Background: Active support (AS) was developed to help staff organise and deliver practical support for meaningful client engagement in everyday activities. Both the amount and momentary effectiveness of staff support for client engagement have been found to increase following AS training. Training typically consists of a combination of workshops and onsite coaching sessions. To date, onsite training procedures have not been described or evaluated independently of AS workshops. Method: An onsite training procedure used in AS--interactive training (IT)--was evaluated independently of AS workshops through direct observation of staff and client behaviour. Staff views were canvassed via a questionnaire. Results: Following interactive training, staff assistance and client engagement increased. Staff views on the experience were positive. Conclusions: Results from this preliminary study suggest that further research on the effectiveness of interactive training is warranted. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)