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We are all looking forward to celebrating Talking Mats is 21 on the 15th August
The morning is aimed at people who are experienced Talking Mats practitioners and will extend thinking and Talking Mats practice. There are an interesting range of parallel sessions to choose from. Each participant will get to choose three topics to attend.
- Talking Mats as a Thinking Tool
- Embedding Talking Mats in Schools
- Talking Mats in Forensic Settings
- Talking Mats in End of Life Care
- My experience of using Talking Mats as a parent
- Talking Mats and Positive behaviour Support
- Talking Mats and Supported Decision- Making
- Empowering people with Learning Disabilities to be Talking Mats Listeners and Trainers
- Talking Mats and Children’s Mental Health
The afternoon is more informal and there will be an opportunity to engage with some of our partners – see how they use Talking Mats and try things out . There will be posters on the use of Talking Mats in lots of different places and for a wide range of applications.
Plus there will be lunch, cake and a few bubbles !
Thanks to funding from NHS Forth Valley endowment committee the event is free but you do need to book your space https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talking-mats-is-21-tickets-62362171935
You can come to the morning only, afternoon only or come for the whole day.
If you can’t come to our event watch out for out blogs and social media celebrating the reach of Talking Mats for 21 days before the 15th of August .Please join in with your contributions using the hashtag #TMis21. For 21 days after our event we will be having a special Birthday offer! Watch this space, more to follow …….
Many thanks to Joan Murphy, our Talking Mats Founder, for this great blog sharing Jeppe Forchhammer’s thoughts about the importance of social communication – communicating ‘offline’ – for AAC users:
I met Jeppe Forchhammer at the 2019 ISAAC Conference in Denmark. We had an interesting conversation about the importance of social communication for AAC users and he kindly sent me this presentation and gave me permission to write a blog about his views.
Here are a few quotes from Jeppe but it is well worth reading his whole presentation
We have reached a time where communication systems become more and more electronic. I have noticed that children who need AAC ie augmented and alternative communication are starting more and more early. This I would like to question! In this lecture I will try to explain, why I think it is better to teach the children to use their body first. In order first to get direct communication relation to another person.
I think it is most important for an AAC user first to learn to interact with another person face to face. This is of course important for all infants in particular if they don’t have a spoken language. I think the eyes begins naturally to take over and the baby begin to communicate. At least I began to observe what happened around me using my eyes by watching things around me. In this way I began early to take contact with people around me.
I am afraid that AAC users in the future will lose some of their abilities to communicate with their body or facial expression. Especially if one starts too early. I think there is a risk that the child get blinkers and we have the risk that the child will be introvert. This might give the child some social problems if it doesn´t learn to use and read the body.
We must remember that a good relation is created face to face and not through a Speech Generating Device.
If they only communicate through their speech generating computer they may miss the face to face communication.
Many thanks to Jeppe for his thoughtful and stimulating comments.
If you would like to contact him, please email jeppeforchhammer@gmail.com
The importance of social and non-verbal communication is highlighted in our Talking Mats training courses. If you are interested in accessing this training take a look at our options here – https://www.talkingmats.com/training/
In this latest blog, our Talking Mats OT Associate, Rachel Woolcomb tells us how Talking Mats can support delivery of Personalised Care:
“Person centred practice”, and “partnership approach” are common phrases heard in health and social care settings but what does this really mean in practice?
How good are we at ensuring our service users are truly heard, and given opportunities to talk about what is important to them?
Recently NHS England set out their ambitions for the delivery of personalised care. This is a commitment to enabling people to have the same choice and control over their mental and physical health that they have come to expect in every other part of their life.
This however requires a shift in culture.
One of the cornerstones of personalised care is shared decision making. This is a collaborative process in which people are supported to understand the options available to them including the various risks, benefits and consequences. A shared decision will have acknowledged personal preferences, circumstances, values and beliefs. This ensures that when a choice is made it is fully informed.
There is substantial literature which demonstrates the usefulness of goal setting as part of the communication and decision making process.
A well written person-centred goal will describe the anticipated achievement of a specific activity. It will be meaningful and help create a common vision within the rehabilitation process.
Talking Mats is an ideal tool to help facilitate these processes. They enable better conversations and provide an interactive thinking space. They have also been demonstrated to be a useful tool in enabling people to think about their rehabilitation goals.
Read more about this in the TMOT Resource 2: How Talking Mats can help facilitate shared decision making and goal setting: Goal setting TMOT 2
If you would like to find out more about the different Talking Mats training options we offer, take a look here: https://www.talkingmats.com/training/
Get involved in choosing a Communication Access UK Symbol , and set the standards to go with it!
In early 2017 Communication Matters[1] found out that –
- People with communication difficulties don’t always get the support they need in the community.
- People would like a Communication Access symbol in the UK. Businesses already use some symbols e.g
A small group of people were asked to choose a symbol to represent Communication Access. 2 ideas were very popular. For an organisation to display this communication symbol it will mean the staff have been trained to support communication and that the business meets certain standards
Communication Matters now want to hear from more people, with and without communication difficulties.
To have your say about 1) the symbol and 2) the standards to support communication follow this link. http://www.talkingmats.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Communication-Access-UK-Symbols-and-Standards.pdf You will find the symbol choice and a Talking Mat to decide what is important to include in the Communication Access Standards. Send your responses to Communication Matters
Email : admin@communicationmatters.org.uk
Or post : Communication Matters, 3rd Floor, University House, University of Leeds, LEEDS, LS2 9DF
[1] http://www.communicationmatters.org.uk/
We are delighted to be travelling to Australia and New Zealand in May 17 and look forward to the opportunities the trip gives us to discuss Talking Mats in these countries.
Firstly, we are pleased to have been invited over to Australia to be involved in the Agosci Communication Conference in Melbourne from the 18-21 May 2017. Agosci is an inclusive organisation that supports the participation of all people with complex communication needs. The theme of this conference asks participants to involve people with complex communication needs in all aspects of life to create a more welcoming society for people with communication support needs.
Lois and Nicki will be attending for Talking Mats and their involvement at the conference includes
- A one day pre – Agosci conference Foundation training for professionals in Melbourne
- 2 presentations – one on the potential use of Talking Mats in National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and one on our current Keeping Safe project
- A poster on using Talking Mats in Eating and Drinking
- A stand which will run throughout the conference and where we can and meet and chat to delegates
In addition prior to the conference we are running
- A one day Foundation training in Sydney for Hammond Care
New Zealand
Plus we are really pleased to have linked with the Talk Link trust in New Zealand and will be visiting both Christchurch and Auckland and running foundation courses in both those places. New Zealand can be proud of their world record of electing Robert Martin in June 2016 to become the first person with an intellectual disability to serve on the UN committee dealing with people with disabilities. It feels a privilege going to a country which is providing such leadership in self-determination.
Train the trainers
We fly back to Melbourne and run a two day Accredited Training in St Kilda’s Melbourne for Australian and New Zealand professionals previously trained in the use of Talking Mats via our online course. This course will allow them to train others within their respective organisations. By providing our accredited training and ‘training the trainers’ we are facilitating the increased use of Talking Mats in Australia and New Zealand . This increases professional skills, improves the quality of the service being provided and most importantly improves the quality of life of the person with the communication difficulty by assisting them to express their views.
So a busy schedule but exciting and we hope to have some time off to relax and enjoy new sites and a different culture. There will be more blogs to follow……… Plus if anyone has any top tips for coping with long distance flights we would like you to share them!
Talking Mat would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas
2106 has certainly been a busy year for us at Talking Mats. We have seen some staff changes saying goodbye to Jill hall and welcoming Morag Crawford. We were delighted when we brought Kirsty onto our staff . Kirsty originally volunteered with us as part of a school transition programme for people with autism. Laura Holmes joined us as a Talking Mats external associate for the North West of England.
If you are interested in what we do and want to see our activity in numbers then have a look at the Talking Mats Year in numbers . Click on image to see the enlarge ! 
At the moment we are busy preparing for 2017 and we are looking forward to
- The evaluation of our following projects in The New Year
- The National Involvement Network on our partnership with ARC Scotland
- Our programme of service wide training with Central London Community health
2 Continuing to work with
- Patient Opinion
- The Alliance Self-management digital project
- Colleagues in Germany
3 Launching more resources
- Keeping Safe- so far this resource has only been available to people working with people with learning disability in Scotland. We will be holding a specialist seminar about this resource in London on the 17th March so its use can extend south of the border .
- Launching our conversation sets: gardens, holidays, trips out, sports indoor, sports outdoor and football. These were developed as part of the family training for people with dementia but they have much wider use and will be available as additional Talking mats sets
Plus Talking Mat is planning to go to Australia in May!
Nicki and Lois have their flights booked. Agosci here we come ! Then we are over to New Zealand to run foundation training in Christchurch and Auckland before we head back to Melbourne to run the first ever accredited training course in Australia. We will also be running a specialist seminar on Keeping Safe in Melbourne. If you want any details about the trip please get in touch.
We really appreciate all the support we get from everyone involved in Talking Mats and wish you all a happy and peaceful festive season
Delighted to introduce you to ‘The Communication Game’ : a board game for staff to improve their communication skills.
How we listen, talk and engage with people is fundamental to the quality and effectiveness of health and social care services. Although communication underpins everything we do in a work context, it can be a difficult topic for staff to talk easily about. Add to that the possibility of service users having an additional communication support need, through reasons like stroke, learning disability or dementia, then there is much potential for things to go awry and unfortunately, they often do. ‘Poor communication’ is cited as the most common cause of frustration in complaints about services.
The Communication Game was developed by Focus Games, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and Talking Mats. It is a learning tool to help staff working in the health & social care sector increase their knowledge and skills around communication. The Communication Game is fun and easy to play. It can be played with or without a facilitator, and allows staff groups to have discussions and reflect on their communication skills. It allows them the chance to learn from each other. It will improve knowledge, but more importantly enable them to think about the small steps they can make to improve their interactions.
The project grew out of two previous projects funded by NES: Making Communication Even Better and Through a Different Door. In these projects, it was recognised that the experience of services for people with a communication support need is something of a lottery. For them, there was a considerable difference in the experience of interacting with a staff member who was empathetic and able adapt to their communication, to interacting with a member of staff who was struggling and unable to adapt their interaction. Training and understanding of inclusive communication practice is key. It has been a great privilege for Talking Mats to continue to support the work of the previous 2 projects and work with Focus Games Ltd to develop The Communication Game. Support during the development process from the Stroke Association Scotland, Capability Scotland, RCSLT, Scottish Care, Communication Forum, Queen Margaret University and NHS Ayrshire & Arran SLT Department have been invaluable, and we are very grateful; also to NHS Education for Scotland for their continued input and funding.
If you are working with staff in the health and social care sector, then this will be a great resource for you. You can get The Communication Game from the Focus Games online shop. It is guaranteed to promote laughter learning, and a touch of competitive team spirit. Most importantly, it will be a catalyst to help develop staff communication, making interactions better for people with communication support needs.
You can find out more about the game at www.communicationgame.co.uk
, and follow the game on Twitter on @Comm_Game.
Get your copy at www.focusgames.com.
We are very grateful to Kristine Pedersen from Kommunikationscentret in Denmark for sharing the findings of 2 projects with us. The first project found Talking Mats was effective in supporting communication for people who have dementia when compared with both unstructured and structured conversations.
‘t is important to know how to give people with dementia the right support’
At Kommunikationscentret in Hillerød (Denmark), we have been using the Talking Mats framework since our first trainer was accredited at the Talking Mats Centre, University of Stirling in 2010. We have been using Talking Mats with both children and adults across a range of communication difficulties e.g. caused by Aphasia, Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, learning difficulties etc. Inspired by the important research project by Dr. Joan Murphy and others ‘Decision making with people with dementia’ (2010), our next step was to gain our own experience within the framework specifically aimed towards people with dementia.
As in the rest of the world, the number of people in Denmark with dementia is increasing. Symptoms of dementia vary from person to person but many of the symptoms are related to communication: Difficulties finding words, using familiar words repeatedly, losing track in conversation, difficulties in focusing and paying attention etc. The growing dependence of the person with dementia on a caregiver makes communication essential to express wishes and needs. Therefore, it makes sense to look at the consequences of the illness (dementia) within the perspective of communication and how family members and professionals around the person with dementia can support communication using AAC.
The purpose of the first project was to compare the communication in conversations about views on I) Daily activities and II) The importance of information, using three different communication methods. The methods were: 1) unstructured conversation 2) structured conversation 3) the Talking Mats framework. The project involved 6 participants having early to moderate stage dementia, all living in residential care homes.
Like the study ‘Decision making with people with dementia’ (2010), the report concludes that the Talking Mats method was associated with better communication for the majority of the participants. The Talking Mats framework was found especially helpful regarding the participant’s ability to understand subject and question of the conversation, the participant’s ability to reflect, and the participant’s ability to make themselves understood. The graph below shows that only one participant (A1) did not benefit from the visual method. She had poor eyesight, which strongly indicates that visual support compensates the difficulties that people with dementia have.
The report also concludes that the Talking Mats framework increases the interviewer’s ability to detect and compensate for some of the communication difficulties. Finally, it seemed that several of the participants have been able to learn how to use Talking Mats in the process.
The photo underneath shows a Talking Mat conversation from the project. This Talking Mat gives an insight into how this person feels about what information is important to her, and what isn’t. It is in some way a difficult and abstract question, but most of the participants managed to both understand, reflect and answer the question when we used the Talking Mats framework.
Important information to this participant is information about new neighbours, the menu at the residential care home, economy etc. Less important is news about the Danish royal family, technology, getting older etc. Politics is definitely not important to her.
At the end of a recent training session, we asked the trainees to tell us how they planned to use Talking Mats as part of their work. Their comments were as follows:
- This tool will be useful in helping some residents make decisions, informed choices and express their needs. It will take time for some residents to feel confident in using this tool.
- I’d like to use it with some residents to be able to adapt Talking Mats more to their understanding.
- I’d like to use this tool for resident’s reviews to find out what the residents likes/dislikes are.
- Talking Mats will be great for service evaluation.
- Talking Mats will be great for asking residents about things they want to do.
- Updating Care Plans regularly from outcomes of Talking Mats.
- It can be used to get to know people’s needs and wishes more.
- Share the findings with colleagues and joint services.
- Hopefully through its use I’ll learn to pass it onto others.
- A gardening set. Service evaluation and well-being assessing stress levels/anxiety/emotional state?
- I’d use it to promote choices of activities.
- Care Inspectorate forms. Finding out how people enjoy time at the service and how to improve on it.
Can you let us know how you use Talking Mats as part of your work?
As part of the Right to Speak initiative Talking Mats was funded to develop ‘Promoting Inclusion and Participation’: an online learning resource for staff working with children and young people who use Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC). We have been delighted to work with NHS Education Scotland on developing this free resource and also have really enjoyed working in partnership with the learning and development consultancy: Forum Interactive.
The complexity of care for children and young people who use Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) is multifaceted. Ensuring that goals are centred on the young person and family’s needs is a constant challenge to practitioners. There are several resources that focus on developing the technical skills of developing AAC but there is a scarcity of resources that focus on the impact of AAC on the child’s day to day life.
Promoting Inclusion and Participation is based on an earlier project which determined the key indicators of a quality AAC service from the perspective of AAC users and their families.
Promoting Inclusion and Participation uses the following frameworks to help practitioners structure their decision making:
- International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – Children and Young People (ICF-CY)
- Janice Light’s Communicative Competencies (2014)
- GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) wellbeing indicators
These are brought to life in a series of DVD vignettes which tell the stories from the perspective of the child, their families and schools. It poses the practitioners’ questions that allow them to reflect on the impact of AAC on the child’s day to day life. The resource is designed to be used for group discussion. The feedback from the expert practitioners that reviewed the material suggest that the DVD and resulting questions can enable AAC practitioners to have a rich discussion about best practice and how to time educational and therapeutic input to achieve holistic outcomes.
This on-line resource will help practitioners:
- Understand the role that collaboration and involvement play in delivering wellbeing outcomes for children who use AAC.
- Apply a holistic approach and outcomes focused approach to assessment, implementation and review which places the child at the centre.
- Recognise that as the child develops and changes, so the level of different team member’s involvement will ebb and flow.
Download the resource here. It takes a little time to download so be patient !
We would be delighted to receive feedback of how it is being used.
Ref
Light J , Mcnaughton D, Communicative Competence for Individuals who require Augmentative and Alternative Communication: A New Definition for a New Era of Communication? Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2014; 30(1): 1–18
