
My ideas for blog posts come directly from my conversations during mentoring and training. To explain things to a new trainee I often have to find a different explanation and sometimes I think that it might be useful for other people to hear this too. This happened... read moreWhen a demand is not a demand (I’ll choose the place, you choose the time)
My ideas for blog posts come directly from my conversations during mentoring and training. To explain things to a new trainee I often have to find a different explanation and sometimes I think that it might be useful for other people to hear this too. This happened... read more
Your talk on communities of practice was superb – and changed how I did my work yesterday!
Mark HarmerAbout Me
My name is Matthew Laurie and I work in collaboration with care settings and school to develop responsive communication and intensive interaction services. I studied social learning with Etienne Wenger and Bev Wenger-Trayner I specialise in developing sustainable communities of practice in order to effect genuine changes in staff practice. I also offer musical interaction and responsive communications for service users in schools, mental health care and residential settings for the elderly. I am a Director of Understanding Arts CIC and I am co-developing the approach of person centred arts.