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At a recent training someone brought an excellent DVD example of a child with a stammer using Talking Mats. Interestingly, the child was able to chat about her views on school with almost complete fluency. Is there something about using the mat that takes the pressure off direct face to face communication?

Does anyone else have any examples to share?

Joan spent an interesting 2 days in Paris last week running a follow–up day for participants who had been trained in Talking Mats in November 2011.

  • Finding out what a young man with cerebral palsy feels about his social networks (this led to an improvement of his understanding of the purpose of his communication with different people).
  • Exploring why a young woman with complex needs objects to going to hospital appointments (the mats and subsequent submats helped her to understand why she needs these appointments).
  • Using Talking Mats to help 2 young women who get upset with each other in a day centre (the conclusion was to use a group mat with several young people to help them see each other’s point of view about communication).

Jane Macer joined Joan for the second day when they ran a full Talking Mats training course. One of the most challenging aspects of the day was to find the correct wording in French to allow participants to use open questions. We are very grateful to Marielle, who is following this up with the participants.

Awards
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