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Speech presented at the launch of new Talking Mats Resources
Hello everyone, my name is Greig McMurchie and I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you all here today. If I look familiar it may be because you recognised me from the original talking mat video, where I had a cameo appearance with the lovely Joan murphy of course that was over ten years ago, and back then I was much younger and better looking. Joan however is still as lovely as the day I met her.
As you can see, I have been involve in talking mats for many years now, ever since Joan asked me to help her trial a new communication system, that she and her colleague Lois had been developing. My initial thoughts were wow, this sounds really complicated and I was a little bit scared. But I had known Joan since I was little and I really wanted to see what this new Communication system was all about.
When Joan came to visit me at that Dundas day center, all those years ago, all my fear quickly disappeared, it was really easy. I was able to have my say, and because it was visual I could change my mind also. I began using talking mats to share my views, opinions and wishes, and before long this system was helping me to make life Changing decisions, such as what I wanted to do with my life once I had finished my college course. In fact you could argue that I am where I am today because of talking mats. And I like to say I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Anyway, that was away back then, and times have move on. About four weeks ago Joan and Lois came to Upper Sprinlands to visit me, and of course show me their wonderful bran new talking mats app. My initial thoughts were this sound fantastic, and when they arrived we had a wee chart and they explained what they had been doing.
I don’t know about everyone else, but when I was a kid a tablet was something you took if you were not feeling too well, an android was a character from a computer game and an apple was something you gave to your teacher to butter them up if you forgot to do your homework. But today all this modern technology is making it easy for everyone to engage creating doorways to all kinds of wonderful stuff. And boy can I say this new talking mats app is all kinds of wonderful.
So after we chatted I got to have a wee play with the new app, I couldn’t believe how easy it was, you were able to just move the pictures around and place them were you want them on the screen. The New picture sets are fantastic, they are bright colourful and easy to understand. I also like the way you can enlarge the picture to make it easier to see. And of course the fact that it come already to use. You can even take a photograph and send it to yourself by email. No more printing, cutting out and Velcroing, no more hunting for the camera only to realize the batteries are flat and you can’t use it anyway. Everything is just nicely packaged. And the fact that it can be used not only on an Ipad but also on a computer makes it even more accessible.
Dare I say I personally felt the new App for me was even easier than the old system; it is quicker, fun and very cool? Now I just need to persuade Upper springland to Purchase a copy or twelve.
Thank you talking Mats
(Speech at the Launch of the New Talking Mats Resources )
Cathy Harris Chair of Communication Matters has written this short blog for us
‘It was great to have the Talking Mats team in the exhibition at the Communication Matters Conference this year. We had nearly 400 delegates gathering at Leeds University. The combination of a new venue with excellent accommodation and food combined with the wide ranging programme and exhibition has resulted in us being able to being able to deliver a high quality experience of which we are proud. We are very appreciative of the time which is given in preparation and attendance.
The exhibition, plenary and keynotes are always key to the success of the programme. Paul Maynard MP spoke on the importance to keep lobbying for better services and funding for all people who can benefit from using AAC. Visit www.communicationmatters.org.uk for photos, updates and information about the conference.’
The picture shows Cathy presenting the first ever Alan Martin memorial award to Barry Smith
If you are interested in communication difficulties and want to make sure you are keep abreast of the latest developments in Alternative and Augmentative Communication ( AA C) them make sure you book a place at the conference in Sept 2014 .
On Thursday 12th September Talking Mats we had a great evening as we launched:
- First version of Digital Talking Mats
- New Children and Young People’s resource
- New Health and Well-being resource
- New symbols
- New website
Over 80 people attended the event which took place at the beautiful Stirling College Campus. The speakers gave funny and heart warming short talks about their involvement with Talking Mats.
We were honoured to have Greig McMurchie and Anne McGuire MP to do the official ribbon pulling launch.
Kirsty and Joan demonstrated how to use the app and after this guests mingled and explored the app and the new website.
One of the things I love about Talking Mats is that it can be used by all agencies. When thinking about the rationale behind GIRFEC the main focus is to encourage professionals to work together. It is so refreshing to have a resource that is recognised and used across the agencies.
It is not necessary to have written reports with names of assessments or measures that are a mystery to each other. Talking Mats uses visuals to capture feelings and views. The reporting of those views can be understood by children, parents and professionals.
In developing our new resource we listened and responded to a wide range of professionals. We have researched the Well-being indicators and have provided a tool to give an overview of the issues in the lives of children and young people.
Our vision is to provide a tool to listen to and capture children’s voices. We have a responsibility to be open and realistic about how we respond to what they tell us. Taking time to listen means we need to take time to respond.
We hope that Talking Mats will improve understanding throughout the whole GIRFEC team as we seek to get to the heart of what matters to the child. Margo Mackay
(more…)
Although we are working very hard on developing our app; delivering new products using our new symbols and developing our new website we are not forgetting the need to look after our Customers. As a result Talking Mats is looking hard at how to improve out interaction with our customers and contacts.
To this end we are trialling some new software that should help us all keep up to date with your enquiries and requests. We hope that this will keep us on the ball in all our areas of work from Consulting, to Research, to Training and Products. When the changes come you should not notice any difference, just that you are well served.
Theme 1 from Talking Mats Seminar: How do we vary the top scale?
One of the key skills in using Talking Mats is getting the top scale to reflect the question that you are asking and to be consistent.
WRITE IT DOWN SO YOU CAN STICK TO IT!
The following range of 3 point top scales have been suggested:
like – unsure – dislike
managing – need some help – not managing
very important – quite important – not important
really good at – getting better at – not good at
want – sometimes want – don’t want
calm – unsure – anxious
can do it myself – need a little help – need a lot of help
very easy – quite easy – hard
It was suggested that a way of dealing with a negative topic such as ‘anxiety’ or ‘pain’ was to use a quantitative top scale such as:
a little – some – a lot
Or you could ask what strategies make your pain
better – stays the same – worse
In some situations where the person has an acquired disability, it may be best to do 2 mats, one about liking and another about managing. It was suggested that adapting the mid point to reflect potential loss of skills might be useful:
like – like but can’t do it now – don’t like it
More recently we have found that the following wording works very well for lots of people and situations:
going well – sometimes – not going well
We are about to launch a digital version of Talking Mats which uses our brand new images, specially designed by a leading comic artist. We are currently in the testing phase to check how it is received by different client groups and professionals and to iron out any glitches.
We are planning to launch a free taster version first.
Following this there will be a Lite version with 2 full symbols sets ( £5.99) and then a subscription model with many more symbols sets and lots of additional functionality. It will also be available for Android.
The final version will be launched on 12th September.
If you would like to be kept informed of this exciting development please send an email to info@talkingmats.com
I want to go on holiday on my own!
At a recent training Jenn Hall who is a Personalisation Development Worker, told the story of her first use of Talking Mats. She used it with a woman that she has known for some time to discuss her views about her going on holiday. The lady is in her forties and has Downs Syndrome. As she came to the people symbol she looked at it for ages and then placed it in the middle column explaining that she wanted to go on holiday on her own and visit her brother who lives in Spain without her parents. she had never been supported to do this and it was what she really wanted to do. She also put the food in the middle column explaining that it was hard to understand the menus when she was abroad and that she wanted to learn a few basic words in Spanish. Jenn said that the Talking Mats really enabled the lady to express what she wanted not just go along with the status quo and for those around her to appreciate and understand her views . The Talking Mats has supported discussion with the family to enable this lady’s wish to come true . Hopefully she will have her first successful holiday with her brother visiting him all by herself.
Talking Mats has been working with Survivor Scotland. They are the organisation that oversees the National Strategy for Survivors of childhood abuse in Scotland. They have focused their work on a whole range of people but recognise the incidence of abuse within Learning disability is very high and that people with a learning disability often don’t have the resources or skills to tell their story and get the support they require. Survivor Scotland are anxious to address this and develop appropriate resources for this group of people.
.In our current project with Survivor Scotland we have developed 3 sets of Talking Mats that would allow conversations to be had with people with a learning disability. These sets were developed from a previous project that had been conducted in NHS Fife;‘the 6D Cards’ and with the input of staff experienced and skilled in working with survivors of abuse. The sets cover general issues but within those issues, patterns of concern may emerge that would allow people to discuss concerns further.
We then ran 3 training courses. These courses gave participants space to think about disclosure, encouraged them to become trauma aware and built their confidence in supporting and dealing with disclosure. Specific training in Talking Mats was also provided. The training was run jointly with Kingdom abuse Survivors Project, Survivor Scotland and ourselves and was funded by the Scottish Government
The 3 courses have now finished and 40 people have been trained in the resource. They came from all over Scotland from the Western Isles to the Borders and represented a range of professions working with people with a learning disability and with an interest in preventing abuse in learning disabilities: therapists, nurses, social workers, consultants, advocates They will use this resource in their practice and it will be evaluated later in the summer
There were 3 trainers from Sweden
Who thought Stirling was a bit like Eden
When Friday at 3 o clock
They got a positive chock
Went home with Scots beer and a Tm agreement
We have great respect for our Swedish trainees who come here do a full 2 day course in English and can then write a Limerick at the end of it . What a great group of trainees we had . Sally and I really enjoyed working with you all
