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Special Issue: Video Interaction Guidance

Volume 15 Number 1Spring 2014

EducationalPsychology inScotland

The EPiS Editorial TeamSharon Brown [email protected]

Miriam Landor [email protected] Smith [email protected]

Nicola Stewart [email protected]

WELCOME to this Special Issue ofEducational Psychology in Scotland,which is dedicated to Video Inter-

action Guidance (VIG). It is just over 20years ago that some Scottish educationalpsychologists (EPs), inspired by ColwynTrevarthen, learnt about VIG and began topursue training in it, flying to the Nether-lands for their monthly supervisions. VIG isnow known across the UK and in Europe,the US, Mexico and Australia.

As Colwyn says in his article, ‘Video Inter-action Guidance originated 30 years ago asan innovation by Harrie Biemans for inten-sive home training to help families withemotional problems. It was a technique ofpsychotherapy that sought to identify andstrengthen positive moments in intimatecommunication [in the home].’

So how was it that EPs in Scotland wereexcited by this therapeutic method that wasdeveloped for social workers? How did theymanage to develop it within their educa-tional psychology services and then intro-duce VIG training to social work and healthcolleagues to create effective interagencyassessment and intervention?

Perhaps it was because EPs in Scotlandwere lucky enough to have a broader statu-tory remit than colleagues in England 20years ago. This enabled them to put‘psychology’ into practice and VIG with itsstrong solution-orientated, social-construc-tionist base was a powerful way to do this. AsEP colleagues from the rest of the UK aremoving away from their narrow, assessment-based remit, they are taking up VIG withenthusiasm and developing it in a similarmultidisciplinary way.

VIG has a growing evidence base acrosssectors and agencies, and is now recom-mended in NICE guidelines for social-emotional difficulties, attachment andautism, and by the 1001 Critical Days parlia-mentary cross-party manifesto for childrenfrom conception to two years.

This issue of Educational Psychology inScotland is dedicated to celebrating the earlybeginnings and the continuing developmentof VIG, which came about through the skillsand enthusiasm of EPs in Scotland. In thefollowing pages you can read the accounts ofthe early pioneers, Hilary Kennedy,Raymond Simpson and Penny Forsyth.There is also an article by Professor ColwynTrevarthen, whose work on intersubjectivitysparked off the intervention. Then there arearticles on innovative practice followingreflective learning experience written bytrainees and newly-accredited VIG practi-tioners amongst others. More projectsfollow, some small-scale and others at serviceand authority level. The issue finishes with adescription of a national project during therollout of post-school psychological service(PSPS).

It is hugely appropriate that HilaryKennedy has just received the DECP Awardfor Outstanding Contribution to Educa-tional Psychology, presented on 9 January atthe DECP conference in Oxford. Wecongratulate her on this well-deserved recog-nition of her services in bringing VIG to ourprofession in the first instance, to otheragencies over the years and most importantof all to the children who have benefitedfrom her infectious passion for VIG.

Miriam LandorLead Editor for this issue

Educational Psychology in Scotland, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 2014 1

PrefaceMiriam Landor

IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE to be writingan introduction to this volume whichcelebrates the origins of Video Interac-

tion Guidance (VIG) in the UK, giving Scotland the place in the story it deserves.

The start of the story lies with a few indi-viduals – namely, Raymond Simpson, PennyForsyth and myself – being convinced thatVIG was an amazing find: deceptively simple,based on theories that we already believed inand yet representing such a powerful way tosupport change in a wide range of troubledsituations.

We spent a very happy exciting few yearsin the early 1990s within Perth EducationalPsychology Service immersing ourselves inVIG. I would like to acknowledge theunstinting support of Helen Myers, our Principal Psychologist, and the support fromthe Scottish Office Education Departmentwho sponsored our training in VIG in TheNetherlands.

Raymond and Penny have written anexcellent full account of this early start laterin this issue and Penny has also covered herimplementation of VIG in Dundee.

Personal early journeyMy personal story of connection with VIGstarted when I found myself studying experi-mental psychology at Cambridge Universityin 1968 and was drawn to the newlyemerging social psychology movement.Joanna Ryan was my tutor and she waswriting about intersubjectivity; JeromeBruner was a visiting professor givinglectures on mediated learning. It is only as I write today that I realise this socialpsychology group in Cambridge werestudying what the Association for VideoInteraction Guidance UK (AVIGuk) nowcalls the ‘principles of attuned interactionsand guidance’.

By the mid 1970s I was working as aneducational psychologist (EP) in Dundeeand receiving an excellent training from Ian Swanson. He introduced a group of newEPs to work in the field and encouraged usto develop a critical eye. I was shocked byexclusion of parents from important deci-sion-making meetings concerning their ownchildren, and from the start of my career Ianencouraged me to become a champion forparents as equal partners.

By the mid 1980s I was becoming drawnto Colwyn Trevarthen’s work at the Univer-sity of Edinburgh. He and Lynne Murraywere looking at micro-moments of connec-tions between parents and babies. This workwas controversial at that time as the amazingcapacities of new-born babies were yet to bediscovered. As a mother of four children bythis time, I was convinced that Colwyn’s theories were correct and the controversymade it all the more stimulating. My belief inintersubjectivity, that in any interaction thereare two equally important participants,already guided me through my work withparents and also professionals.

VIG arrives in ScotlandIn the early 1990s I attended the conference‘Families Can Change’ where Colwynbrought the SPIN (video hometraining)team, Harrie Biemans, Marianne Hooglandand Saskia van Rees, to Edinburgh. WhatHarrie described was a way of working thatprovided parents or teachers with an inter-vention for change from the first moment ofcontact. I had always been uncomfortableabout offering assessment without interven-tion and here was a way of working that wastransparent and honest. I could also see thattraining others (a range of helping profes-sionals) could provide a way of realising myaim to place parents at the centre of their

2 Educational Psychology in Scotland, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 2014

IntroductionHilary Kennedy

own change process. However, perhaps mostimportantly to me, the values and beliefs ofVIG, such as respect, appreciation andcompassion were congruent with my ownand the work looked hopeful, future-oriented and enjoyable even in very stickysituations.

I still remember coming out of thisconference into the gardens of GeorgeSquare and knowing that this was a monu-mental moment of conviction for me andthat this was the way forward for workingtogether for change with troubled familiesor teachers in Scotland. I remember goinginto the Perth EP office shared withRaymond Simpson and Penny Forsyth (thena trainee EP) the next morning and saying‘This is it!’ Luckily, they both shared myenthusiasm and the VIG project described bythem in their article was born.

The only thing I would like to add toRaymond and Penny’s article is to reflect onthe process of working together and to try toconvey the sense of excitement, energy andcreativity that marked those few years for me.

Developing VIG togetherVIG is all about working together andvaluing the different perspectives, beliefsand skills that people bring. Before I startedthis VIG journey, I was an educationalpsychologist with young children myself,specialising in working with families of theunder-5s in a multidisciplinary way. At thattime I felt confident in my skills as a devel-opmental psychologist and in my ability toempower families within professionalforums. However, when I found myself in acomplex potential child protection situationor a situation where trauma was around anda therapeutic input seemed indicated, I would seek support from others and oftenreferred the family to those more expert inthese areas.

This all changed when I started VIGtraining, which is without a doubt the mostimportant CPD opportunity I have experi-enced. For the first time, I could bring myactual conversations with families to supervi-

sion with Claske Houwing (an expert inchild protection and our VIG supervisor inThe Netherlands) and Raymond (an EP withstrong systemic family therapy knowledgeand skills). Raymond and I could exchangereflections on each other’s videos of usworking with families, learning fromourselves and each other under the guid-ance of Claske Houwing. This enabled me tostart working with much more complex fami-lies, safe in the knowledge that I wouldreceive the support I required. I could seethat I could support change in very complexsituations using VIG under supervision.

Raymond and I spent hours on the jour-neys to The Netherlands trying to work outwhy VIG was so effective while Claske keptencouraging us not to ‘overthink’ butpointing out that we had plenty to do just tolearn how to develop our VIG skills further.She was right and this has helped me, inturn, to focus on the videos when I am nowin supervision and not to be distracted bymeta-questions.

Developing VIG within EP training When I arrived as a new tutor in 1998 on theMSc in Educational Psychology at the Univer-sity of Dundee I was allocated ‘Teaching inAssessment’ and ‘Teaching in Intervention’as two separate strands. I immediately putthese strands together and integrated theideas of VIG as part of the core curriculum.In each year individual trainees picked up myenthusiasm for this effective intervention andfound ways to develop their VIG skills undersupervision (sometimes from fellow traineeswho were already VIG accredited guiders).David Gavine joined me as a tutor on thecourse and this increased our capacity tooffer supervision and support in VIGresearch. Table 1 charts the dissertations orpapers written by MSc trainees from ourteaching from 1998 to 2008.

Interestingly, most of the names in thistable are those now developing VIG inScotland and England, and several havewritten for this issue, including the editor,Miriam Landor.


Introduction

In 2006, the course reached the pointwhen VIG principles were embedded as aprofessional reflective practice for all thetrainees with a compulsory assignmentwhere they reflected on the process oflooking at themselves in real-life consulta-tion situations. This assignment was high-lighted as outstanding by our externalexaminer, Rea Reason from the University ofManchester. Many of this cohort are stillactively involved in VIG development inScotland.

Developing VIG in the internationalcontextThe international applicability of VIG hasbeen exciting from the start. Colwyn enjoyeddeveloping ideas with Harrie Biemans andSaskia van Rees in the early to mid 1980s.Raymond and I trained in The Netherlandsand very soon were touring Israel with 50VIG supervisors from 10 countries. Thisprovided us with the international contactswith those working with VIG, and also withrelated methods such as Marte Meo. I realisenow how I was thrown in at the deep end co-delivering VIG initial training courses inBoston and Helsinki in the year after I started training with supervisors from TheNetherlands. These early courses providedthe foundation for ongoing developmentwith SPIN-USA and VIG in Finland.

The year 1997 was an important land-mark for international co-operation whenKaterina Silhanova (then Beaufortova)invited Penny Forsyth and me to speak at aconference in Prague. We had no idea thenhow much we would develop together. Katerina has been central in developing allthe UK key diagrams and was the inspirationbehind the intranet platform SpinLink. Hercritical systemic thinking and her high stan-dards for all involved with VIG have in manysubtle ways enhanced the quality of the UKVIG project.

Katerina and I have exchanged ideas andworked together in Prague, Budapest,Romania, Poland, Finland and the UK devel-oping effective and stimulating trainings.Katerina became a friend of Dundee Educa-tional Psychology Services and the Universityof Dundee contributing to meetings,training and conferences. She also became amuch-appreciated mentor to the South ofEngland VIG project when I joined theUniversity of Dundee. This well-balancedlively partnership where we (and the VIGprojects) gained immeasurably exemplifiesthe very spirit of VIG.

As I write, I am involved in new VIG projects in Mexico, Ecuador and Greecewhile two teams from Scotland are inAustralia delivering VIG Initial Training andtraining Young Champions in Diabetes carefrom 70 countries. In 2014, Alex Greenefrom Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and Ihave been invited to Toronto to deliver aworkshop in a large international confer-ence on how mindfulness can be part ofdiabetes care through using VIG.

VIG – The futureVIG is now set for exponential growth fromits strong foundations in Scotland. Thismeans more and more troubled situationsgetting a chance to change for the better ina dignified, sustaining way.

VIG is now recommended in theNational Institute for Health and Care Excel-lence (NICE) guidelines on early years,social and emotional well-being, and autism,and in the 1001 Critical Days parliamentarycross-party manifesto.

Over the first 18 years, there were 60fully-trained supervisors. Now there are 95fully-trained and 30 trainee supervisors. Inthe last 10 months, 650 people have beeninvolved in an AVIGuk accredited trainingevent and there are 10 AVIGuk InitialTraining Courses already scheduled for thefirst three months of 2014.


Hilary Kennedy

AfterwordBefore I started writing, I was wonderinghow I was going to manage without my earlyarchive, which is sitting in a filing cabinet inScotland. I now know that all these and fartoo many other images of VIG developmentare in my head. VIG has never seemed likework to me. It provides me with nourish-ment, hope and energy, which I hope I share. I feel very fortunate to have foundVIG and would like to thank all those whohave enjoyed working with me and all thosewho have supported VIG initiatives. The lastthanks goes to Miriam Landor who hasencouraged us all to write down the achieve-ments so we can look back and celebrate.

Hilary [email protected]


Introduction


Hilary Kennedy

Author

Date

Title

Intervention

Focus

No. of VIG

sessions

Context

Research methodFindings

Fion

aW

illia

ms

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Introduction

Author

Date

Title

Intervention

Focus

No. of VIG

sessions

Context


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tote

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dyna

mic

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lead

s to

perc

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ns o

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sitiv

e ch

ange

fro

mch

ildre

n, t

each

ers

and

EPs,

and

that

usin

g vi

deo

in f

eedb

ack

sess

ions

and

at r

evie

w m

eetin

gs is

par

ticul

arly

help

ful.


Hilary Kennedy

Author

Date

Title

Intervention

Focus

No. of VIG

sessions

Context


Hea

ther

Anne

tte

Sked

2006

Lear

ning

the

ir la

ngua

ge:

A co

mpa

rativ

e st

udy

ofso

cial

inte

ract

ions

betw

een

child

ren

with

autis

m a

nd a

dults

, usin

gim

itatio

n an

d Vi

deo

Inte

ract

ion

Gui

danc

e as

inte

rven

tions

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ppor

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h 6

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n w

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ary

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As

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s in

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attu

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ract

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teac

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achi

ng.

In s

hare

d re

adin

g se

ssio

ns t

each

ers

mos

t fr

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ntly

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in‘in

tera

ctin

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ehav

iour

s. W

ithi

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isca

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each

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wer

e m

ost

likel

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be ‘o

bser

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acy

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upils

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ting

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at

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chan

ge.

Ther

e w

as s

igni

fica

ntly

mor

e ad

ult

verb

al p

arti

cipa

tion

whi

ch w

as o

pen

ende

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the

inte

nt o

f en

gagi

ngth

e yo

ung

pers

on f

or t

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repa

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gnif

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on.

VIDEO INTERACTION GUIDANCE(VIG) is a strengths-based interventionwhere clients (e.g. parents, school

staff, residential staff, young people, nurses)are skillfully supported to reflect on videoclips of their own successful interactions, inorder to bring about change. A brief (five to10 minutes) video is made of their interac-tion in their natural context. The Guiderthen selects and micro-analyses a few clipsthat show behaviours that are in accordancewith the VIG ‘principles of attuned interac-tion and guidance’. These may show ‘betterthan usual’ moments or exceptions to thenorm, but they are self-evidently within therepertoire of the client. These are discussedwith the client in a ‘shared review’ session.This actively empowers the client in aprocess of change and allows for positive self-modeling and new self-narratives, often fromthe very first viewing. Usually, three or foursuch cycles of video and shared review sufficeto bring about sustainable change, makingthis a remarkably efficient intervention.

Trainee Guiders also film themselves fortheir VIG supervisions, where they reflect ontheir own developing demonstration of theprinciples of attuned interaction and guid-ance; thus learning and change occur atevery level of the system.

Video Enhanced Reflective Practice(VERP) is a CPD method that harnesses thesame principles and methodology as VIG.This approach focuses on helping profes-sionals improve their interaction skills andreach their self-set goals by analysing theirown videos of their professional practice forexamples of attuned interaction. They arethen helped to recognise their strengths and‘next steps’ in a shared review session with aGuider, either one-to-one or in a smallgroup. VERP evaluations show that it is aneffective and sustainable CPD opportunity.

More information about VIG and VERPcan be found in the book Video InteractionGuidance: A relationship-based intervention topromote attunement, empathy and well-being, byHilary Kennedy, Miriam Landor, Liz Todd(Eds.), 2011, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, andon the website for the Association of VideoInteraction Guidance UK (www.videointer-actionguidance.net). A new book on VERP,with the same editorial team as the VIGbook, will be published by Jessica KingsleyPublishers in 2104.

Miriam [email protected]


What is Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)?What is Video Enhanced ReflectivePractice (VERP)?Miriam Landor


DUCATION, the conventional state-regulated practice and policy ofteaching children, is guided by a belief

that intelligence, understood as the repre-sentation of reflective thought in languageor other symbols and its application inconventional forms of art or technique, hasto be passed on by instruction. The teacher,calling for obedience and focused interest,shows and questions, until the attentivepupil gains the correct cognitive and prac-tical skills and ideas, improving by practisingwhat has been imitated. The child’s complexhuman body that we all have from birth, itsnatural rhythms and qualities of moving, andespecially its rich talents for sharing motivesand feelings by emotional expression is leftaside to take care of itself while the mind isoccupied. Away from class, the child can befree to test the many ways of moving andknowing in imaginative and sociable ‘recre-ation’ or ‘play’, which are not seriousenough for school. It is necessary to haveplanned classwork guided by an age-appro-

priate curriculum that most children areable to learn, beginning as early as possibleto achieve excellence, the progress of whichis marked and rewarded with methods ofassessment or examination.

Common sense perceives this descriptionof how we learn to be seriously limited. Allwe know and remember, as children oradults, depends on what we want to do witha moving body, and on sharing feelingsabout it with others by moving in expressiveways, with head and eyes, face and voice,hands, indeed the whole body -- not just byattending to what someone talking is sayingor watching a task they do, by reading orlooking at information represented inpictures with or without the aid of acomputer screen and keyboard. We, like anyanimal, perceive or ‘become informed’ bymoving imaginatively, with purpose and withaffective appraisal of what we encounter.Educational reformers, from Hierocles toJohn Amos Comenius, Froebel, A.N. White-head, Jerome Bruner, Loris Malaguzzi and

Sensitive guidance to encourage shared‘zest for learning’Colwyn Trevarthen

The paradox which wrecks so many promising theories of education is that the training which produces skillis so very apt to stifle imaginative zest. Skill demands repetition, and imaginative zest is tinged withimpulse. Up to a certain point each gain in skill opens new paths for imagination. But in each individualformal training has its limits of usefulness. Beyond that limit there is degeneration: ‘The lilies of the fieldtoil not, neither do they spin.’ (Whitehead, 1929, p.338)

Human sense is understanding how to live in the human and physical worlds that children normallydevelop in the first few years of life. It is learned spontaneously in direct encounters with these worlds thatarise unavoidably everywhere, transcending cultural differences. The learning is always informed andguided by emotion – that is, by feelings of significance, of value, of what matters. And it is highlystable and enduring, once established. It is the foundation on which all that follows must build.(Donaldson, 1978)

…it is surely the case that schooling is only one small part of how a culture inducts the young into itscanonical ways. Indeed schooling may even be at odds with a culture’s other ways of inducting the younginto the requirements of communal living. (Bruner, 1996, Preface, p.ix)

EThe psychology of learning in good company

Margaret Donaldson have urged attention tothe activity, curiosity and creativity of the self-perceptive learner’s mind knowing theanimation of its body, and for teaching by co-operation or collaboration of impulses to actand know within communities of learnerswho instinctively know one another’s inten-tions and feelings from ways of moving(Trevarthen, 2011a; Trevarthen et al., 2014).

This wisdom has practical value for allteachers, from infancy when Vasudevi Reddy(2008) finds other persons’ minds areknown in teasing exercise of a sense of fun,through preschool and all the stages offormal training up to the university. Weshould enjoy learning and knowing. White-head, who criticised strict instruction in rulesand facts in the teaching mathematics andscience, made this arresting statement,‘Culture is activity of thought, and receptive-ness to beauty and humane feeling. Scraps ofinformation have nothing to do with it.’(Whitehead, 1929).

How VIG supports both teaching andlearning with a focus on positiveintersubjective attunementVIG originated 30 years ago as an innovationby Harrie Biemans for intensive hometraining to help families with emotional prob-lems. It was a technique of psycho-therapythat sought to identify and strengthen posi-tive moments in intimate communication inthe home. It grew from a realisation thathuman understanding relies on non-verbalmeans of transmitting agreement, disagree-ment, assistance and compulsion. Themethod of using guided video feedback hasfound many applications, has been provedeffective and has spread to many countries. Itis particularly strong in Scotland.

Now we also have a strong psychobio-logical theory for the creative and curativeeffects of intersubjective ‘art’ therapies toencourage communication and co-opera-tion, and to heal disorders of self-regulationthat may harm essential functions within thebody. They employ what the psychiatrist anddevelopmental psychologist Daniel Stern

called the ‘hidden realm’ of vitality dynamicsin live engagement (Stern, 2010, Chapter 1).He emphasised the importance of ‘affectiveattunement’ for communication of ideas aswell as feelings in relationships, and foracquiring a new ability.

Margaret Donaldson accepts that while ittakes dedication, practice and the help froman expert to master a difficult skill, such asballet dancing, it also requires care for thelearner’s own eagerness to practise andlearn. She says:

We all walk but we are not all ballet dancers…We must apply ourselves. We must become ableto guide and direct our own minds. Thus theneed for discipline appears. And, though it isself-discipline that is in question, this is noteasy to acquire unaided. Few can do it alone.The question is: what help is needed and howcan it best be offered? This question, so simplein appearance, is the educational question.The answering of it is peculiarly delicate anddifficult. For there is a narrow path between thepitfalls that lie on either side.(Donaldson, 1992, pp.252–253).

The apprentice needs to pay attention withhis or her imaginative ‘human sense’, andwith appreciation of shared emotions thatvalidate significance. The teacher has tomatch and complement the learner’s enthu-siasm and curiosity.

Infant learning offers a model Using recordings of mother-infant vocalcommunication from early months, StephenMalloch has applied musical acousticsscience to prove the importance of rhythmand quality of sound for sharing narratives ofawareness and interest, and we have called it‘communicative musicality’ (Malloch &Trevarthen, 2009). Study of these dimen-sions of moving in natural dialogue, and howthey are transformed as the infant becomesmore interested in co-operation with anadult partner’s interests and the objects theyuse (Trevarthen, 2011b), has taught us toappreciate the wisdom of teachers whoconsciously use close attention to the initia-tives and emotions of the child to guide new


Sensitive guidance to encourage shared ‘zest for learning’

learning and new imaginative story-making,as advocated by Jerome Bruner (1990, 1996).An immediate application of this idea of‘guided participation learning’ as BarbaraRogoff (2003) calls it, is in the teaching andlearning of musical skills (Trevarthen &Malloch, 2012), but any form of instructionfor learning requires respect for the timingand expressive quality of shared actions.

Building communities of learners self-confident in relationshipsVIG can help a teacher improve work in theclassroom with a number of pupils, and isproved to be highly effective in one-to-onecommunication with children who have‘special needs’ for attentive support. The joyof discovery and of showing what one knowscan be increased for any learning group byguided attention to each learner’s purpose,to successful moments of contact and totheir mutual recognition. Then the work oflearning becomes more like play, and memo-ries of it give lasting reward strengthened byrecollection of the particular person who wasthe teacher or learner. This is an approachthat, by deliberately limiting advice, correc-tion and praise or reward, as well as criticismor punishment, and gently giving positivesupport, is effective for children developingautism (Solomon et al., 2012).

Because the principles of intersubjectiveor mutual discovery are so fundamental theyapply not only in more private or local rela-tionships, but also in teams of individualswith different roles, and between differentprofessions with different expertise. VIG is away of strengthening human co-operationand mutual respect by helping sharedagency and self-confidence. By focusing onthe non-verbal signals of positive feelingsand responding positively it confirmsmotives and feelings.

The playful child vs. politics of trainingYoung animals learn their place and how toco-operate in the family and the group inplay. Children gain in strength agility aware-ness and self-regulation in play. Before they

speak, babies and toddlers can be inventivelymusical, making among themselves what themusicologist Jon-Roar Bjørkvold (1992)identified as ‘children’s musical culture’;and soon they are picking up and inventingwords and phrases so brilliantly that the poetKornei Chukovsky, who studied them whilethey were at play, was led to call 2- to 5-year-olds ‘linguistic geniuses’ (Chukovsky, 1963).Like discoverers in science and technologyor the arts, children at play acquire bothprivate satisfaction and rewarding experi-ence of sociability and shared invention(Bateson & Martin, 2013; Göncü & Klein2001; Trevarthen, 2013, 2014). These princi-ples apply to all adults who hope their liveswill be both strong and appreciated in anyfield, but especially in the practice ritual andtheatre (Turner, 1982). Einstein said hismathematical invention originated imagina-tively, in ‘sensations of bodily movement’,without symbolic representation. Whenthere is no time or place for play in companyand in the unmanufactured richness ofnature this exclusion leads to weakness andhumiliation, and may provoke self-abuse oraggression toward others. Jaak Panksepp,who is the leading authority on the neurobi-ology of play, is sure that attention deficitand hyperactivity in young children is aconsequence of play deprivation, and may becorrected by encouraging vigorous collabo-rative play, which inspires hormones thatbenefit brain development and attachments(Panksepp, 2012). There are endlessaccounts of the benefits for mental healthand intelligence of therapies that supportplay. This is another aspect of the impor-tance of free movement for learning.

The role of VIG in education is to assistteachers and learners to appreciate signs ofenthusiasm for doing and knowing, and toacknowledge them in one another. This wayit confirms the natural zest for learning.

Colwyn TrevarthenEdinburgh [email protected]


Colwyn Trevarthen


Sensitive guidance to encourage shared ‘zest for learning’

Bateson, P. & Martin, P. (2013). Play, playfulness,creativity and innovation. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Bjørkvold, J-R. (1992). The muse within: Creativity andcommunication, song and play from childhood throughmaturity. New York: Harper Collins. Availablefrom: www.freidig.no/english/en_jrb.html

Bruner, J.S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J.S. (1996). The culture of education.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chukovsky, K. (1963). From two to five [Trans. K.M.Morton]. California: University of CaliforniaPress.

Dissanayake, E. (2000). Art and intimacy: How the artsbegan. Seattle/London: University of WashingtonPress.

Donaldson, M. (1978). Children’s minds. Glasgow:Fontana/Collins.

Donaldson, M. (1992). Human minds: An exploration.London: Allen Lane/Penguin Books.

Göncü A. & Klein E.L. (2001). Children in play, storyand school. New York/London: Guilford Press.

Malloch, S. & Trevarthen, C. (Eds.) (2009). Commu-nicative musicality: Exploring the basis of humancompanionship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Panksepp, J. (2012). How primary-process emotionalsystems guide child development: Ancestral regu-lators of human happiness, thriving andsuffering. In D. Narvaez, J. Panksepp, A. Schore& T. Gleason (Eds.), Evolution, early experience andhuman development: From research to practice andpolicy (pp. 74–94). New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

Reddy, V. (2008). How infants know minds. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press.

Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Solomon, W., Holland, C. & Middleton, M.J. (2012).Autism and understanding: The Waldon approach tochild development. London: Sage.

Trevarthen, C. (2011a). What young children give totheir learning, making education work to sustaina community and its culture. European Early Child-hood Education Research Journal (Special Issue,‘Birth to Three’, Edited by Sylvie Rayna & FerreLaevers), 19(2), 173–193.

Trevarthen, C. (2011b). Confirming companionshipin interests, intentions and emotions: How VideoInteraction Guidance works. In M. Landor, H.Kennedy & L. Todd (Eds.), Video Interaction Guid-ance: A relationship-based intervention to promoteattunement, empathy and well-being (pp.198–212).London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Trevarthen, C. (2013). Artful learning makes sense.Early Education, British Association for Early Child-hood Education, 90th Anniversary of Early Education,Article 1. London: Early Education.

Trevarthen, C. (2014). The imaginative and culturalpurposes of human play: Joy in movementbringing companionship to practical tasks andmeaning to social practice. In J.E. Johnson & S. Eberle (Eds.), Handbook of the study of play.London: Rowman & Littlefield [in press].

Trevarthen, C. & Malloch, S. (2012). Musicality andmusical culture: Sharing narratives of soundfrom early childhood. In G. McPherson & G.Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education(pp.248–260). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Trevarthen, C., Gratier, M. & Osborne, N. (2014).The human nature of culture and education.Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science[in press].

Turner, V.W. (1982). From ritual to theatre: The humanseriousness of play. New York: PAJ Publications.

Whitehead, A.N. (1929). The aims of education andother essays. New York: Macmillan.

References


T IS 22 YEARS since Colwyn Trevarthensuggested a contact in Holland regarding anew family therapy/parenting support

intervention which was based on his theoryof intersubjectivity: a deconstruction ofattachment behaviours observed betweenmothers and infants. The intervention hadbeen developed by a Dutch psychologistcalled Harrie Biemans after seeing Colwyn’swork on BBC TV. The work in Holland wentunder the acronym SPIN, which looselytranslates as the organisation to promoteintensive home training; an improbable titlefor a very empowering intervention.

In the early 1990s, I had just completedthe Scottish Institute of Human Relations’(SIHR) family systems therapy training. I wasvery interested in the contextual interven-tions. Colwyn Trevarthen had on severaloccasions shown Tayside psychologists videosof the Dutch approach which fed back tofamilies their own interactions using video intheir homes. This seemed to provide anextremely elegant and effective applicationof the SIHR family therapy principles and ofDowrick’s behavioural technique of self-modelling. It was also grounded in attach-ment theory; in fact it laid out the process ofattachment behaviours in a very transparentmanner for parents to observe and collabo-ratively reflect on their own thoughts, feel-ings and behaviour. In Holland, in order tomaximise clients’ access to the approach, itwas implemented by ‘homecare’ workersrather than highly trained professionals.These people were already in family’s homeson a daily or weekly basis. It did not add totheir workload; rather, it became an integralpart of ‘how’ they did their work of

supporting families by empowerment ratherthan creating dependency. It was not a quickfix: average contact with clients was 40 to 50sessions. I sometimes think that as we trainmore highly qualified and expensive practi-tioners who have less and less time to spendwith clients, that we lose sight of the need fortime to build relationships by learning fromeach other.

Holland, like Scandinavia, is a refreshingplace to learn a new skill. It’s extremely prag-matic social democratic culture sees ‘help’ assomething to ask for and value, not a socialstigma as it still seems in the UK. The processof training was non-academic; no writtenassignments or reading lists. Our trainingemployed exactly the same principles whichwe would be using with families. Weobserved and reflected on our own ‘helping’relationship with clients and explored thereciprocal, collaborative construction ofmeaning which Colwyn had described as‘intersubjectivity’.

Much of the support which we experi-enced in the first year was free. The flightswere almost free. In Holland we stayed withan old friend, Jeannette Noordermeer.Harrie Biemans and Claske Howingprovided our training free of charge. Hilaryand I used our own time to train and developthe project. I think we would have done thework with families on a voluntary basis, ifnecessary, such was our belief in the processand the satisfaction we saw in our clients.This is what drove us to develop theapproach in the UK and attracted people tothe training. This is the story of the develop-ment of Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)in the UK.

The origin of VIG in the UK: An introduction to the journeyRaymond Simpson

I

Chronology of training events, researchpapers and presentations Colwyn had been telling us about VIG andshowing us videos of the work for a few yearsand in 1991 Hilary attended a conference inEdinburgh where Harrie Biemans andMarian Hoogland presented their approach.At the time Hilary and I shared a job so weeach had 2.5 days per week to develop theapproach in our own time, if necessary.Fortunately, we had an educational psychol-ogist in training called Penny Forsyth whopicked up our enthusiasm and, as part of herMaster’s, organised a pilot trial of theapproach in 1991–1992 using preschoolhome visiting teachers (PSHV) andourselves. We all worked with at least onefamily and not only was it very effective butthe families loved it. We felt, however, thatwe didn’t really know what we were doing.We needed training and supervision. In 1992I attended, with Colwyn, a feedback seminaron a previous conference titled ‘The powerto change lies within the families’. I metsome Dutch home trainers and obtainedsome contacts. I wrote to Harrie in October1992 and he offered us a study week withClaske Howing, one of his supervisors. InMay 1993 Hilary and I spent an intensivestudy week being inducted to the approachand seeing it being used in a variety ofcontexts. We returned fully committed todeveloping it in Scotland. We had a fellowtraveller in the form of a psychologist inNorwich called Andy Slukin who had alsobeen to Holland and liked what he saw. Hehad contacts with Air UK, which was based inNorwich and flew from Edinburgh toSchiphol. They very generously gave uscheap flights to develop the Europeanconnection in return for reports on ourprogress. Over the summer I submitted anapplication to the Scottish Office EducationDepartment (SOED) for professional devel-opment funding to develop and evaluate theapproach with families and in schools. Thiswas accepted in September 1993. Harrie verygenerously offered us free supervision withClaske!

Over the next six months I logged timespent on the project: 40 sessions with fami-lies, six very full days spent in Holland forsupervision, 20 planning and research devel-opment meetings and 25 peer supportsessions, four major conference presenta-tions and three funding proposals. BySeptember 1994 we had published an evalu-ation of the work with families and inschools, and Hilary and I became qualifiedpractitioners eager to train others. We hadpresented our findings and experiences attwo adolescent and child psychology andpsychiatry conferences: the SOED feedbackconference and as guests of the Interna-tional Initiative in Israel in May 1994.

Once again the SOED helped dissemi-nate the training by funding trainees fromthe Lothian, Tayside, Highland and Bordersregions. We also trained speech therapists,social workers and PSHV teachers whoseauthorities or agencies paid Tayside for ourtime. We launched the first UK SPINtraining for 17 trainees in September 1995.Demand increased from all over the UK,including from social work departments,children’s charities (Barnados and theNSPCC) and the Institute of Psychiatry(Maudsley) to name a few. Hilary, Penny andI travelled literally all over the worldproviding workshops and training and super-vising for several years and built up an inter-national network. Colleagues from Hollandand later the Czech Republic, especiallyClaske and Katerina, came to Scotland tohelp with training and accreditation. Hilaryvery generously used her house at Dalgairn,assisted by her family, particularly Xana, formany of these events.

Disaggregation took away our Taysidebase but we continued to link with practi-tioners across Scotland, Europe and the UK.By the time of our second training confer-ence in 1996, Penny had negotiated ourinvolvement and funding for a Comeniusproject, VIG in schools with partner coun-tries Norway and Holland… but that isanother story, which Penny can tell.


The origin of VIG in the UK

VIG in educational settings, Penny ForsythWith VIG historically associated with familiesand care settings I sought to explore itsapplication within UK education. During1995–1996 I undertook small-scale researchon the impact of VIG on teaching staff, EPstraining to be guiders and their pupils/clients. This demonstrated VIG’s potentialfor team building, staff development andenhanced child development, and wasfollowed by a study trip to The Netherlandsto see their work in schools. Led by ChristineBrons, the equivalent of our educationalpsychologists, ‘support for learning’ staffand outreach staff were being trained asguiders. On the basis of this work in 1996Dundee Council Education Departmentallocated time to myself and later others tofurther this initiative in schools and indeedthe city. So began a prolonged period ofgrowth for the multi-agency Dundee VIGNetwork and for international collaboration.The Comenius Project which Raymondreferred to identified the core principlesshared between the approaches, Marte Meoin Norway and VIG in The Netherlands andUK, along with our differences. Thesecentred around the use of negative imagesand who had control of the video remote.The team also produced a ground-breakingvideo, Change for the Better, introducing VIGwork in schools with staff, pupils andparents.

Further research in this area was thenable to build through applications to thethen recently renamed Scottish OfficeEducation and Industry Department forfunding. Raymond and I were able to see ourwork with Gillian Kaye published andpresented in Boston and our work withLouise Robb and Colwyn Trevarthenpresented at the European Early ChildhoodEducation Research Association conference.With these invaluable research assistants wewere able to demonstrate that VIG enabledstaff to become more effective at scaffoldingchildren’s learning and to place more impor-tance on their communication style. In addi-

tion, intersubjectivity was again found to bethe cornerstone of satisfying and effectivelearning, this time in the classroom. Itsinnate musicality was heard in successfulclassroom interactions, the loss of this musi-cality signalling depression. Further researchsaw similar impacts demonstrated in the pre-school sector by Hilary Kennedy, Raymondand the multidisciplinary team, with signifi-cant social and emotional developmentneeds by Jan Tavendale and in social worksettings by Sandra and Calum Strathie.

However, 2000 onwards also saw a newchapter begin with VIG and the HigherEducation Sector. Hilary Kennedy and DavidGavine embedded VIG into the MSc inEducational Psychology. Raymond andI developed module descriptors with univer-sity staff and subsequently Allen Thurstonand I were able to show that VIG MScmodule students became more co-construc-tionist in their interactions as a result.And then in 2004 the Video EnhancedReflection on Communication Centre wasestablished at the University of Dundee inpartnership with Dundee Council Educationand Social Work Departments. I ran pilotmodules with social work BA students andBEd first-year students, the latter high-lighting the importance of intersubjectivityto establishing and, crucially, sustaining satis-fying and effective communication within aclass. It was encouraging to find externalexaminers consistently rating these modulesas innovative and of the highest quality.Meanwhile, Angela Rogers and Ruth Cavewere introducing VIG to tutor training andRaymond and David Gavine demonstratedits value to embedding ‘Assessment forLearning’ in teachers’ practice.

Lastly, international work continuedthrough conferences and I was proud tobring Peter Dowrick and his work on Feed-forward over from Hawaii, no less! Twofurther international projects also saw theestablishment of the ‘Take a New Look’course for professionals on collaborativeworking and the international Spinlink.euweb platform for practitioners.


Raymond Simpson

The origin of VIG in the UK has been, I am sure you will agree, quite a journey. It remains only to say that this snapshot isalso a tribute to an army of persistent, enthu-siastic and supportive colleagues toonumerous for us to mention here who alsomade it possible.

Raymond SimpsonAVIG [email protected]

Penny ForsythAVIG [email protected]


The origin of VIG in the UK


DECP CPD workshops EVENT DATE

The practice of educational psychology in an increasingly diverse society Dr Tony Cline FBPsS

24 March

Understanding childhood feeding disorders: Causes, diagnosis and interventions Dr Gillian Harris CPsychol AFBPsS, Sarah Mason & Dr Elizabeth Shea CPsychol AFBPsS

28 April

Ethical Trading: Guidelines and issues for EP Services offering traded services Jane Marriott CPsychol AFBPsS & Dr Julia Hardy CPsychol

10 June

Post 16 Educational Psychology Antonia Cobbald CPsychol & Calie Shearer MBPsS

23 July

Developing Mindfulness in Schools Jeremy Morris CPsychol

29 September

From ‘Ice-Breakers’ to Creating Connections to Farewells:Group Facilitation Dr Virginia Lumsden MBPsS & Mandy Sarankin

7 October

Implementation Science: Leading Evidence Based Practice in Psychology Dr Barbara Kelly CPsychol AFBPsS

13 October

Applied Psychology Practice to Support Vulnerable Families Sue Morris CPsychol AFBPsS

26 November

www.bps.org.uk/findcpd


IG was introduced to Dundee in 1991by the Educational Psychology Service.Over the following years Dundee was

key in the establishment of VIG in the UKand continues to provide and build a VIGservice. In addition, Dundee introducedrelated interventions. These were VideoEnhanced Reflective Practice (VERP), thedevelopment of short courses based on theVIG principles (Strathie, Strathie &Kennedy, 2011) and Video Feedforward(VFF), the creation of future images ofpeople achieving their goals (Landor &Strathie, 2011).

Over time, Dundee saw VIG spread fromeducation to the Social Work Department,speech and language therapy services, theUniversity of Dundee and voluntary agen-cies. In 2003 the Dundee VIG Network hadan active membership of over 60 Video Inter-action Guidance practitioners and an activesupport structure. Education and social workjointly provided VIG training and ongoingsupport, latterly in collaboration with theUniversity of Dundee. They also supportedprofessionals, parents, children and youngpeople across the context range (Learningand Teaching Scotland, 2005; HMIe, 2009).Speech and language therapists and thethird sector built VIG into their work withclient groups and the university specialisedin VIG training, and VERP modules. Actionresearch was undertaken by education, socialwork and university staff.

Multi-agency working Atkinson, Jones and Lamont (2007) haveidentified three main dimensions for multi-agency working. They are: organisation(e.g. structures set up to facilitate suchworking); joint investment (e.g. workingtowards a shared agenda); and integration(e.g. synthesised services).

Identified outcomes for professionals arethat it is rewarding, stimulating, increasesknowledge and understanding of otheragencies, and improves relationships andcommunication between them (Brown &White, 2006). However, there is littleresearch evidence on outcomes for serviceusers (Fixsen et al., 2005). Where they arereported, indications are that:n service users have improved access to

services (speedier, more appropriatereferrals);

n services have a greater focus onprevention and early intervention; and

n there can be improvements to the lives ofservice users because of more focusedsupport.

Improved outcomes, however, only occurredfor service users when effective practiceswere implemented effectively. Informationdissemination or training alone, howeverwell done, did not deliver. Secondly, effectiveimplementation requires a longer term(minimum two to four years) multi-levelapproach (i.e. practice-based practitionerselection, skill-based training, practice-basedcoaching, practitioner performance evalua-tion, programme evaluation, facilitative

Effective multi-agency working has been a long held, espoused goal of the helping services. Drawing on thework of the Dundee VIG Network, Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is reviewed in relation toimplementation science (IS) frameworks. The experienced strengths and constraints VIG brings to multi-agency working will be identified and conclusions drawn for future initiatives.

Video Interaction Guidance in Dundee:Multi-agency working Penny Forsyth

V

administrative practices and systemmethods. In addition, a persistent effort isneeded as a lack of knowledge of effectiveimplementation practices can see key facetsbeing neglected (e.g. long-term funding tosupport change and intervention fidelity).

Joint investment: Working towards a shared agenda Dundee found that VIG had much to offerthe elements of joint investment. Firstly,‘practice-based practitioner selection’ aimsto ensure the relevance of a training to prac-tice. A major strength for VIG, therefore, isthat communication is central to anyendeavour. Further, its focus on the empow-erment of the client is a good fit with anyhelping service and VIG can enable profes-sionals see how it is achieved and sustainedusing the principles of attuned interactionand guidance (Fukkink & Tavecchio, 2010;Kennedy, 2011). VIG may also help clientsbecome central to the joint working process.When clients share their VIG work at meet-ings they can demonstrate their strengths,share what they are working on and demon-strate how they see other support comple-menting this.

Sharing VIG video clips can alsostrengthen assessment by building a greatershared understanding of client needs and the‘scaffolding’ required to enable support takeup (HMIe, op.cit.). There were tensions,however, around a strengths-based assess-ment and child protection assessments(Woods et al., 2011). Encouragingly, subse-quent development outside Dundee has seenattachment assessments increasingly incorpo-rating VIG based elements (Robertson &Kennedy 2009).

Secondly, there are skill-based trainingand practice-based coaching. These seek toincrease staff effectiveness and ensure newskills are embedded in practice. VIG’sstrengths here are that it is an evidence-based method (Forsyth et al., 2011; NICE,2013), practice-based coaching is inherent tothe model and the shared review process isable to accommodate all facets of daily life.

High intervention fidelity is also possibleas practitioner training is accredited by theAssociation for Video Interaction GuidanceUK (www.videointeractionguidance.net)and, equally importantly, ongoing support isprovided (e.g. peer supervision opportuni-ties, access to VIG research, updates, forumsand networking).

At the same time, constraints were expe-rienced by Dundee. VERP courses are rela-tively short (e.g. on average two days spreadover a six-week period). To become a fullyaccredited VIG practitioner, however,requires eight days of training and super-vision spread over a minimum of 18 months.This is not the norm for continuing profes-sional development (CPD) and met withsome resistance. However, ImplementationScience (IS) would argue that this type oftraining is congruent with successful initia-tive implementation (Fixsen op.cit.).Encouragingly, accredited prior learningguidelines are being established by AVIGukto formally accommodate VERP training(AVIGuk, 2013a).

Another constraint is the cost of tech-nology. This is reducing as the price of videoequipment falls and the use of laptops andtablets increases. Nevertheless, time tobecome familiar with the technology,ongoing maintenance and replacement ofequipment ensure that the cost of tech-nology will always remain a factor.

It is also important to address where VIGfits with other communication based initia-tives (e.g. solution-focused approaches,assessment for learning). The evidencesuggests that VIG provides two-fold benefits.These are a powerful coaching tool (Gavine& Simpson, 2007) and the development ofthe communication skills within which theirscaffolding needs to be embedded to besuccessful (Forsyth, 2005).

Finally, regarding the evaluation of prac-titioner performance, VIG practice offerstwo measures, the Joint Record of Work andTarget Monitoring Proforma (AVIGuk(2013b). Both are completed in collabora-tion with the client measuring the impact on


Penny Forsyth


Video Interaction Guidance in Dundee

clients as work progresses and at completion,whilst VIG research studies in Dundeeprovide other measurement tools, includingvideo analysis programmes.

Organisation and integrationA greater emphasis on organisational andintegration models is now being takenforward in Scotland (e.g. Getting it Right forEvery Child (GIRFEC, 2010)). Programmeevaluation, facilitative administrative prac-tices and system methods cluster under thesemodels.

Such models need to address the inter-vention strategy and intervention outcomesfor the client, involved staff, their manage-ment, authority trainers, quality consultants,technical assistance providers, and finally,policy makers, funders and local andnational leadership (Metz & Bartley, 2012).For IS, understanding the interplay betweendesired practices and system and organisa-tional re-alignment, plus interaction effectsis a work in progress (Fixsen et al., 2005).However, on one aspect they are very clear:clarity regarding the operations that defineprocedures is where to put your energiesbefore data on the effectiveness of thoseprocedures.

This complexity when embedding aninitiative was addressed by the DundeeNetwork with varying levels of success. TheVIG strength here continued to be its abilityto contribute to successful communicationat all levels. It is, however, an area thatarguably, practitioners and AVIGuk couldprovide further support with in order tobuild implementation capacity (e.g. dissemi-nate examples of good practice, andcontinue to build and broaden out links withpolicy makers and funding bodies).

Conclusion Establishing practice and systems change formulti-agency working is a non-linear processwith success that waxes and wanes inresponse to changes in the system. Whenaddressing this agenda it is argued that VIGbrings considerable strengths to creating ajoint investment. It offers:n an evidence-based approach with rele-

vance to many contexts;n the ability to develop a shared under-

standing;n practice-based coaching;n intervention fidelity support structures;n outcome measurements; andn a focus on satisfying and effective com-

munication.In addition, VIG can enhance the empower-ment of clients and the assessment process.As such it is a highly valuable addition tomulti-agency working and team building atpractitioner and client level.

Penny ForsythVIG Trainer and [email protected]


Penny Forsyth

ReferencesAtkinson, M., Jones, M. & Lamont, E. (2007). Multi-

agency working and its implications for practice: A review of the literature. Reading: Centre forBritish Teachers Education Trust.

Association for Video Interaction Guidance UK(AVIGuk) (2013a). Directors’ Meeting minutes, 27 November 2013. AVIGuk.

Association for Video Interaction Guidance UK(AVIGuk) (2013b). Log Book (final draft2013)/Process and Criteria for Training as an AVIGukPractitioner. Retrieved 12 October 2013 from:Spinlink.eu.

Brown, K. & White, K. (2006). Exploring the evidencebase for Integrated Children’s Services. Edinburgh:Scottish Executive Education Department.

Fixsen, D.L., Naoom, S.F., Blase, K.A., Friedman,R.M. & Wallace, F. (2005). ImplementationResearch: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, FL:University of South Florida, Louise de la ParteFlorida Mental Health Institute, The NationalImplementation research Network (FMHI Publi-cation #231).

Forsyth, P. (2005). The development of student teacherinteraction skills through Video Interaction Guidance.Paper presented at the British EducationalResearch Association Conference, University ofGlamorgan, Wales.

Forsyth, P., Carter, G., Carmichael, A., Nixon, J. &Scott. C. (2011). Parenting support review in theDundee City context. Dundee: Dundee EducationalPsychology Service.

Fukkink, R.G. & Tavecchio, L.W.C. (2010). Effects ofVideo Interaction Guidance on early childhoodteachers. Teacher and Teaching Education, 26(8).DOI: 10.1016/j.tate 2010.06.016.

Gavine, D. & Simpson, R. (2006). Enhancing practicein formative assessment by means of video feedback.Dundee: University of Dundee. Retrieved 7 July2011 from: tiny.cc/gavsim06

GIRFEC (2010). A guide to implementing Getting It Rightfor Every Child: Messages from pathfinders andlearning partners. Edinburgh: Scottish Govern-ment. Crown copyright.

HMIe (2009). Video Interaction Guidance. Dundee:Dundee Educational Psychology Service.Retrieved 31 November 2013 from: www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/videos/dundeecity.asp

Kennedy , H. (2011). What is Video Interaction Guid-ance? In H. Kennedy, M. Landor & L. Todd(Eds.), Video Interaction Guidance: A relationship-based intervention to promote attunement, empathyand well-being (pp.20–42). London: JessicaKingsley Publishers.

Landor, M. & Strathie, C. (2011). Video Feedforward:Towards a preferred future. In H. Kennedy, M. Landor & L. Todd, L. (Eds.), Video InteractionGuidance: A relationship-based intervention to promoteattunement, empathy and well-being (pp.228–242).London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2005). InclusiveEducation. Dundee: Dundee City EducationDepartment. Retrieved from:www.LTScotland.org.uk/inclusiveeducation

Metz, A. & Bartley, L. (2012). Active ImplementationFrameworks for Program Success: How to use imple-mentation science to improve outcomes for children.Washington, DC: Zero to Three. Available from:www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/reflective-practice-program-development/metz-revised.pdf

National Institute for Health & Care Excellence(NICE) (2013). Autism: The management andsupport of children and young people on the autisticspectrum. NICE Clinical Guideline 170.

Robb, L., Simpson, R., Forsyth, P. & Trevarthen, C.(2003). Teacherese: How qualities of teacher talksupport learning. Paper presented at EECERAConference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow,Scotland. SOEID funded.

Robertson, M. & Kennedy, H. (2009). Family care:Working in partnership with families. Presentationto The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations,London.

Strathie, S., Strathie, C. & Kennedy, H. (2011). Videoenhanced reflective practice. In H. Kennedy, M. Landor & L. Todd (Eds.) Video InteractionGuidance: A relationship-based intervention to promoteattunement, empathy and well-being (pp.170–180).London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Woods, K., Bond, C., Humphrey, N. & Symes, W.(2011). Systematic review of Solution Focused BriefTherapy (SFBT) with children and families. ResearchReport DFE-RR179. Retrieved 27 November2013, from: www.gov.uk.


IDEO INTERACTION GUIDANCE(VIG) and Video Enhanced ReflectivePractice (VERP) have been proved to

promote sensitive two-way communication ina variety of settings and groups. You wouldexpect that such an evolving methodology,based on face-to-face communication, wouldnecessitate strictly in-person meetings bothbetween supervisor-trainee and trainee-client. However, this does not seem to be thecase! Distance learning in VIG and VERP ispossible due to technological advancesallowing for real-time interaction betweensupervisor and trainee (e.g. Skype) and easysharing of VIG and VERP data (e.g.Dropbox, SkyDrive).

I reside in Athens, Greece. Although I wasable to attend the introductory course inSuffolk, UK, I had a long way to go throughmy three stages of VIG training. I knew thatperson-to-person supervision was unrealisticin my case. Thus, together with my super-visor, we took the other way – that of distantsupervision carried out via Skype. Although itwas awkward in the beginning to discusshuman communication, emotions, changesin behaviour, intentions with somebody on

the other side of the screen, I quickly forgotthe geographical distance and got used tothrough-screen closeness. However, mysupervisor and I had to overcome one moredifficulty: the supervisor not speaking Greek!

For my Stage 1 training I worked with amother and her 18-month-old son from anAfrican background who were living inGreece (they were bilingual, speakingGreek and an African dialect). The boyhad difficulty with the feeding process,which often resulted in not eating prop-erly, not gaining the appropriate weightand being extremely stressed duringfeeding, as his mother was. In order toallow to my supervisor a full picture of thesituation, I worked out a procedure whichI followed thereafter: each new video madewith the client, as well as the clips and stillimages I made out of it, were uploaded toDropbox. A general report on some impor-tant issues that had come up during theshared review and mother-child play wasalso prepared in English and uploaded toDropbox. Finally, I would prepare the tran-script/translation for each clip I hadchosen to discuss in the supervision,

The two articles which follow were written by VIG practitioners who carried out all their training at adistance of many hundreds of miles. Their supervisor stays in Scotland (Orkney and Edinburgh)whilst Korina Hatzinikolaou lives and practises in Athens, and Stephanie Satariano in Malta andLondon. As you can see from their reports, this method demands a high degree of organisation andpreparation on the part of the trainee, but I think this resulted in a deep level of reflection during theirsupervision sessions and a highly satisfactory outcome for their clients.

Feeding difficultiesKorina Hatzinikolaou

Distance no object!Miriam Landor, Korina Hatzinikolaou & Stephanie Satariano

V


Miriam Landor, Korina Hatzinikolaou & Stephanie Satariano

so that the supervisor would be wellinformed on the verbal exchanges takingplace in this clip. I did this process bothfor mother-child clips and shared reviewclips. This material was also available to mysupervisor through Dropbox. Thus, whenSkype supervision was booked, both mysupervisor and I had gained access before-hand to all this material.

During supervision, we would watch theclips I had chosen and discuss them. Simi-larly, the supervisor having in hand the fullvideo as well was able to point out anddiscuss other parts of my meeting with theclient that she had found interesting. Logbook, Target Monitoring Evaluation forms(TMEs), other evaluation questionnairesand the preparation for the accreditationmeetings were all filled in and carried out inthe same manner. Most important, though,was the fact that I had developed a rapportwith my supervisor during ‘virtual’ commu-nications. VIG principles discussed andworked upon during ‘virtual’ supervisionshad a strong effect on me as a practitionerand as a person. The screen between us hadnot proved to be a barrier, but a means todevelop new professional and personal skills.

The 18-month-old boy’s mother startedmaking important steps towards changing herinteractions with her son. She soon under-stood that her anxiety related to him noteating properly had urged her to use stronglycontrolling behaviour in all aspects of herinteraction with him. She then startedperceiving more effectively his intentions andemotions, and allowed him more initiatives:in the beginning in free play; later on, duringfeeding. When we started working togetherwith VIG, the boy was eating only pureedfood, while he was laying on his mother’s lapwith his hands held tightly by her, in order forthe spoon to be pushed into his mouth. Aftereight meetings, the boy was sitting happily inhis feeding chair, holding his own spoon tofeed himself, and the mother was sitting satis-fied in front of him, with her own spoon,helping him out when he asked for help.Watching again my videos for the purposes ofthis article, I was thinking that distant super-vision in VIG worked for them as well!

Korina Hatzinikolaou PhDDevelopmental Psychologist, Centre for the Study and Prevention ofChild Abuse and Neglect, Institute of Child Health, Athens, [email protected]

’ IS A 14-year-old boy with complexneeds and autistic spectrum disorder(ASD), who was refusing school.

A project combining Video InteractionGuidance (VIG) and Video EnhancedReflective Practice (VERP) was carried out tosupport key adults surrounding A to facili-tate his transition back into education.

Home-based VIG was carried out to enhancecommunication and promote attunementbetween mother and A, as well as to increaseparental understanding of A’s needs. Thiswas done alongside school-based VERP,which aimed to support the professionaldevelopment of a Learning Support Assis-tant (LSA). In addition, the principles of

Using VIG to support a school-refusingpupil with ASD Stephanie Satariano

A‘


Distance no object!

VIG were enmeshed with the SCERTSmodel, which is an assessment and interven-tion framework for pupils with ASD thatfocuses on building competence in socialcommunication, emotional regulation andtransactional support in pupils with ASD(Prizant et al., 2006). A specific template wasused to support the LSA’s analysis of thevideo clips and the transaction supportchecklists were used to promote his knowl-edge of effective tools to be used.

This piece of work was carried out as partof my Phase 3 VIG training. Miriam Landor,who was based in Scotland, supervised thispiece of work and the rest of my training inVIG, which encompassed casework inLondon and Malta. The supervision sessionswere made possible through technologicaladvances; in particular, the use of Skype(video-teleconferencing software) andDropbox (secure online cloud storage). Theover-arching aim of Phase 3 training requiresa trainee to embed VIG into their practice,by adapting to the needs of their clients. Inthis project I adapted the intervention to theneeds of my clients at a systemic level, bycombining VIG and VERP, as well as at theindividual level, by juxtaposing the princi-ples of VIG. with the principles of SCERTS.

Figures 1 and 2 (overleaf) illustrate theformat of the VIG and VERP interventionemployed.

Outcomes were monitored throughtarget monitoring evaluation (TME) (Tables1 and 2), post-intervention semi-structuredinterviews and microanalysis of the videoclips.

Micro-analysis of the video clips found anincrease in the frequency and intensity ofattuned interactions between A and hismother: his mother’s ability to encourageinitiatives, receive A and build upon hisresponses to facilitate positive communica-tion. The achieved level of the TME target(Table 3) illustrates an increased under-standing of her ability to encourage A’sinitiatives and provide the space needed tofacilitate an attuned interaction.

A semi-structured post-intervention inter-view and discussions during the sharedreviews revealed increased maternal confi-dence, an awareness of the strong bond theypossess (‘I’m so close with him and I makehim laugh’) and increased maternal under-standing of A’s ability and needs. Throughthe post-intervention interview she said that‘I learnt how important it is to enter hisworld, give him lots of encouragement andlots of love’, ‘watching myself, it shows mewhat I am doing… When to learn to leavehim… it helped my confidence to help mesee what I am doing right’. A’s mother alsoexperienced a significant moment of changein which she acknowledged her anxietiesabout A’s return to school, which in turnallowed her to move past them and begin torecognise the benefits, such as increasedpersonal time. She also began to value A asan individual with needs, wants and desiresdistinct from her own, facilitating a moresecure attachment style.

Microanalysis of the VERP video clipsillustrated an increase in the frequency andintensity of attuned interactions, particularlyencouraging A’s initiatives, receiving hisinitiatives and building on his responses toenhance the learning experience.

The microanalysis and shared reviewdiscussions revealed an increase in the LSA’sunderstanding of the child’s ability andneeds, and knowledge of effective strategiesto promote learning and development; andfacilitated the growth of a trusting relation-ship. The review of the targets triangulatedthese findings (see Table 4). Through a post-intervention semi-structured interview, theLSA noted the invaluable impact video-analysis has had on his professional develop-ment, including his professional confidenceand competence. Furthermore, both partici-pants achieved their TME target (Tables 3and 4), and in addition, the overall purposeof the project was achieved as A was effec-tively supported to transition back intoschool.



Figure 1: VIG intervention model.

Figure 2: VERP intervention.


Distance no object!

Target: ‘A’ will respond when I talk to him.

1 2 3 4 5B 6 7H 8 9 10

Baseline: A responds when I go in his face and get his eye contact.

Hoped for: Talk to him without going in his face and he responds.

Table 1: VIG TME target.

Table 2: VERP TME target.

Table 3: VIG TME target reviewed.

Target: To build a good and trusting relationship.

1 2B 3 4 5 6H 7 8 9 10

Baseline: I am a stranger to him and I have no understanding of him; I am not sure howhe will react to anything.

Hoped for: Know the things he likes.

Target 2: To understand his needs and wants.

1 2 3B 4 5H 6 7 8 9 10

Baseline: I have a slight understanding from working with him over a year ago and fromreports given by his mum. However I would like to know more about his basicneeds and what he likes and dislikes.

Hoped for Have some understanding of what he likes.

Target: A will respond when I talk to him.

1 2 3 4 5B 6 7H A 8 9 10

Baseline: A responds when I go in his face and get his eye contact.

Achieved: I can talk to him without going in his face. Before I was never sure he waslistening and now I talk to him and he replies. He shows that he hears what Iam saying, even if it takes a few minutes.

Target: To build a good and trusting relationship.

1 2B 3 4 5 6H 7 8A 9 10

Achieved: I feel we have built a lot of trust; he feels comfortable around me and I have astrong understanding of him.

Target 2: To understand his needs and wants.

1 2 3B 4 5H 6 7 8 9A 10

Achieved: I have a good understanding of his ability and what engages him. I also feelmore competent in adapting these things to get him into school and to gethim learning.

Table 4: VERP TME target reviewed.



As described above, the project had apositive impact on the clients in question, aswell as having a parallel impact on my devel-opment as a VIG practitioner. Engaging increative practice allowed me to obtain astrong grasp on the principles of VIG; inparticular, the importance of working withina positive psychology, strength based frame-work. This has enabled me to successfullyemploy these principles throughout myeducational psychology practice, and not justwithin my role as a VIG guider.

Dr Stephanie SatarianoEducational and Child Psychologist, VIG Practitioner, [email protected]

ReferencesKennedy, H., Landor, M. & Todd, M. (2011). Video

Interaction Guidance: A relationship-based interven-tion to promote attunement, empathy and well-being.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Prizant, B.M., Wetherby, A.M., Rubin, E., Laurent, A.C. & Rydell, P.J. (2006). The SCERTS Model: A comprehensive educational approach for childrenwith autism spectrum disorders [2 volume set]. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.


URING THE SPRING OF 2013 a video-based intervention project was carriedout collaboratively with a local primary

school and three trainee educationalpsychologists. The school in question hadrecently received a ‘poor’ Her Majesty’sInspectorate for Education (HMIE) reportand a large number of staffing changes aswell as parental concerns had resulted inoverall low morale amongst school staff.

As part of their continued professionaldevelopment (CPD) requirements supportstaff at the school requested EducationalPsychology Service input in order to developskills and confidence in their approach toconflict resolution in the playground – a situ-ation they were finding stressful and a partic-ularly challenging element of their role.Historically, little training has been given tosupport staff, suggesting their contributionand role within schools has been under-valued and given little consideration withineducation (Blatchford, 1989; Sharp, 1994).The support staff at this school were nodifferent, having received little CPDtraining.

An intervention focusing on their confi-dence and self-efficacy was devised by thetrainee educational psychologists to addresssupport staff training and development,given the benefits of effective adult teaching

and learning (Carvone, Artistico & Berry,2006; Sahu & Sageeta, 2004). This supportscurrent advice from the McCrone agree-ment (Scottish Executive, 2001) and theMcCormac report (Scottish Executive, 2011)suggesting that all school staff should haveadequate training to meet their own CPDneeds and those of the school.

Important factors for the training ofsupport staff in their lunchtime supervisorycapacity have been identified in the litera-ture as: knowledge and understanding ofchallenging behaviour; identification of staffown needs; and application of training (Fell,1994). The trainee educational psychologistsconsulted with the support staff and theActing Head Teacher, to determine how thetraining needs could be best met. It becameclear that Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)would be a useful tool for several reasons.Firstly, due to its powerfulness as a self-reflec-tion tool, it could provide support staff witha method of highlighting their areas of bestpractice (Kennedy, 2011). Moreover, it wasconsidered useful in meeting the overall aimof increased support staff autonomy as influ-ential and skilled members of the school.The aspect of increased empowerment asso-ciated with VIG was particularly important inthis aim (Kennedy, 2011).

VIG as a tool for building confidence and professional development in school support staffFionna Shaw & Isabel Martland

This article demonstrates the effectiveness of Video Interaction Guidance (Kennedy, 2011) as a tool fortraining school support staff in restorative approaches and attunement principles. The support staffrequested training from an educational psychology service to increase their self-efficacy in dealing withchallenging behaviour in the playground. The use of video yielded benefits for individual staff, groupcohesion and the wider school – a situation discussed within this article. Implications for educationalpsychology practice are considered. This article suggests that Video Interaction Guidance is a useful tool foreducational psychologists and one that can be used in schools to support staff morale.

D

It was considered that using VIG wouldform part of a least intrusive intervention,one where the participants could learn fromtheir own experiences (self-modelling andself-efficacy). As the focus in VIG is on posi-tive aspects of practice this was deemed asuitable method for a school suffering fromlow staff morale and would use a positivepsychology approach (Kennedy, 2011;Seligman, 2002).

Therefore, the trainee educationalpsychologists implemented a VIG interven-tion whereby staff were filmed interactingwith pupils during lunchtime, both in theplayground and in the lunch hall. Thetrainee educational psychologists adoptedthe role of the guider and viewed shortselected clips with the staff individually, witha focus on identifying positive communica-tion skills, and specifically the use of attune-ment principles. Two training input sessionswere delivered by the trainee educationalpsychologists to the support staff. Onefocused on communication skills and theother on restorative approaches. These wereprovided between videoing and feedbacksessions so that there was a more focused setof skills to look for and consider in prepara-tion for feedback sessions. Teachers withinthe school had received training on restora-tive approaches. Increasing the support staffknowledge of this area helped to provide aconsistent whole school approach identifiedas a crucial factor in successful lunchtimes,with few problem behaviours (Elton Report,1989; Blatchford, 1989; Sharp, 1994).

OutcomesThe outcome of this project revealed posi-tive developments among staff which seemedto have provided benefits for the school as awhole. Pre- and post-intervention evidencefrom support staff as well as the seniormanagement team (SMT) suggested partici-pants were more confident in their commu-nication during challenging situationsfollowing the intervention. Staff rated thattheir skills in communication increasedfollowing the intervention. Staff also stated

they were more confident in communicatingwith challenging pupils after the training.This was supported by increases in supportstaff’s ability to resolve conflict as well asincreases in their understanding of restora-tive approaches.

Interestingly, video clips suggested thatnot only the knowledge of restorativeapproaches by staff increased, but theirability to use restorative approaches to helpresolve pupil conflict had also increased.The SMT’s views supported this. Anotherinteresting and encouraging result from theintervention was that participants rated bothvideo and video feedback sessions as benefi-cial to their practice. This highlights video asa useful tool in the training of support staffand its success when combined with trainingin communication skills development andrestorative approaches.

Some reactions from support staff to theuse of video as an intervention tool, as well astheir overall views of the training, include:

‘I am happy because I am able to sort outdifferent situations due to EPS training.’‘I found it very interesting and think all staffshould have a chance to see themselves atwork.’‘[The training opened] my eyes up to a lot ofthings and gave me an insight on things thatyou don’t always see, even though they arethere a lot of the time.’‘Didn’t realise I do as much as I do [listen,body language].’‘I enjoy my job but it has given me a greaterawareness of my position [as] a positive rolemodel for young children; also a renewed joy.’‘I feel the sessions have been helpful to me, it’shelped me understand what I do in theplayground.’‘I’m really happy with the team effort whendealing with and discussing the playgroundproblems. Everyone benefits then.’

It is important for any training to recognisethe self-esteem levels of participantsinvolved. By addressing this directly throughthe use of VIG it is hoped that this hasprovided the support staff with optimalpersonal and professional development


Fionna Shaw & Isabel Martland


opportunities. A surprising added benefitthat the trainee educational psychologistsobserved and staff alluded to was the impactthis intervention had on group cohesion andrelationships. It is believed that this cohesionwill strongly influence the support staff’s effi-cacy in their important role within theschool and help them to be more effective inplayground management. In the limitedresearch on training support staff, no otherstudies indicated that group cohesionincreased. This can be considered a uniquebut important part of our research,suggesting that support staff training shouldoccur in small groups and use VIG as a toolto increase the opportunities for adultlearning and self-efficacy; this would make itmost effective for the individuals involvedand the school.

It was important to gauge the viewpointof the SMT within this project. All members,SMT and support staff felt the interventionhad been successful and had positive impli-cations for the whole school. These includedincreased staff self-efficacy and an increasein ability of the support staff to deal withissues arising outwith class time without theneed for SMT involvement. Additionally, thefuture role of the support staff is moreautonomous with greater responsibility forpositive behaviour approaches, includinggiving out rewards for good lunchtimebehaviour. An area of this study the supportstaff saw as especially effective was the use ofvideo, which helped them identify areas oftheir own good practice and helped increasetheir self-efficacy. It is hoped that the staffwill continue to video to review their ownpractice, and use this method as a means ofpeer support and CPD.

ConclusionCurrent economic circumstances dictatethat in the field of education we need to domore with less and maximise resources.Support staff training is a key way of doingthis and providing good outcomes withminimum input. VIG has proven effective inthis study as a method of increasing supportstaff capacity and confidence. The impact ofthis had positive implications at a wholeschool level and has been an instrument forchange in school ethos.

Implications for EP practiceThis study demonstrates that VIG is an effec-tive tool when working with support staff toincrease self-efficacy and group cohesion. Itis a useful tool for EPs to be aware of andhave in their toolbox. It is also an approachthat can be used in a school with low staffmorale. Staff themselves rated the use of VIGwithin the intervention highly.

AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank andacknowledge Stephanie Bennett for hercontribution to this project.

Fionna ShawTrainee Educational [email protected]

Isabel MartlandTrainee Educational Psychologist.

VIG as a tool for building confidence and professional development


Fionna Shaw & Isabel Martland

ReferencesBlatchford, P. & Sharp, S. (Eds) (1994). Breaktime and

the school: Understanding and changing playgroundbehaviour. London: Routledge.

Cervone, D., Artistico, D. & Berry, J.M. (2006). Self-efficacy and adult development In C. Hoare(Ed.), Handbook of adult development and learning(pp.169–195). USA: Oxford University Press.

Department of Education and Science & The WelshOffice (1989). Discipline in schools: Report of thecommittee of enquiry chaired by Lord Elton. London:HMSO.

Fell, G. (1994). In P. Blatchford & S. Sharp (Eds.),Breaktime and the school: Understanding andchanging playground behaviour (pp.137–148).London: Routledge.

Kennedy, H. (2011). What is Video Interaction Guid-ance? In H. Kennedy, M. Landor & L. Todd(Eds.) Video Interaction Guidance: A relationship-based intervention to promote attunement, empathyand well-being. London: Jessica KingsleyPublishers.

Sahu, F.M. & Sageeta, R. (2004). Self-efficacy andwell-being in working and non-working women:The moderating role of involvement. Psychologyand Developing Societies, 15, 187–200.

Scottish Executive (2001). A teaching profession for the21st century: Agreement reached following recommen-dations made in the McCrone Report. Edinburgh:Scottish Executive. Available from:www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/158413/0042924.pdf

Scottish Executive (2011). Advancing professionalism inteaching: The report of the review of teacher employmentin Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.Available from:www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/920/0120902.pdf

Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using thenew positive psychology to realise your potential for deepfulfillment. London: Nicholas Brealey.

Sharp, S. (1994). In P. Blatchford & S. Sharp (Eds.),Breaktime and the school: Understanding andchanging playground behaviour (pp.118–133).London: Routledge.


IDEO ENHANCED REFLECTIVEPRACTICE (VERP) is increasinglyused as a sustainable approach to

providing continuing professional develop-ment (CPD) for staff in a wide range ofcontexts. Examples in my own experiencerange from helping medical research nursesimprove their interaction skills with patientsso that clinical trial adherence increased, topreschool education staff developing theirskills in improving children’s learning in anearly literacy project.

An accredited VIG guider deliverstraining in the principles of attuned interac-tion and guidance and in the microanalysisof video to a group of staff. This training isvery similar to the first day of the VideoInteraction Guidance UK initial trainingcourse. The trainees have hands-on practicein identifying and micro-analysing better-than-usual moments of attuned interactionand can then apply this in future sessions tovideo footage of their own professional inter-actions in their work situation. Over the nextfew sessions, in small groups that are facili-tated by the guider, each trainee shows theirclips and reflects on their progress in thelight of self-evaluated strengths and workingpoints.

EvaluationsThese courses usually have very good evalua-tions from participants. For example, 13 outof 13 participants rated a recent VERPtraining programme for early years staff as5/5 on effectiveness and on relevance to the

trainee’s working practice. Some of thecomments are shown in Table 1.

So what was the ‘next step’ for me?Whilst recognising that VERP works reallywell for most people, I was concerned aboutthe very few occasions when I felt a traineewas struggling to grasp what attuned interac-tion looked like, and where I felt I wasunable in the group context to give them thetime and support required. I thereforewanted to improve my own skills in groupsupervising. I knew that in Sweden MarteMeo1 supervision is always given in groups,so I arranged a study visit to see how theymanaged these complex situations.

My learning pointsAmongst so much else (gløgg! saffron buns!walks through frozen birch woods! Gettinglost in Gothenburg!) the two main learningpoints for me were both reminders – aboutthe impact of adult attachment on learningand about the ‘reflective team’ approach.

Adult attachment and learningI began to wonder whether those very fewwho seemed to struggle with the concepts ofattuned interaction – despite having thesame input as their colleagues, includinggood modelling from the others – weresimply too anxious to have the mental spaceto learn at that moment. Maybe their cogni-tive capacities were temporarily frozen by thestress of self-confrontation in public – forthat is what viewing oneself on video might

Video Enhanced Reflective Practice(VERP): Lessons from Sweden –personal account of a study tripMiriam Landor

1 Marte Meo is a parallel intervention to VIG; they both stemmed from the same roots and still share basicconceptual premises (see Aarts, 2008, and Kennedy, Landor & Todd, 2011).

V


Miriam Landor

Most useful:

n Setting goals and attaining these.n That attuned interaction and being aware of the principles are important to ensuring

engagement and learning taking place is responsive, fun and child centred.n Provided the opportunity for focused reflective practice on communication, which is very

relevant for my setting.n I think more during interactions about what I am doing and what more I can bring.n Being part of a team, listening and watching other people’s practices; looking at my own

practices, both the positives and what I feel needs worked on.n Focusing in on attunement principles – highlighting the impact that your behaviours/actions

can have on others. Providing opportunities to evaluate my own practice alongside others,identifying what I do well and goals.

Would be better if:

n Encouraged others to experience this training.n Training could be offered to whole teams to encourage everyone to be on board and show how

VERP can be an invaluable self-evaluation and peer evaluation tool.n I feel it would help/benefit all employees of XXX in early years and in primary/secondary

education to be part of this course to develop a shared understanding, as it is a veryinformative and enlightening course.

Application of learning gained:

n I feel my daily interactions are child-led/more child at the centre of all learning/play/fun.n Being more attuned to the children helps enable the learning to be more child-centred and

responsive than handled all the time.n Myself, my partner and my colleague who has participated in VIG are sharing VIG and VERP with

our staff team in the February in-service in the hope we can add it in to our parenting workshops.

Impact on children/staff worked with:

n It has had a massive impact as I feel using the principles of attunement in every relationshipcan help support and maintain positive relationships for both adults and children in learninglifelong skills for nursery, school and work.

n It has been great for the children, as it has made me more relaxed and attuned to what ishappening around me; therefore my children are getting the best of me.

n They are more responsive and willing to learn more now, knowing that I’m there to givesupport/guidance when required and not leading it. A more comfortable, learning richenvironment has been created.

n Ensuring that staff know I value their contributions and values. I am approachable to staff –staff will speak about concerns/questions freely.

feel like in the beginning (especially in awork situation) and as VIG guiders weshould always remember that and reflectback to our own first experience of being

videoed. Maybe there was something in theirpast attachment experience or in theircurrent work situation which sent them intoclassic freeze mode, which might then be

Table 1: Evaluation comments from participants.

camouflaged by confident self-talk or by aprotective barrier. I saw that my Swedishcolleagues, both experienced therapists whohad undertaken qualifications in supervisionskills, spent time helping the group to feelsafe with each other before beginning thevideo work. The aim was to accustom eachgroup member, including the guider, toshare personal (but not private) thoughtsand feelings with each other so that trust wasbuilt; then it became less daunting to sharevideo clips and reflections on achieving andsetting professional goals. For example, a setof picture or symbol cards are shared outamongst the group, with each memberinvited to share a memory of childhood, or asuccess, or a wish for self improvement thatwas triggered by one of their cards. Teachersand youth workers may have many such teambuilding exercises in their repertoires.

Recruitment of trainees is also an area togive attention to. If an employee is told tocome on the VERP programme by theirmanagement, they may be feeling insecure tostart with. Leaflets describing clearly howVERP works and its benefits (and stressing theneed for volunteers only) give both the poten-tial trainees and their management an accu-rate picture of the commitment required andthe potential for sustainable CPD.

Reflective teams The reflective team approach has beendeveloped to structure the reflective experi-ence in a group setting, allowing eachmember to dig more deeply into theirthinking and feeling.

Step One: Trainee and VIG guider reviewand discuss the video clips identified by thetrainee, making a triangle of video, trainee,guider (the reflective team takes a back rowand observes in silence).n Guider asks trainee to look for examples

of strengths, and of principles of attunedinteraction:l ‘What did you see? What happened

here?’l ‘What did you do to bring that about?’

l ‘What was the impact of that on theother?’

l ‘What will you do next time?’

Step Two: Trainee and guider are silent andlisten while reflective team members discusstogether what they saw and what theythought using similar questions: Whathappened? What did the trainee do to bringthat about? What principles of attuned inter-action were seen? What was the impact onthe other?

Step Three: Reflective team are silent while:n Trainee and guider discuss what they

have just heard, their responses and whatdeeper insights they may now have.

n Round off with trainee identifying their‘pleased with’ points to record in theirlog and setting themselves their nextchallenge.

This works in part by separating the listeningand speaking experiences. You can paycloser attention to what is being said, to itssignificance and to the reactions you feel,when you are not having to think aboutinstant social responding, receiving and self-presentation.

Both supervisors and trainees in a recentVERP course were positive about using thereflective team approach in the group super-vision session. Some comments about whatwas most useful were:n You had your own time to reflect with the

guider and then were able to welcomefeedback from your peers – which wasvery uplifting.

n Being able to challenge myself in filming.This made me feel thrilled at theprogress/understanding of past fewweeks in my own self. I am a newimproved version of myself.

n Reflective team approach encouragedeveryone to focus in more detail.

n Was helpful to just listen to what othersthought about your actions withouthaving to explain anything.

n Helped everyone contribute more.


Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP)


Miriam Landor

ConclusionThe learning I gained from this study triphas been immense. I will embed the teambuilding and reflective team practices intomy future VERP programmes, with greaterawareness of adult attachment and adultlearning issues. I have also realised howprofound a CPD experience it can be to goto another country and learn how otherstackle the same issues we all grapple with inour work. Where shall I go to next?

AcknowledgementGrateful thanks to my warm and experthosts, Åse Ljungquist-Svantesson andMonica Möllerstrand.

Miriam Landor AFBPsSAVIG [email protected]

ReferencesAarts, M. (2008). Marte Meo Basic Manual (2nd ed.)

Netherlands: Aarts Productions.Kennedy, H., Landor, M. & Todd, L. (2011). Video

Interaction Guidance: A relationship-based interven-tion to promote attunement, empathy and well-being.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.


CURRENT key national objectivesregarding early years are to givechildren the best possible start in life,

deliver improved outcomes and reduceinequalities for vulnerable children (ScottishGovernment, 2011). There is a nationalcommitment to preventative spend (ScottishGovernment, 2011a) to deliver these objec-tives. To ensure there is an evidence base forinterventions used in the early years (andthereby to justify expenditure), a model forimprovement has been developed whichinvolves the use of a ‘Test of Change’methodology and this has been takenforward in Early Years Collaborative workwithin Highland Council (Alexander, 2013).

The Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)Development Group within HighlandCouncil Educational Psychology Servicerecognised that VIG was an ideal evidence-based intervention to be used in this contextand that research that they had conductedusing VIG with potentially vulnerable youngmothers and their babies formed a local‘Test of Change.’

VIG is recognised as an evidence-basedintervention, particularly in relation todeveloping parental sensitivity to their

children, thereby supporting the develop-ment of attachment. A meta-analysis byFukkink (2008) of 29 family programmeinterventions showed statistically significantpositive effects of video feedback interven-tions on the parenting behaviour and atti-tude of parents and the development of thechild. Key findings from a review of studiesconducted by the Department for Children,Schools and Families (Barlow & Schrader-MacMillan, 2010) indicates that targetedearly interventions that are aimed atincreasing parental sensitivity andpromoting attachment are effective inpreventing emotional maltreatment. Theycite evidence of the effectiveness of VIG inimproving parental sensitivity, noting thatVIG is one of the most effective and cost-effective health-led parenting supportservices and programmes during the firstthree years of life. The current NationalInstitute for Health and Care Excellence(NICE) guidelines (2012) advise that healthvisitors or midwives should consider usinginteractive video guidance to improvematernal sensitivity, mother-infant attach-ment and the child’s behaviour.

The Baby Project: A test of change usingVideo Interaction Guidance with new mothers and babiesHeather Sked & Kirstie McClatchey

Inspired by presentations at the VIG International Research Conference in Dundee in 2009, the VIG Development Group, within Highland Council Educational Psychology Service, embarked upon asmall-scale research project using VIG with potentially vulnerable new mothers and their babies in theirlocal area. This article describes the project and the positive outcomes for the mothers, both in meeting targetsthey had set for themselves around aspects of interaction with their babies and also self-reporteddevelopments in other aspects of their lives. The findings of this project formed a cornerstone in a subsequentproposal to managers in Highland Council to develop VIG more widely across the council, as part of EarlyYears Collaborative developments. It is suggested that this confirms the value of the research role ofeducational psychologists in providing a local evidence base for interventions (tests of change) in order toinfluence decisions about local developments which dovetail with national priorities.

The Baby Project: A summaryThe Highland VIG Development Groupundertook a small-scale project locally usingVIG with new mothers and babies. Thisprovides a Test of Change which demon-strates improvement on interaction-basedtargets identified by the mothers, therebyechoing at local level the findings from theinternational research described above. Theplan for the VIG Highland Baby Project wasas follows:n To work with health visitors to identify

socially vulnerable families (mothers withbabies under one year old) who might bereceptive to early support with parentingskills via VIG.

n VIG guiders to make a series of threefilms, followed up by shared reviewsessions with identified parent/childpairs who chose to be involved. Initialand emerging targets were to be agreedwith the mother and would determinethe focus for the interaction filmed.

n The intervention to be evaluated by pre-and post-intervention questionnaires.

At the time of writing, this process has beencompleted with two mothers and babies.A further three pairs are still workingthrough the VIG cycles. Further babies havebeen referred.

The pre- and post-intervention question-naires demonstrated that the mothersworked with feel they have improved on thetargets they negotiated themselves. Thenarrative evidence from the shared reviewswith these mothers is also compelling,demonstrating improved confidence in theirabilities.

Case Study 1ContextThe mother in this study had previouslybeen depressed and now had a lack of confi-dence. There were stressful life events whichtook place during pregnancy and now themother worried there were difficulties inbonding. The main concern was to help themother to build her self-esteem and to helpher to see that she was a good mum.

Target 1The first target discussed was to improve thebody language. The mother had self-reported on a scale of 1 to 10 that the bodylanguage at baseline was 1 and that shehoped to achieve an 8. Prior to the VIG inter-vention the mother felt as though she wasbecoming frustrated or anxious whenchanging or feeding her baby. Post-VIGintervention, the mother felt the bodylanguage had changed and was morerelaxed and she was more aware of how shewas with the baby. The self-reported target toimprove body language achieved 6 on thescale.

Target 2The second target was to use a calmer toneof voice. The self-reported baseline wasreported to be at 3 and the mother hadhoped for a 9. The idea was to try to use acalmer tone of voice. Post-VIG interventionthe mother felt she was more playful andentertaining rather than not talking. She feltshe had achieved a 7 on the scale.

Target 3The final target was to improve the mother’sconfidence with her child; the mother ratedher baseline at 1 prior to the VIG interven-tion. She had a lack of confidence in herown abilities and was not able to leave thehouse by herself with her baby. She hadhoped for a 5, and post-VIG interventionrated herself at a 3. She was beginning to trythings, although still felt anxious andworried when doing things.

ConclusionsAll the target numbers had increased fromthe baselines. The mother felt that shebegan dealing better with her baby on a day-to-day basis, and was enjoying the fun times.The mother began to go out with the babyherself, and even made a play date with anold school friend. The mother had evenspoken to her boss about going back to work,but long-term was considering training as anurse.


Heather Sked & Kirstie McClatchey

The mother could now see the positives,was more aware of communication and hadbeen communicating in ways other thantalking – for example, by using eye contact.The mother was now more confident in herabilities as a parent and now thought she wasa good mum. Post VIG-intervention themother was ‘feeling a bit more relaxed andhappier’. n Positives for the mother: Able to enjoy

experiences with her baby.n Positives for the baby: Able to have

greater experiences outside of the familyhome and better bonding with mother.

Case Study 2ContextAt the time of referral, this mother had beenon medication for postnatal depression andwas struggling to cope with her baby (now 8-months-old). The baby’s father had leftand the mother was with a new supportivepartner. The mother’s father was alsohelping to support with the baby, but therelationship was struggling and the motherwas hoping to become more independentfrom her own father. The mother had juststarted a part-time job and begun to feelslightly more independent from her father,and was hoping to work more hours.

Target 1The mother wanted to have more close inter-action with her son (e.g. cuddles and morephysical affection). The mother rated thecurrent interactions at a 7 on a scale of 1 to10; however, she hoped to achieve 10. Post-VIG intervention the baby actively soughtmore cuddles, was more affectionate andthere was more warmth and laughtertogether. The mother rated her achievedinteraction at 10.

ConclusionsAt the end of the VIG intervention not onlyhad the mother achieved improved interac-tion with her baby, but she was also feelingmore relaxed with the baby. The mother was

now more able to build on her own relation-ship with her partner and feeling more inde-pendent of her father, and wanted to learnto drive. The mother was enjoying workingat her job, had increased her hours and hadplans to buy a house in what she perceived tobe a better neighbourhood. She was feelingmore confident as a parent, more affectionand warmth for her baby.n Positives for mother: Better relationship

with baby and partner. Feels moreindependent from her own father andgenerally more confident.

n Positive for the baby: Better interactionwhich could lead to a better bond.

ImplicationsTests of Change provide the evidence tojustify further change. This small andongoing local project has demonstrated theeffectiveness of VIG in improving interac-tions between new mothers and their babies.On this basis this Test of Change hasprovided the evidence for a proposal madeto senior managers in Highland Council todevelop VIG further in our area by providingVIG training for at least one member of eachof the new Integrated/Family teams acrossthe council. At the time of writing, discus-sions are ongoing with managers about howto take this forward.

This is an exciting prospect for the devel-opment of VIG in our area. The advent ofthe use of the Test of Change methodologyas part of Early Years Collaborative develop-ments has been significant in progress to thispoint. A further aspect has been the sense ofpermission given by the inclusion of theresearch role for educational psychologistsin the summary of our work provided in theCurrie report (Scottish Executive, 2002).Educational psychologists are well placed todo the research at local level whichcontributes to the evidence base for cuttingedge interventions, linking them to nationalpriorities, thereby bringing about systemicchange at authority level.


The Baby Project: A test of change using Video Interaction Guidance


Alexander, B. (2013). Early years collaborative report.Presented to the Highland Council Adult andChildren’s Services Committee, 20 March 2013.Retrieved 31 October 2013, from:www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/74237582-00DA-4210-B2CC-02B0816265CF/0/Item16ACS3613.pdf

Barlow, J. & Schrader McMillan, A. (2010). Safe-guarding children from emotional maltreatment: Whatworks. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Fukkink, R.G. (2008). Video feedback in widescreen:A meta-analysis of family programmes. ClinicalPsychology Review, 28(6), 904–916.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence(NICE) (2012). Social and Emotional Well-being:Early Years. NICE Public Health Guidance 40.Retrieved 31 October 2013, from:www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/13941/61149/61149.pdf

Scottish Executive (2002). Review of the Provision ofEducational Psychology Services in Scotland (theCurrie report). Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Scottish Government (2011). National PerformanceFramework. Retrieved 31 October 2013, from:www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Performance/scotPerforms/outcome

Scottish Government (2011a). Scottish Spending Review2011 and Draft Budget 2012–2013. Edinburgh:Scottish Government.

References

Heather Sked & Kirstie McClatchey

Heather SkedArea Clinical Psychologist, Highland Council Psychological [email protected]

Kirstie McClatcheyResearch Assistant, Highland Council.


THE STARS GROUP is a five-week earlylanguage and communication groupintervention for parents which uses

video feedback as a core element. STARS wasdeveloped in Dundee and has been deliv-ered in two Dundee early years centres todate. Working with parents and theirchildren and using a combination of directmodelling, discussion, filmed play sessionsand group shared reviews of selected videoclips, the intervention focuses on improvingcommunication between parents and theirchildren. It is a collaboration betweenDundee Educational Psychology Service,Speech and Language Therapy Service, thelibraries service, and staff and parents at twoDundee Early Years centres.

STARS was developed due to an identi-fied need in the city for early interventionfor children with delayed language,combined with a high number of missedclinic-based speech therapy appointments.The Speech and Language Therapy teamwere keen to trial an alternative community-based parent group; the educationalpsychology team and the nursery staff werekeen to promote the effectiveness of VideoInteraction Guidance as a tool to developearly communication and responsive interac-tion. Within the early years setting where thefirst group was run, there was already goodcollaboration between all three partners andso the STARS project was born.

The aim of STARS is to use the combinedskills of the speech and language therapist inproviding advice and teaching to parentsabout how to increase their child’s commu-nication and early language, and the educa-tional psychologist’s skills as a VIG guider to

increase parent skill and confidence insupporting their child’s communicationskills and to increase each child’s confidencein using their existing communication skills.This initial pilot also wished to determinewhether this group approach was an effec-tive model of parental engagement.

Format of a STARS groupSTARS is a five-session activity programmefor parents and children aged three andunder. It is introduced to parents as a speechand language group. It stands for Stories,Talk, Action, Rhymes and Song. Each sessionlasts about two hours and is split into aparent-only session followed by a groupparent-child play session.

The first introductory session introducesthe facilitators to the parents and the parentsto each other and explains the format,followed by a general discussion about theparents’ views of what communication is,and their own children’s communicationskills at the time. This session makes use of avideo of preverbal twin boys communicatingin their own ‘language’ with great use ofgesture, expression and tone of voice as afun talking point. Consent for the use ofvideo for the purposes of shared review isalso gathered at this stage.

Each subsequent session focuses onteaching vocabulary, stories, rhymes, songand play around one of four daily routines:getting ready for nursery, mealtime, bath-time, bedtime. The rationale for a routine-focus is that these are times that occur inevery family when there will be some inter-action between parents and their childrenand so opportunities to build on strengths

STARS: A video feedback-based early language and communicationinterventionShonagh Anderson, Polly Jones & Sheena Flack

will be present. It was also felt that linkingstrategies to what was already happening athome increased the likelihood that theywould be implemented. Talking aboutroutines also allows discussion aroundaspects of parenting in a non-judgementalway (e.g. the advantages of sitting around atable for meals).

Within each session parents are invited totalk about their own routines for whicheverof the four areas is the focus of the session.The group talk about strategies and vocabu-lary already used at home and the speechand language therapist introduces or rein-forces the use of approaches or skills thatsupport children’s communication. Thissection of the session is led by the speechand language therapist. It involves explicitteaching of a particular communicationstrategy each week and made use of Board-maker symbols of the relevant vocabulary.The specific strategies highlighted over thefive weeks are:n getting down to the child’s level;n making interaction fun by adding in

songs and stories;n using gesture to support verbal language;

and n looking and listening/taking conversa-

tional turns. After the parent-only ‘teaching’ and video-review session, the children join the sessionand play with their parents. The room is setup with simple toys and play areas relevant tothe routine of the week, using where possiblethings that could be found around the houseor sourced from the nursery where thesessions were being held. For example, whenthe focus is ‘bathtime’, the toys include a babybath, a doll, lots of empty containers/ andplastic bottle and a bath book, and there isalso a book-corner of age appropriate booksabout bathtimes. The books were all recom-mended and supplied by the library service.

The educational psychologist videos theplay sessions and edits them before the nextsession, at which point the edited clips areshared in the group for group feedback. Theeducational psychologist is careful to ensure

that the selected clips give positive feedbackequally to all parents and that each parenthas the same amount of ‘clip time’.

All parents receive a folder at the start ofthe group, and each week the leaders add totheir folders various resources they could useat home between sessions. These include a CDof nursery rhymes and songs made with thehelp of the library service, a simple book rele-vant to the routine for that session, and a list ofcommon routine-related Boardmaker symbolswith vocabulary, broken up into three colour-coded themes – nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Criteria for inclusion in a STARS groupInitially, the group was developed specificallyfor children with language/general delayrather than other issues, such as socialcommunication. The initial target groupwere all 2- to 3-years-old, and already opencases to speech and language therapy due todelayed language. Some were also opencases to social work due to concerns aroundthe parental care of the children. However,in the second group it was noted that evenwhen it was likely that the child did havesome degree of social communication diffi-culty or attention difficulty, the group stillhad positive outcomes for the parents’ confi-dence and responsiveness to their children’scommunication needs. The maximumgroup size is four, and identification ofparents who will get on as a group is crucialto the success of the intervention. Otherimportant considerations are:n That nursery staff and/or the Head of

Centre know about the programme sothey can explain it initially to parents in apositive light and encourage engage-ment.

n That the group has access to a separateroom, ideally within the nursery setting.

n That appropriate child care is availablefor the first half of the group.

n That the educational psychologist issensitive when editing film to ensure thateach person has a similar length of clips,and a similar number of positiveinteractions to show the group.


Shonagh Anderson, Polly Jones & Sheena Flack


n That the educational psychologist hastime protected in between sessions toedit clips.

Did STARS have an impact?Prior to the first session, baseline data on thechildren’s communication skills was gath-ered from parents and nursery staff usingthe ‘Teaching Talking’ checklist and obser-vation schedule (Locke & Beech, 2005) toidentify the levels of play, listening/under-standing and expressive skills. The TeachingTalking tool was used again at the end of thefive sessions as a follow up measure. Theteam also wanted something that couldcapture change in the parent, so as well asTeaching Talking they took feedback fromparents and staff on their views of the impactand compared parent-child interactionsfrom the first video to the last video, andnoted their own observations in eachsession. Initial evaluation at the end of thefour weeks identified:n Gains in the children’s communication

skills, as measured using TeachingTalking and staff and parent observa-tions.

n A marked difference in the parents’perception of what their children werecapable of in terms of their communi-cation. One parent said: ‘I thought hecouldn’t communicate because he wasn’tspeaking, but now I know he iscommunicating all the time.’

n An increase in parents’ confidence insupporting and developing their

children’s language and communicationskills, attention and play.

n Increased connectedness betweenparents. The parents from one grouphave since formed a close friendship andcontinue to meet despite the groupcoming to an end.

n An increase in parents’ confidence ininteracting with nursery staff.

Staff observationsVerbal feedback from the nursery HT identi-fied that the biggest difference immediatelyafter the group was in the parents’ confi-dence. One parent had managed to allowher child more independence. Another wasnow coming into the nursery and speakingto other parents, whereas previously she hadappeared very isolated. The HT noted aslight improvement in the children’s use oflanguage but the biggest difference was anincrease in their attention and focus.Nursery staff’s observations about changes inthe target children were also positive. Thesorts of things they reported included:n increased vocalisations, gesture and

communicative attempts or exchanges;n more time spent looking at books;n more positive initiatives such as smiling;n increased attention;n better eye contact;n improved ability to follow adult instruc-

tions;n interacting more with peers;n beginning to count; andn improved turn-taking.

Play and socialdevelopment

Listening/understanding Expressive skills

Skilldevelopment

Parent Nursery Parent Nursery Parent Nursery

No. of skills witha positive shift

7 7 6 4 4 0

Table 1: Findings from Teaching Talking pre-and post-evaluation, Group 1.

STARS: A video feedback-based early language and communication intervention


Shonagh Anderson, Polly Jones & Sheena Flack

Learning observations

n I’m noticing the new things my child is doingn He enjoyed playing with me so much, now he’ll come to me more in house n If I capture his attention at the right time with the right thing then I can hold itn I learned to label and link words with objects, different ways of giving the same messagen I learned how much I am in tune with my own child. How much they want to play with their mum

Video experience

n I don’t like videos usually but enjoyed it heren I liked seeing what I did on videon It [video] highlighted what I was doingn Seeing yourself do it made you want to do more of it and think of other things you can do (parent)

Experience of being in a group

n Everybody gets a turn in the group n Liked that it’s suggestions not directions/instructions from group leadersn Liked that it was on daily routines – asked what we were doing then fit inn Small number means more attention for each personn I will take away more confidencen Like to keep doing it, better than bingo!

Table 3: Parents’ comments, Group 1.

Table 2: Staff observations, Group 1.

No difference A littleimprovement

Someimprovement

A bigimprovement

Initiatives to adults

Child 1 Child 2

Initiatives to peers

Child 1Child 3

Child 2

Response to adults

Child 1Child 3

Child 2

Responses to peers

Child 1 Child 3 Child 2

Use of gesture Child 3 Child 1 Child 3 Child 2

Vocabulary Child 1 Child 2

Play Child 1 Child 3 Child 2

Interest in booksand songs

Child 1 Child 3 Child 2


STARS: A video feedback-based early language and communication intervention

Both the parents and the group leadersobserved that video was the key element inbringing about change. This finding isconsistent with many other studies into VIG(e.g. Forsyth, Kennedy & Simpson, 1995;Doria, 2011). Table 1 shows the findingsfrom the Teaching Talking pre and post forthe first group (specifically, the number ofskills rated with a positive shift post interven-tions) and Table 2 notes the changes in thechildren as noted by staff.

Parent commentsParental feedback was all positive.Comments can be divided into three themes:learning, video experience and the groupgenerally. These are summarised in Table 3.

Additional impactSome families who participated in a STARSgroup later agreed to onward referral tospeech therapy or other services that theyhad previously resisted. Parents whoattended began to discuss their own futures;for example, taking up further educationand work experience. The speech andlanguage therapist and educational psychol-ogist are now on site same day at nursery andtherefore there is increased collaboration

between them. The speech and languagetherapist and educational psychologist aremore confident in information gatheringregarding decision making for educationalplacement. There was increased workloadfor both, but increased job satisfaction. Theystated: ‘It felt like we were spending timedoing something really worthwhile.’

ConclusionThe STARS group model has been found tobe effective in increasing parents’ skill andconfidence in supporting their child’scommunication skills and also in increasingeach target child’s confidence in using theirexisting communication skills. This initialpilot also determined that group videoshared review is an effective model ofparental engagement.

Shonagh AndersonDundee Educational Psychology Service.

Polly JonesDundee Educational Psychology [email protected]

Sheena FlackSpeech Therapist.

Doria, M. (2011). Supporting vulnerable families tochange through VIG. In H. Kennedy, M. Landor& Todd (Eds.), Video Interaction Guidance: A rela-tionship based intervention to promote attunement,empathy and well-being (pp.121–133). London:Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Forsyth, P., Kennedy, H. & Simpson, R. (1995). An evaluation of Video Interaction Guidance in fami-lies and teaching situations. SOED Professional Devel-opment Initiatives, 1993–1994. Edinburgh: PublicScottish Office.

Locke, A. & Beech, M. (2005). Teaching talking (2nd ed.) Swindon: GL Assessment.


References


SIX NURSERIES (three nursery centresand three classes) participated in aVERP/literacy pilot. Six comparison

nurseries were matched to the experimentalnurseries (using the Scottish Index ofMultiple Deprivation and establishmenttype). Two adults from each experimentalestablishment received VERP training (oneday training and four group supervisionsessions) and a half-day training on devel-oping language and thinking skills throughbooks. The training took place over a threemonth period. Pre- and post-test data ofinteractive book sessions was collected in allestablishments (experimental and control).Analysis of film included, for example, howand what information is transmitted tochildren, types and patterns of adult interac-tion and adult use of open and closed ques-tions. Self-report data was also exploredthrough questionnaire and focus groups.The impact of the intervention was very posi-tive. Statistically significant results for theVERP group were found in a number ofareas (e.g. improvement in literacy contentof sessions, increase in child initiated conver-sations and in open and challenging ques-tions). Staff views were also positive aboutthe intervention; in particular, they felt theywere better able to reflect on their interac-tions and the impact their behaviour had onchildren. The research suggests that staffwere able to generalise their learning fromVERP into literacy teaching.

Evaluation of Early YearsVERP/literacy pilot BackgroundNorth Lanarkshire Council has a strongcommitment to reducing inequality andnarrowing the attainment gap. An evidence-based active literacy strategy has been oper-ating in the Council for eight years (forchildren age 5 to 12 years). Intervening earlyin an appropriate way to support emergingliteracy skills was considered to be crucial inproviding learners with the best start inlearning.

Research indicates that focusing on keyareas in literacy can produce gains for youngchildren. These areas include interventionsin the area of language (National EarlyLiteracy Panel, 2008), phonology (Snow,Burns & Griffin, 1998) and in the skills devel-oped through interactive book sessions(Weitzman & Greenberg, 2010) and homeschool partnerships (The Effective Provisionof Pre-School Education Project, 2004). Therole of the adult is considered crucial in facil-itating and scaffolding early literacy develop-ment. For example, Howe (1981) noted thatan adult is more likely to facilitate vocabularygrowth when they are willing to listen, watchand interpret the child’s behaviour, followrather than lead and show tolerance of thechild’s wrong words. Within North Lanark-shire establishments children benefit fromopportunities to engage in child directedplay. Staff were interested in exploring waysof making short group sessions child-centredand effective. Wasik (2008) suggests that in

Evaluation of a Video Enhanced ReflectivePractice/literacy early years pilot in northLanarkshire councilNancy Ferguson, Pamela Bell & Marianne McLafferty

Does Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP) improve staff skills in the Early Years sector with aparticular reference to literacy teaching behaviours?


the preschool context these type of sessionsshould be playful, engaging and tailored tothe interests of individual groups, appro-priate for the children’s developmental leveland intentionally organised (which allows theteacher to plan specific achievement goalsfor children but is flexible enough torespond to the children). It was with thesethoughts in mind that the PsychologicalService and the Quality Improvement Serviceembarked upon a literacy pilot using VERP.

InterventionA literacy/skills based training was intro-duced to six nurseries (three nursery centresand three nursery classes) in North Lanark-shire during 2013. In each establishment twomembers of staff were trained in:n VERP; andn A literacy approach titled Nurturing Young

Readers.Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) uses videoto help people understand and improve theircommunication with others. VERP is anotherstrengths-based approach, where video ofnormal daily professional activity is micro-analysed into clips demonstrating the princi-ples of attuned interaction. The focus is onwhat the professional is doing well, even ifthis is momentary or an exception to theirusual pattern. This helps them to recognisetheir emergent strengths and build on them,and to understand the impact on the otherchild/adult when they are communicatingeffectively. The approach works throughgoal-oriented, learner-led target setting andreview. Staff received one full-day trainingand three subsequent group supervisions.Each follow-up session also included a short‘teaching’ input on core areas.

A working group which comprised ofEarly Years practitioners, psychologists andliteracy development officers developed ashort literacy pack for staff. This offeredguidance on sharing books with childrenand was based on the ‘three read approach’advocated by Weitzman and Greenberg(2010). Staff from the pilot establishmentsreceived a half day training in this approach.

MethodologyOne member of staff from each of the sixVERP Early Years establishments wasinvolved in the research project along withone member of staff each from six controlestablishments. Deprivation data from NorthLanarkshire Council, based on the ScottishIndex of Multiple Deprivation, was used tomatch control and experimental establish-ments.

Book reading sessions with a small groupof children aged 3 to 5 in each nursery werefilmed with the same staff member at pre-test(March/April 2013) and post-test (June2013). Quantitative information was gath-ered from staff reflections following thevideo observations. This paper will focus onthe analysis of video footage.

Video observations were analysedfocusing on staff behaviours. Categoriesincluded: n Developing children’s emergent literacy

skills and understanding of stories(e.g. developing literacy skills, narrativestory elements, aiding comprehension).

n Question types (e.g. knowledge,inferential and literal questions).

n General adult behaviour (e.g. givinginformation and instruction, interaction,questioning, non-teaching activities).

n Strive for 5: In helping children developlanguage and conversational skillsProfessor David Dickenson suggests thatadults should receive children’s verbalinitiatives and seek to engage the child infive turns during interactions. This typeof interaction was included in theanalysis.

ResultsNon-parametric tests were used to analysethe data. Due to the small sample size, Mann-Whitney U statistic is reported only wheresignificant. Difference scores (whichmeasure the positive or negative distancebetween a pre and post score) were calcu-lated to measure whether there was a signifi-cant difference between the Active Literacyand control groups (see Table 1).

Evaluation of a Video Enhanced Reflective Practice/literacy early years pilot


Nancy Ferguson, Pamela Bell & Marianne McLafferty

Coding of general adult behaviourAnalysis of general adult behaviour revealedthat there was a decrease in reading thebook aloud and an increase in interactionfor the VERP group. The opposite trend isseen for the control group. This suggeststhat the VERP group spent more time inter-acting with children and as a result less timereading aloud. The results show a decreasein non-teaching activities in both groups;however, the decrease was more evident in

the VERP group. Furthermore, the VERPgroup spent less time ‘giving informationand instruction’ while these behaviours hadincreased post-test in the control group.Further coding was conducted to specificallyfocus on this area. No significant differenceswere found between the VERP and controlgroups for any of the totals: giving informa-tion and instruction, book reading, intera-tion or non-teaching activities.

General adult behaviour

VERP difference(post-test minus pre-test mean)

Control difference(post-test minus pre-test mean)

Significant differencebetween VERP andcontrol group scores

Giving information and instruction

–0.25 0.3 No

Book reading –0.85 0.51 No

Interaction 1.96 –0.88 No

Non–teaching activities –1.02 –0.07 No

Specific literacy behaviours

Developing literacyskills

78 –17 Yes

Narrative storyelements

64 5 No

Aiding comprehension 42 –10 Yes

Question coding

Knowledge 213 –35 Yes

Inferentialcomprehension

59 –37 Yes

Literal comprehension –1 10 No

Strive for 5 coding

Child initiatedconversations

24 –13 Yes

Table 1: Differences between pre- and post-scores.



Coding of specific literacy behavioursThis coding focused on the development ofemergent literacy skills and understandingof stories:n Developing literacy skills (includes concepts

of print, vocabulary, ‘think alouds’ andusing illustrations) – The VERP groupincreased overall in all of the individualliteracy sub-skills while the control groupdecreased. The difference between theVERP group (median=14) and thecontrol group (median=–3) wassignificant (U=.0, z=–2.611, p<0.01, one-tailed).

n Narrative story elements (includescharacter, setting, actions, problem,resolution) – An increase was evident inboth groups in this area but moremarked with the VERP group. Anincrease was seen in the VERP group onall of the individual codes with theexception of resolution which remainedthe same from pre-test to post-test. Nosignificant difference was found in thearea of narrative story elements betweenthe VERP and control group.

n Aiding Comprehension (includesprediction, inference and summarising)– The VERP group increased overall andon all of the individual codes. Thecontrol group decreased overall and in‘inference’ and remained the same frompre-test to post-test on prediction andsummarising. The difference betweenthe VERP group (median=5) and thecontrol group (median=–1) wassignificant (U=.500, z=–2.514, p<0.05,one-tailed).

Question codingAll questions asked by the Early Years staffwere noted and coded under the headingsbelow:n Knowledge (includes concepts of print,

content of book, topics related to bookand children contribute their thoughts)– The VERP group increased overall andon all of the individual literacy sub-skills,the control group decreased overall. The

difference between the VERP group(median=49) and the control group(median=–5) was significant (U=3.0,z=–1.984, p<0.05, one-tailed).

n Inferential comprehension (includes ‘why’questions, ‘feeling’ questions and‘prediction’ questions) – The VERPgroup increased overall and on each ofthe individual literacy sub-skills.The control group decreased overall andon each of the individual literacy sub-skills. The difference between the VERPgroup (median=11) and the controlgroup (median=–7) was significant (U=0,z=–2.611, p<0.01, one-tailed).

n Literal comprehension (testing questions) –The VERP group decreased and thecontrol group increased from pre-test topost-test. No significant difference wasfound in the area of literal compre-hension between the VERP and controlgroups.

Strive for 5 codingEvery time a child made a verbal initiationwhich was received then extended (using the‘Strive for 5’ criteria) the interaction wascoded. The graph shows the differencebetween the VERP and control group at pre-and post-test. The VERP group increasedand the control group decreased in totalnumber of child initiated ‘Strive for 5’conversations at post-test. The differencebetween the VERP group (median=6) andthe control group (median=–1) was signifi-cant (U=5, z=–2.530, p<0.05, one-tailed).

DiscussionThe VERP/literacy intervention has shownto have a positive impact on the behavioursof Early Years staff in all areas explored inthe research.

General adult behaviourAnalysis of general adult behaviour showed ashift in the behaviours of experimental staff.There was a decrease in non-teaching activi-ties in both groups, with the VERP groupdisplaying a greater reduction in this area.



Figure 1: Comparison of difference scores for nursery staff behaviours.

Figure 2: Comparison of difference scores for further coding.

Figure 3: Comparison of difference scores for question types.


This positive result suggests that in theexperimental groups staff spent less time, forexample, dealing with behavioural issuesand more time engaged in the literacyactivity. Time spent engaging in interactionswith children increased for the VERP group,and possibly as a result of this there was adecrease in the adult reading aloud. Theopposite trend was observed in the controlgroup. The VERP group decreased in thetime they spent giving information andinstruction compared to the control groupwho increased in this area.

Specific literacy behavioursFurther video coding was conducted toconcentrate on ‘giving information’ and‘instruction’ with specific focus on literacyteaching behaviours (i.e. developingchildren’s emergent literacy skills andunderstanding of stories). The purpose ofthis was to ascertain if a staff developmentprogramme which focused primarily onbuilding skills in attunement could alsoimprove literacy teaching behaviours. TheVERP group increased in ‘developingliteracy skills’, ‘narrative story elements’ and‘aiding comprehension’. The control groupdecreased on ‘developing literacy skills’ and‘aiding comprehension’. An increase wasseen for ‘narrative story elements’; however,

this was smaller than the increase in theVERP group. These results demonstratedthat literacy teaching behaviours could beimproved through this model of staff devel-opment.

All questions asked by nursery staff werenoted and categorised. The VERP groupincreased in the number of ‘knowledge’ and‘inferential’ comprehension questions theyposed while the control group decreased.There was a reduction of literal comprehen-sion or testing questions (e.g. ‘What colour isthis?’) by the VERP group but an increase ofthis type of question was noted in the controlgroup. These results suggests that as a resultof the intervention the VERP group askedmore open, challenging questions comparedwith the control group.

In the VERP group there was an increasein the number of child initiated ‘Strive for 5’conversations, compared to the controlgroup where there was a decrease. Thismeans that at post-test the VERP staff werereceiving more verbal initiatives than theywere at pre-test and the control staff werereceiving less of these cues at post-test. Thiscategory is very closely linked to the princi-ples of attunement and suggests that VERPparticipants were generalising their learningfrom VERP into literacy teaching.


Figure 4: Number of child-initiated conversations for active literacy and control nurseriespre and post.


Summary and next stepsThis research aimed to evaluate aVERP/literacy intervention in North Lanark-shire Council lasting three months. Thepositive results seen for the VERP/literacytrained staff are extremely encouraging,particularly considering the short time-scaleof the project. Continued implementation ofthe programme should be monitored toensure effects are lasting. Further evaluationover a longer period could focus on theimpact of the project on the children.

AcknowledgementWith thanks to Victoria Smith, Iain Walkerand Linzi McCorkell with their help with theresearch and to Miriam Landor who led theVERP training.

Dr Nancy FergusonDepute Principal Psychologist,North Lanarkshire [email protected]

Pamela BellResearch and Development Officer, North Lanarkshire Council.

Marianne McLaffertyResearch and Development Officer,North Lanarkshire Council.


ReferencesHowe, C. (1981). Acquiring language in a conversational

context. New York: Academic Press.National Early Literacy Panel (2008). Developing early

literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel.Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

Snow, C., Burns, M. & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventingreading difficulties in young children. Washington,DC: National Academy Press.

University of London Institute of Education (2004).The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education [EPPE]Project. London: Department for Education,Children & Young People.

Wasik, B. (2008). When fewer is more: Small groupsin early childhood classrooms. Early ChildhoodEducation Journal, 35(6), 515–521.

Weitzman, E. & Greenberg, J. (2010). ABC andbeyond: Building emergent literacy in early childhoodsettings. Toronto, Ontario: The Hanen Centre.


N 2004 the Highland Council Psycho-logical Service had no involvement withVideo Interaction Guidance (VIG) –

no trainees, practitioners or supervisors.How did the Service grow to currently offerInitial Training and supervision to key multi-agency workers and to run a developmentgroup which oversees projects, new initia-tives and the further development of VIGacross Highland Council?

One of the main routes into establishingVIG in Highland is to combine VIG with adiversity of existing practices and structures.This means that VIG can be integrated intomeetings, consultations and interventionswhere professionals, parents and childrenalready have a commitment. A belief that theprocesses would be effective already exists sothere is a will to invest time and energy.

Collaborative working within the ServiceThe Highland Council Psychological Serviceis a small team of educational psychologistsand pre-school teachers covering an areaalmost the size of Belgium. Staff work frombases very distant from each other. Thismight have presented as a difficulty whentrying to develop VIG in the Service.However, there had been a lot of work doneon creating a cohesive team with a strongidentity and sense of belonging. Structureslike residential development days broughtthe whole service together and built in socialtime for staff to get to know each otherbetter (Cairns & Alexander, 2013).

Initially, an educational psychologist,who was a trained supervisor, deliveredpresentations on her casework and theevidence base of VIG at these residentialdevelopment days. This showed colleagueshow helpful VIG might be, especially withthe more difficult and complex cases andthat it was part of a wider evidence-basedcontext. The social time then allowed staff toconsider how they might become trainedand use VIG in their own work. The enthu-siasm for VIG was infectious. This was rein-forced at the residential days by staff beingfilmed training and chairing meetings. VIGwas then used to develop professional prac-tice, allowing staff to experience the positiveeffects and safe challenges of VIG. Theopportunity to work closely with each otherin this positive framework developed trust inthe process and effectiveness of VIG. Thiswas then discussed with other members ofthe Service and so it grew.

Pre-school teachers’ involvementCurrently, almost all of the preschoolteachers have had VIG Initial Training andone of the team is a member of the develop-ment group. Two of the teachers havealready worked with babies and theirmothers as part of a Service VIG projectcentred around babies and vulnerablemothers. The preschool team is moving itsemphasis towards working with babies andmothers where there are concerns aboutattachment. VIG will form an importantintervention in this future role. Key findings

This article outlines how Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is being developed in a Service by meshing itwith existing practices and structures. VIG is used along with dynamic assessment and solution focusedapproaches in meetings, counselling and consultation. The collaborative working within the Service is usedto allow VIG to flourish.

Establishing Video Interaction Guidance in a psychological serviceShiona Alexander & Heather Sked

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from a review of studies done by the Depart-ment for Children, Schools and Families(Barlow & Schrader-MacMillan, 2010) indi-cate that targeted early interventions that areaimed at increasing parental sensitivity andpromoting attachment are effective inpreventing emotional maltreatment.

Introducing VIG into the work of thepreschool team took time and was a gradualprocess. As well as being part of the residen-tial days, pre-school teachers work in thesame offices as psychologists so there isopportunity for professional discussion. Forexample, following an informal discussion apreschool teacher and educational psycho-logist decided to work together to try tosupport Tom and his mother.

Case study – TomTom was referred to psychological servicewhen he was 3 years 2 months by Speech andLanguage Therapy because of delays in alldevelopmental areas and very challengingbehaviour. The preschool home visitingteacher was seeing Tom regularly but therewere continuing problems in nursery andhome.

When Tom was 4 years 3 months a jointhome visit was arranged to discuss ideas tohelp, one of which was to film Allison, Tom’smother, for VIG. Allison was extremely reluc-tant so it was agreed the preschool teacherwould be filmed teaching Tom and Allisoncould join the shared review if she wanted.This gentle modelling approach meant thatAllison could see what was involved and inparticular the positive effect of VIG and thesafety of the shared understanding involved.Allison then agreed to VIG. The preschoolteacher decided to become trained in VIGand has now almost finished Phase 1 of thetraining.

When Tom moved on to Primary One,his school sought assistance from theService on how to meet Tom’s needs. VIGwas proposed again, this time focusing onthe pupil support assistant who workedclosely with Tom. Allison was very supportiveof this idea, having experienced VIG herself.

The VIG cycle highlighted strengths in theinteractions between the pupil support assis-tant and Tom. The pupil support assistantfound the process helpful and was happy forthe film clips to be used as training resourcefor other staff working with Tom at that time.

Solution focused approachesSolution focused working is central to thework of the Service and is part of the missionstatement. Solution focused meetings are acrucial part of the development of ChildPlans and are important in organising thesupport given by agencies to support familiesand children.

Highland has developed a distinctivestructure for its multi-agency solutionfocused meetings (Alexander & Sked, 2010).These meetings often allow creative solu-tions where the situation is complex and adiverse range of strategies have already beentried. As part of an action plan from this typeof solution focused meeting it was agreedthat a Feedforward (Dowrick, 1991, 1999) orself-review film might help a 10-year-old boy,Brian, who was struggling in mainstream.

Case study – BrianSchool staff explained how they felt they had‘reached their limit’ with Brian. Theydescribed him as aggressive, distractible andnon-compliant. He was socially isolated inclass and the class teacher felt his class usedhim as a scapegoat and held him in poorregard.

The class were filmed during a taskdemanding co-operation and negotiation.With a little editing there were many exam-ples of Brian helping other pupils, answeringthe teacher and moving seat to actively joinhis group and be more included. Before theFeedforward film was shown to Brian theclass teacher and psychologist discussedshowing the film to the whole class. It was feltthis might highlight Brian as a helpful pupiland challenge his reputation. The film wasshown to the whole class with the teacherpresent. The shared review with the wholeclass identified individuals being co-opera-


Shiona Alexander & Heather Sked


tive and helpful with as subtle as possible anemphasis on Brian. This worked exception-ally well with a sense of a shift in the class’sattitude to Brian and Brian asking for thefilm to be shown again. An individual sharedreview was then done with Brian. The filmwas left with the class for future review.

The hope was that given this positive shiftin reputation, Brian’s behaviour in classwould also improve. Banerjee and Watling(2005) had found that rejected pupils wereseen as significantly less co-operative and lessas a leader by peers and teachers. Peer rejec-tion led to decreases in prosocial behaviour,suggesting rejected children may be caughtin a vicious cycle whereby rejection limitsacquisition of social skills which in turnpredicts more rejection.

Case study – JamesHaving filmed a dynamic assessment of a 6-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome the solu-tion focused meeting structure was used bythe VIG trained educational psychologist torun a shared review. The film clips wereprojected for the parents and multi-agencygroup to watch and identify positives. This wasa very familiar format for staff and parents.This emphasis on what was working helped tobring together everyone who was workingwith the pupil where previously there hadbeen disagreement. An action plan waswritten up from this discussion on a flipchart,which is a well rehearsed process within theCouncil. This led to significant changes toteaching approaches used with James. Theschool were pleased with the outcomes andwent on to seek a further cycle of VIG to

support James’ transition to his next class, as ameans to highlight and then share successfulstrategies for working with James.

Conclusion Developing the use of VIG in Highland tooktime using several different approaches.Case and research evidence presentations,casual discussions, attaching to existingtrusted practices, joint working, modellingand support from management allcontributed to its success.

VIG trainees within the Service arequickly included in the wider VIG commu-nity by encouragement to attend networkdays and conferences. This builds the under-standing that there is a national and interna-tional context of support, help and research,including an online community.

It was useful to acknowledge VIG was notfor everyone and accept colleagues may startand then drop out. This understandinghelped the initial few to persevere and notbe discouraged. Commitment and enthu-siasm from only a few practitioners was key tothe development of VIG in Highland.

Authors’ noteAll names of service users have beenchanged to protect their identity.

Shiona AlexanderHighland Council Psychological [email protected]

Heather SkedHighland Council Psychological [email protected]

Establishing Video Interaction Guidance in a psychological service

Alexander, S. & Sked, H. (2010). The development ofsolution focused multi-agency meetings in apsychological service. Educational Psychology inPractice, 26(3).

Banerjee, R.,& Watling, D. (2005). Report on theBrighton & Hove Children’s Social Behaviour Project.Brighton: University of Sussex.

Barlow, J. & Schrader MacMillan, A. (2010). Safe-guarding Children from Emotional Maltreatment:What Works. London; Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Cairns, B. & Alexander, S. (2013). Developing acreative and effective psychological service.Educational Psychology in Scotland, 14(1).

Dowrick, P.W. (1991). Practical guide to using video inbehavioural sciences. New York: Wiley.

Dowrick, P.W. (1999). A review of self-modelling andrelated interventions. Applied and PreventativePsychology, 8(1), 23–39.

References


N 2006 I was working as a maingradeeducational psychologist in a small servicein Scotland when I was introduced to

Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) andinvited to undertake the training. Initially,I was attracted by the underlying principleswhich resonated very strongly with my ownphilosophies and training as an educationalpsychologist at the University of Exeter.n People wish to communicate.n People in troubled situations do want to

change.n People really do care about each other.n Everybody is doing the best that they can at the

time.n A crisis is an opportunity to change.n The power for change resides within the

individual or situation itself.(VIGuk Video Interaction Guidance GuiderHandbook 2006, Phase 1–3, unpublished)

I made a tentative beginning, mainlybecause using a video camera, editing andmovie making were all new skills. My firstinterventions were with parents who wantedto improve their relationships with theirchild/children and foster child. Thisresonates with the initial goals of VIG/VHT(video home training) when first introducedin The Netherlands by Harrie Biemans(Biemans, 1990; cited in Kennedy, H.,Landor, M. & Todd, L., 2011).

The initial training in VIG is a gradualprogression of skills: gradually honing skillsin taking and editing film and choosing clipswith the overall aim of activating clients tofind their own solutions to the difficultiesthat they are having; sharing the short clipsof film of positive interaction in a ‘shared

review’ of film. This is further described byKennedy, Landor and Todd (2011). Thetraining is in three stages leading to qualifi-cation as an independent practitioner(www.videointeractionguidance.net).

Over the course of the three stages oftraining, I explored different ways of usingVIG within my professional practice, in thefinal stage concentrating mainly on staffdevelopment, and reflective practice forschool staff.

Throughout the training it is a require-ment that trainee guiders (as VIG traineesare termed) take video of themselves to taketo supervision with a trained supervisor or atrainee supervisor and that they apply theprinciples of attuned interaction andcommunication to themselves. I had hadsome training in ‘active listening’ on myMEd course, but I have to say that the VIGmodel really homed in on my own develop-ment, alongside that of the clients to whomI was providing this intervention.

The power of the method to change thelives of parents and children, teachers andstudents, even in my relatively inexperiencedhands, was a real motivating factor for me.

In 2008, the opportunity arose for a moveto England as a Senior Practitioner Educa-tional Psychologist Early Years. I stronglyadvocated using VIG in my new role. VIG wasan unknown quantity in this part of the UKand I saw it as somewhat of a professionaldevelopment objective, something of amission, to progress and grow the model.

I was also strongly supportive of the Scot-tish model of five roles for educationalpsychologists (Scottish Executive, 2002a);although not statutory in England, this

From Scotland and back again: An educational psychologist’s journeyusing Video Interaction GuidanceMaureen Granger

I

nevertheless was a model that I continued tohold in mind. I felt that educationalpsychology practice in England was some-what biased towards assessment. This may besomewhat of a generalisation, but wascertainly my perception in my new service.There really seemed to be a need for inter-vention and a model such as VIG. Others,encouragingly, shared this vision and withina few months had signed up to be trained inVIG. I was now a trainer and embarked uponthe next stage of my VIG journey. I took onfour trainees: two educational psychologists(one of whom was using VIG in her doctoralthesis) and two early years practitioners.

The momentum continued as each ofthese trainees progressed through thetraining and used VIG in their own profes-sional practice. I also continued to use VIGin my own Early Years role, ideally placed tooffer the intervention to troubled familiesand to support practitioners. This early inter-vention using VIG has more recently beenrecognised in the NICE guidelines (NICE,2012) as an evidence-based intervention forall those involved in promoting social andemotional well-being in young children.

The interest continued to grow and thefirst VIG initial training course within thecounty was set up in 2009. I was able to assistwith but not lead this training and was fortu-nate to be supported by Hilary Kennedy.

This course trained a further eightpeople. They found out about VIG throughhearing about it at multidisciplinary trainingand through short presentations that myselfand the other trainees put together toexplain the method. The short presenta-tions, wherever possible, included managers.They often did not themselves choose to dothe training, but understood the methodand commitment needed for their staff to betrained. This meant that the people signingup to come on the initial training courseswere voluntary participants and not coerced

or ‘put forward by others’ who believed theyshould do the training. This voluntary atten-dance at the training has always been animportant aspect for me. The training andwork with VIG is time consuming, especiallyinitially, when learning the skills for themodel to be effective, and is most successfulwhen the underlying principles resonatewith professional and personal philosophies,as I indicated was the case for myself too atthe beginning of this VIG journey.

The first initial training and the foursubsequent training courses that resultedfrom the (now more widespread) knowledgeof the effectiveness of the model also had anincreasingly multi-agency participation.A further aim was to develop the use of VIGwith the ‘front line services’ who provideddirect support to families being really wellplaced to integrate VIG into their own prac-tice. Trainees from CAHMS and other healthservices, social care and education are nowtrainees and practitioners. At the time ofwriting, a dedicated VIG service is plannedto continue to target the most vulnerablefamilies.

Recently moved back to Scotland andsemi-retired, I have been fortunate to meetup with a small group of ‘like-minded’ VIGsupervisors, all of whom wish to continue topromote and use VIG as a professional andpersonal interest. This group aims to followthe principles and practice outlined in thisarticle and to promote the use of VIGthrough short presentations whereverpossible, including to managers. The groupmembers are all supervisors on the AVIGukregister (www.videointeractionguidance.net).Please contact author if you would like moredetails.

Maureen GrangerAVIG [email protected]


From Scotland and back again


Maureen Granger

ReferencesKennedy, H., Landor, M. & Todd, L. (2011). Video

Interaction Guidance: A relationship-based interven-tion to promote attunement, empathy And well-being.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.


Scottish Executive (2002a). Review of Provision ofEducational Psychology Serves in Scotland (the Curriereport). Edinburgh: Scottish Government.


N 2001 the Scottish Government set upPost-School Psychological Services (PSPS),(MacKay & Hellier, 2009; Hellier, 2009),

which has since become mainstreamed forthe profession and publications concerningtransition now include the post school stage(e.g. Arnold & Baker, 2012). Inter-agencyworking with organisations such as theCareers Services (now Skills DevelopmentScotland) are now relevant to the entireprofession.

In 2003, following demonstration pilotactivity undertaken by PSPS in one CareersScotland team, the possibility of adaptingvideo interaction training for key careersworkers within the planned national strategyto set up peer support to promote profes-sional reflective practice (SPP) was negoti-ated at strategic level. The phrase VideoEnhanced Communication (VEC) wascoined for the purpose (anticipating VideoEnhanced Reflective Practice (VERP)).

Process of training developmentSpecification included a clarification of thepurposes of supervision and a distinctionbetween roles relative to peer support andmanagement, given that two inclusionmanagers were involved in SPP. At theoutset, it was important to create a structurethat was able to deliver VEC across a widegeographic area to staff at a similar level oftraining and understanding. VEC wasoffered to individuals for tailored personaldevelopment, but within the context of smallgroups based in regional areas. Themanagers worked in a separate sub-group

reflecting on management goals of casesupervision.

VEC training aimed to provide a meta-cognitive framework as a means to under-stand and use the processes of communi-cation in order to realise goals of peersupport (or staff management). It provided aframework for reflection and planning usingfour key principles, focusing on initiativesand reception, interaction and co-operation,developing discussion and managingresolving conflict. It allowed for up to fourindividual supervisions undertaken within agroup of six trainees, each person takingbrief video clips of communication/interac-tion in either supervision (or separatemanagement) sessions. These were thenreviewed in the light of specific goals in anindividual’s sessions – working points identi-fied from the previous session were consid-ered in analysing the tapes. New workingpoints were then identified for focus of thenext clips. Peer support was included in thegroup process of training, as each individualsession involved colleagues undergoingtraining. This included opportunities forgroup comment and discussion, as well as asummary of strengths and working pointsidentified in discussion, written by a desig-nated member of the group. The aim was toamplify experiences and reinforce learningthrough group activity.

VEC was delivered to two cohortsbetween 2005 and 2007 as part of capacitybuilding. Subsequent support was deliveredthrough a national VEC support group,which continued to run for a further four

Adapting a model of delivery of VideoInteraction Guidance to suit organisationsbeyond the normal boundaries ofchild/parent/educatorCyril Hellier

I

years despite considerable organisationalchange of management and restructuring.In all, 22 members of staff were involved. Sixsessions were completed by each participant,including a final day to bring groupstogether to reflect on distance travelledusing individual presentations. Thesesummary sessions showcased within theorganisation the process and outcomes.Both baseline and distance travelled self-evaluation questionnaires were used.

Results of evaluationInitial concerns about using personal videoclips were quickly overcome, as the value ofthe training became apparent:

‘After being anxious, I became quite naturaland confident.’‘…extremely helpful, in a non-threatening wayto be able to reflect upon my practice.’

Combined feedback from the staff trainedwas very positive, the framework and experi-ence of training being seen as accessible,reinforcing and operationalising previousexperience and training. Overall it became‘a reference to deepen understanding andskills’:

‘A useful reminder of ‘forgotten’ skills, to helprevisit issues discussed in previous trainingand undertake further development.’

It was seen as being tailored to each partici-pant’s starting point(s) and goals, stimu-lating reflective practice. Value was seen inevidencing positive relationships, identifyingworking points for individual progressionand developing communication ‘choices’ torealise goals as a supervisor or a manager.It was described as ‘creative self supervision’:

‘Being able to see what was actually going on,assisted tremendously in improving mypractice.’

Significant perceived improvement wasreported. All saw value in continuation ofVEC, on some basis, to periodically reviewpractice or reflect upon a difficult situation.Self-awareness was seen to be raisedregarding use of humour and empathy incommunication; being attentive andattuned; pacing, giving thinking time for

reflection; asking good questions basedupon the formation of opinions about whata supervisee was saying; turn taking andreflecting back; and addressing conflict.Developing strengths in communicationacknowledged were clearly related to thisraised awareness. In addition, confidence,assertiveness and motivation were reportedas being raised. Recurring issues includedthe need to ensure that goals were actuallyowned by supervisees (a person-centredapproach); taking a positive solution focusedstrategy; becoming better at receiving andreflecting; and developing ‘advancedempathy skills’. A significant theme was thedevelopment of understanding the processof communication in peer supervision inorder to better address actual issues andcontent.

Improved skills and working pointsAs a result of VEC training, improving skillswere seen to include:n acknowledging feelings through sensitive

questioning and naming;n listening and checking for under-

standing;n improving structure of supervision

sessions (e.g. clarifying purposes atoutset);

n improving pacing through reflectingback/summarising;

n using a range of strategies/choices; andn advanced empathy and non-directive

solution finding.Individual working points identifiedincluded:n relaxing and slowing down to better tune

into underlying feelings rather thancontent;

n focusing on peer supervisees’ issues andtheir solutions; and

n developing strategies to ‘cut into stories’rather than join in the story.

Supporting decision making throughcreating ownership of actions agreed in asupervision session was a central theme – theidea of ‘punctuation’, making turns for your-self rather than allowing streams of expres-


Cyril Hellier

sion; becoming less directive and moreempowering through assertiveness in asupportive way; seeking to facilitate actionplanning through summarising key issuesand reflection. Offering suggestions as ques-tions to encourage reflection was seen to bea good way of bringing this about, whenprevious strategies included failure to helppositive action planning or over-direction.

Group processThe group process created was reported tohave worked well, being ‘very powerful’,promoting peer interaction to share practiceand each other’s context, building positiveindividual learning for everyone in thegroups. Further, the written summary ofstrengths and working points for each indi-vidual was reported to help plan action andtrack progress – the benefits of not having totake notes whilst reflecting on personal inter-action, viewed on video, were evident to all:

‘It provided assistance to identify clear workingpoints.’

Other benefits of the group processincluded reduction in any sense of personalisolation, the building of wider confidenceand competence in communication skillswith other colleagues and clients. Given thediversity in individual communication styles,highlighting best practice where it existedand making contrasts explicit were also seenas valuable. It was apparent that the widerange of experiences reported by partici-pants, along with the issues reflected by overthirty supervisees on video, indicatedstrengths and weaknesses in the organisation– in effect acting as a large fly on the wall!

National Video EnhancedCommunication networkThe possibility of setting up a network toreflect upon practice and review periodicvideo clips was raised. The suggestion of anetwork for Careers Scotland VEC supervi-sors (‘facilitators’) who took on a role tocascade was made as a way to help roll out astrategy. In addition, the need to create aseparate process to consider proposals for

management was recognised. A nationalnetwork to share the experience of applyingpeer support and maintain and furtherpromote skills in attuned interaction andguidance was subsequently implemented.This was an important step to sustainprevious input and take up of training. Inpractice, three meetings a year attended bythose previously trained but open to otherkey workers delivering peer supervision wastimetabled. Its aims included:n maintenance/development of attune-

ment principles in practice;n continuing personal support and

supervision within a peer group setting;n facilitation of the SPP strategy, reflecting

on ongoing practice (sampled in filmclips);

n contributing to potential roll out of VECacross the organisation; and

n linking developments to solution-focusedtraining (another PSPS strand).

This network, still meeting up to the timethat PSPS strategic officers completed theircontracts in 2011, provided opportunity toshare reflection on common issues, arisingin video clips brought for review. Over theperiod of delivery of training and running ofa national network, the organisation under-went three national reorganisations and‘downsizing’ involving staff reduction/redundancy/early retirement. Over fouryears the network membership remainedremarkably stable and numerous issues wereraised. Themes from ongoing reviewincluded the value of such activity within theorganisation. Examples included:n the importance of making and taking

time to reflect;n the relatively high quality of supervision

and support provided by the network, incontrast to that available elsewhere;

n the wide relevance of the themes andissue raised; and

n the potential value to a wider range ofcolleagues working with young peopleand adults, including those in Job CentrePlus.


Adapting a model of delivery of Video Interaction Guidance

Further identified was the personal impactof a network that used video reflection forclose self-monitoring and sharing ofcommon issues. The process of reflection onpractice, arising from providing peersupport across the organisation, generatedpowerful insights into significant issuesincluding:n feelings of being bullied in the work

place;n uncertainty about personal effectiveness

at work;n difficulties in facing personal (health,

mental health) challenges; andn undertaking new positions/challenges in

the workplace.Cairns and Alexander (2013) suggestfocusing on well-being of team members tomaintain morale in challenging times –something seen as good practice by externalevaluation. It is surprising that the idea ofapplying something the profession of educa-tional psychology is well placed to supportwidely – namely, health and well-being(Hellier, 2008) – to educational psycholo-gists or colleagues, has taken so long to bewritten about and acknowledged.

Finally, client specific issues were acommon theme raised, often associated withkey workers questioning their competencein meeting needs of particular groups,including:n developmental levels (e.g. profound

disability with little or no previousexperience);

n teenagers (when used more to adults);and

n clients over-identified with (e.g. ‘she isjust like my sister’).

Strong feelings were expressed involvingshock, lack of preparation, inexperience,inadequacy and lack of perspective. Whatwas clear was the value to participants of theprocess of reflection and support.Frequently, the ‘safe’ group process helpedto correct overly negative thoughts associ-ated with tape content. Despite relativelyhigh levels of training of participants, the

general view was that there was no opportu-nity to self-reflect on actual practice untilVEC appeared.

Reflections and conclusionsIt is important to note that existing struc-tures were in place to discuss the widerpicture of potential input to national organ-isations from educational psychology, whichwere used to raise the relevance of VEC workto adapt to suit the priorities of the organisa-tion. Furthermore, the proposal to deliversuch training was based upon two previousyears of pilot training, previously evaluatedand summarised. Without this, considerableproactive promotion/marketing with knowl-edge of the organisation’s current prioritieswould have been required.

Overall VERP-style training focused onclear organisational objectives was wellreceived by all participating, allowing forindividual growth and development. It wasseen to complement the organisation’sprofessional peer support strategy. Uponcompletion, the need for ongoing supportand supervision seeking to apply the strategywas high on the agenda for all. Moreover, therelevance of professional skill raising toclient-facing workers and consequentlyclients was evident.

The group process created to suit theorganisation was seen to add value to indi-vidual development. It also helped tonormalise what was seen initially as chal-lenging training (self-reflection on film).This perceived benefit was continued infeedback from the national network whichcontinued in the face of considerable organ-isational change and upheaval. Currentthoughts about developing VERP training inScotland could well take account of thisexperience.

Please contact the author for more detail,data and appendices.

Cyril HellierAVIG [email protected]


Cyril Hellier


Adapting a model of delivery of Video Interaction Guidance

ReferencesArnold, C. & Baker, T. (2012). Transition from school

to work: Applying psychology to ‘NEET’. Educational & Child Psychology, 29(3), 67–80.

Cairns, B. & Alexander, S. (2013). Developing acreative and effective psychological service.Educational Psychology in Scotland, 14(1), 7–11.

Hellier, C. (2005). Interim Report: Support for Profes-sional Practice – Video Enhanced Communication(VEC). CPD delivered by Post-School Psycho-logical Services (PSPS) to key workers andmanagers in Careers Scotland.

Hellier, C. (2008). Health and well-being policies –A shared responsibility: Educational psycholo-gists adding value. Introduction to ‘How caneducational psychology support the emotionalwell-being strand of the curriculum for excel-lence?’. Professional development programme.Cited in Professional Development Programme:Summary of projects 2010 (p.6). Edinburgh: Associ-ation of Scottish Principal Educational Psycholo-gists. Available from:www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/PDPSummary2010_tcm4-629069.pdf

Hellier, C. (2009). Developing post-school psycho-logical services in Scotland – Fit for purpose.Educational & Child Psychology, 26(1), 22–31.

MacKay, T. & Hellier, C. (2009). Editorial. Educational& Child Psychology, 26(1) 5–7.


DUCATIONAL Psychology Services inScotland have been highly flexible inadapting to the various challenges

emerging in education. Most now promote aconsultation model and are embracing jointworking within a GIRFEC framework. Withthe Curriculum for Excellence we see newopportunities to work creatively in partner-ship with parents and teachers, and we arevery well placed to participate in the moveaway from the medicalisation of childhoodwhich is so relevant at this time within theBritish Psychological Society.

In Glasgow City Council, we have foundthat Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) issupporting us in many of these changes. Thismay seem a somewhat bold statement. Afterall VIG has long been established in educa-tional psychology in Scotland and seen oftenas a fairly labour-intensive intervention forfamilies or in schools. In fact we have foundthat by embedding it in key processes, theprinciples, structure and adaptability of themodel is far-reaching in its impact.

Year 1As Glasgow made a move toward moreconsultation, the feedback from stake-holders was that individual work was stillvalued, and to promote targeted involve-ment, a Therapeutic Intervention Service(TIS) was created using the skills andtraining present within the Service as well asidentifying a time-line to train others andbecome more independent from providers.Glasgow’s TIS included VIG (in addition toEMDR and CBT).

In analysing previous studies which iden-tified barriers to a TIS (Atkinson & Bragg,

2012) key developments were targeted:management support, the visibility of theService, embedding it in staged intervention,ensuring protected time and providingregular feedback on impact were all keyelements in the first year. TIS reported regu-larly to members of the management whothen discussed it in SMT meetings. Proposalswere made formally and taken to this forum,leaflets were created and short presentationswere provided at staged intervention meet-ings with stakeholders, where referrals weregenerated. Feedback on the impact of theService was provided regularly throughoutits development via accessible newsletterformats and in a more formal report formatwithin a nine-month period to capturemomentum.

The time allocation model was adaptedto allow more flexibility, top-slicing the timeto schools to ring-fence time to be dedicatedto such a Service with a projected allocationto each Learning Community made basedon their Scottish Index of Multiple Depriva-tion (SIMD). EPs in TIS committed one halfday a week to develop their skills and imple-ment the work.

Quickly it became apparent that VIGallowed for both the ‘micro’ in the form of aTIS but that it had the potential for a more‘macro’ implementation in larger schoolsystems. In partnership with the ScottishGovernment, our Glasgow schools wereidentifying key ‘Promoting Positive Behav-iour’ (PPB) interventions from thosepromoted nationally. In Glasgow VIG andanother systemic intervention (PATHS) wereadded as options. As with all of these PPBs,Glasgow EPs started all training events with a

Getting started with VIG in anEducational Psychology Service andmaking it last!Fiona Williams

E

summary of Implementation Science (IS)and the need for partners to consider thekey factors of management support, usingthe existing workforce, providing effectivetraining, allowing time to establish new prac-tice (with a coaching model where possible)and creating a robust feedback loop (Kelly &Perkins, 2013).

While the establishment of VIG in TISand in the PPB initiatives happened concur-rently and from a ‘needs led’ model, it wasnot lost on us that its success in beingembedded was due to the very factors of ISthat we were promoting to schools.

EvaluationThere was never any doubt that VIG wouldbe a successful intervention; it is nowincluded in three different NICE guidanceand has a robust evidence base (Kennedy,Landor & Todd, 2011). What was importantto establish was whether it was ‘Glaswegianenough’! IS allows us to keep the integrity ofthe model but evaluate implementation,reflect on any changes required and adapt itsuse. The strengths in coaching promoted byIS fitted well with the VIG model. In our firstyear we had consulted with our ResearchConsultancy Group about evaluation andwere pleased to see that outcomes in allaspects were highly positive. In fact all of theTIS interventions showed statistically positivechange for the client, the difference withVIG being that it was clear that the diversityof referrals was greater (parents with Englishas an additional language, parents with addi-tional support needs), it allowed for a widervariation in clients (teachers, young people,mums, dads often becoming involvedwithout being targeted) and due to the verystructured supervision and expectation ofbriefness, it seemed as though EPs werecompleting more work than in other TIs.

Year 2In entering this year, new challenges for theService had emerged. As staffing became anissue for so many authorities we tried tothink even more creatively. The EP role in

assessment and the placement process waschanging significantly and as EPs embracedthis move there was also the inevitableanxiety about changing practice and forsome a feeling of disempowerment.

At the same time we were proactivelyfacilitating a partnership model forchildren’s service development that recog-nised strengths and service gaps. Schoolsstruggling with inclusion and CfE werelooking to us for help with capacity buildingand opportunities with colleagues in socialwork and health were emerging aroundengaging more effectively with our everconcerning Looked After children.

Was VIG ‘fancy work’ which needed to bejettisoned in favour of real core work? In factVIG started to help us in all of these chal-lenges. A highly adaptable methodology, itsevidence base allowed us to promote it withall partner agencies, to offer to develop anevent to introduce its principles to Glasgow’sChildren’s Services, to offer the potential ofscoping for training across agencies, and toevidence its effectiveness through our robustevaluation of the referrals made through ourmulti-disciplinary staged interventionforums, often for families involved in allservices. In fact our developing under-standing of IS and Evidence Based Practice(EBP) allowed us to support and reflect withthese other services on their EBP and soimprove joint working and general imple-mentation of interventions across Glasgowthrough various working groups.

In re-focusing our work as a Service,managers stated to stakeholders that in thecontext of a consultation model, direct workwith families and listening to children wouldbe key factors in our work. TIS no longerbecame a ‘bespoke’ part of our Service withits own referral route but became a key partof all EP work. As EPs valued VIG they wereable to participate in the tight coachingframework that had been put in place and beaccredited. Eighteen EPs were now involvedand as we had projected in our first year,three Trainee Supervisors emerged and wereavailable to take on new Trainees. Two


TitleGetting started with VIG in an Educational Psychology Service and making it last!


Author name

‘Initial Training Courses’ were scheduledeach year with an IS discussion ensuring thatonly those committing to supervisionattended, three accreditation events eachyear were also scheduled to support motiva-tion and a three year plan was generated inconsultation with a AVIG National Super-visor Partner to ensure Quality Assurance.

ConclusionsAs the methodology’s use has expanded,with approximately 30 professionals usingVIG, we needed to ensure that stakeholdersunderstood its purpose so facilitated aconference on VIG with two hundred dele-gates attending. We also wanted to explorewidening its use, distributing a Surveymonkey address with a series of questionsabout readiness. From these results, animplementation Seminar will allow respon-ders to explore how they can prepare thecontext, for example, embedding it in theirSchool Improvement Plan for the yearahead.

Surprisingly perhaps, VIG skills havebecome embedded in EP practice, with EPswho have used the method rigorously forone year working with approximately threecases simultaneously, entirely of their ownvolition. Instead of looking for cases for thepurposes of training, it has become instru-mental in them completing their day-to-daywork.

As EPs have progressed to Stage 3 of VIG,creative use of VERP emerged and fitted wellwith the capacity building/coaching modelthat we were trying to develop with partners.It was linked with ‘Precision Teaching’;Speech, Language and Communicationteaching; Child Development Officertraining and Residential Children Unit stafftraining.

Another development as EPs committedto VIG was that the time they gave to it didnot increase. As EPs became Trainee Super-visors, they moved much of the time theyused for intervention to supervision and theytook over supervising new EPs, allowing themodel to continually expand.

Finally, we are now using the BPS Discus-sion Paper ‘Technique is not enough, A framework for ensuring that evidence-based parenting programmes are sociallyinclusive’ (2012) to look at contributing tothe Social Capital of the parents workingwith us and to include them in a referencegroup for the expansion. Our hope is toinvite parent graduates of VIG to a parentVERP and CPD certified course, allowingthem to take their own films and learn moreabout interaction and its benefits.

In conclusion, embedding VIG effectivelyhas led to it being expanded as a core skillfor Glasgow EPs supporting them withchange and demonstrating targeted andtangible impact to our stakeholders. It hascontributed to the reputation of the Serviceand to the GIRFEC agenda of effective jointworking, demonstrating to our workforceand others the effectiveness of the robust useof Implementation Science. But most impor-tantly, VIG makes a difference to the lives ofchildren and their families in Glasgow and asmore of us are able to use it, more familiesand children benefit.

Fiona WilliamsGlasgow Educational Psychology Service. [email protected]

ReferencesAtkinson, C. & Bragg, J. (2012). Educational Psycholo-

gists and therapeutic intervention: Enabling effectivepractice. University of Manchester.

Kennedy, H., Landor, M. & Todd, L. (2011). VideoInteraction Guidance: A relationship-based interven-tion. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Kelly, B. & Perkins, D. (2013). Handbook of implemen-tation of science for psychology in education.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fiona Williams


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© The British Psychological Society 2014Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No 229642

1 PrefaceMiriam Landor

2 IntroductionHilary Kennedy

9 What is Video Interaction Guidance(VIG)? What is Video EnhancedReflective Practice (VERP)?Miriam Landor

10 Sensitive guidance to encourageshared ‘zest for learning’Colwyn Trevarthen

14 The origin of VIG in the UK: An introduction to the journeyRaymond Simpson

19 Video Interaction Guidance inDundee: Multi-agency workingPenny Forsyth

23 Distance no object!Miriam Landor, Korina Hatzinikolaou &Stephanie Satariano

29 VIG as a tool for building confidenceand professional development in school support staffFionna Shaw & Isabel Martland

33 Video Enhanced Reflective Practice(VERP): Lessons from Sweden –personal account of a study tripMiriam Landor

37 The Baby Project: A test of changeusing Video Interaction Guidance withnew mothers and babiesHeather Sked & Kirstie McClatchey

41 STARS: A video feedback-based early language and communicationinterventionShonagh Anderson, Polly Jones &Sheena Flack

46 Evaluation of a Video EnhancedReflective Practice/literacy early yearspilot in north Lanarkshire councilNancy Ferguson, Pamela Bell &Marianne McLafferty

53 Establishing Video InteractionGuidance in a psychological serviceShiona Alexander & Heather Sked

56 From Scotland and back again: An educational psychologist’s journey using Video Interaction GuidanceMaureen Granger

59 Adapting a model of delivery of Video Interaction Guidance to suitorganisations beyond the normalboundaries of child/parent/educatorCyril Hellier

64 Getting started with VIG in anEducational Psychology Service andmaking it last!Fiona Williams

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