In 1989 the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Research Unit was established at the University of Stirling. It is an inter-disciplinary team involving speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, psychologists, sociologists and linguists. Although our work was originally concerned with the communication of people with cerebral palsy, we are now involved with people with different disabilities, both congenital and acquired.

We place a great deal of emphasis on producing practical outcomes from our projects.

Talking Mats was originally developed by Joan in a research project 1998. The use of Talking mats spans the globe from countries as diverse as India, USA, Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa and Spain.

Since its first conception, research involving Talking Mats has now extended into work with young offenders, children with social and emotional difficulties, people considering alternative ways of eating and drinking, vulnerable children and adults, and most recently, dementia.

Please note the symbols that we use appear here courtesy of Mayer-Johnson Copyright © 2006 Mayer-Johnson

Click here to go to the AAC website