A small-scale, in-depth study of teachers’ talk in interaction with
learners with severe and complex learning disabilities and very limited
communication abilities is reported. The teachers had all participated in
training on Intensive Interaction, a method based on the model of
caregiver-infant interaction and focused on the quality of interpersonal
interactions. Sequential systematic observation was used to analyse video
samples of interaction, focusing on teachers’ talk styles compared
with the ‘motherese’ linguistic style used with
infants, and addressing whether engagement in the communication process was achieved.
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