Thank you to researcher Sarah Hayward for this blog.  She describes using Talking Mats in an innovative way to explore how collaborative partnerships may work in AAC, from the perspective of caregivers and SLTs.

Using Talking Mats within a creative participatory research framework with parents and Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) to explore collaborative practice in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). 

The mission statement of Talking Mats is to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties by increasing their capacity to think about, and communicate effectively about, things that matter to them. A few of us in the Talking Mats Research Network are interested in exploring whether the use of Talking Mats can enhance the capacity of different participant groups to articulate their thoughts on a topic of interest to those with communication difficulties. In the research discussed here, the participants were caregivers and professionals rather than individuals with disclosed communication difficulties. 

Workshops  

Talking Mats were used throughout a set of workshops conducted using Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods. PAR is a co-learning research process between communities and researchers which involves problem identification, action and reflection, leading to further inquiry and action for change (Chambers 1994; Kindon et al. 2007; Chevalier and Buckles 2013). The workshops were carried out as part of my PhD project, which aims to develop resources to improve collaboration between SLTs and caregivers of children who may benefit from AAC. Ten workshops took place across England; six with SLTs facilitated by me and two art student research assistants, and four parent workshops facilitated in a co-research partnership between myself and Joanna Holmes, a parent of an AAC user. These workshops involved a total of 20 SLTs and 25 parents.  

Creative methods 

We used a variety of creative methods such as clay modelling and drawing in this research. Art can be used as a tool for encouraging engagement in a research topic, promoting freedom of expression, reducing language barriers within multicultural communities and supporting those with literacy challenges. Art can also stimulate new thought about a topic of interest and help to articulate ideas in a fresh way. The use of Talking Mats as a visual framework to enhance thinking and communication integrated well with these creative methods.  

The Talking Mat 

A large group Talking Mat was used to visualise and discuss the ideas shared by our groups of participants. Traditional Talking Mats elements included the identification of the topic for discussion (collaborative relationships) and the use of a Top Scale, in this case, what improves the collaborative relationship (working well), what makes things worse (not working well) or is neutral. We used a set of shared pictures that were selected from printed and online resources ahead of the main set of workshops by a group of SLTs and parents. All participants were encouraged to engage with the set of shared pictures as per the photo response research method. Unlike a traditional Talking Mat, these pictures were not labelled to represent concepts or activities, instead participants could provide their own labels to indicate what each image meant to them. In addition to the shared pictures, participants produced their own drawings, clay models and post-it notes to represent their own ideas about collaboration. These were also added to the Talking Mat. This echoes the traditional part of the Talking Mat process where the Thinker is asked whether they have ‘anything else’ to add. At the end of the workshops, the pictures, drawings and models were placed onto the large group Talking Mat. Discussions about the meaning and the placement of the created items took place between participants and researchers. Objects and pictures could be moved within the Mat in response to discussion. Photographs of each Mat and audio recordings of the workshops were taken as a record for analysis.   

Within the Talking Mats Research Network, some discussion has taken place about how to analyse the data developed from these non-typical uses of Talking Mats, such as the group method presented here. Our group Talking Mats were analysed qualitatively to identify themes relating to collaboration as presented by the participants.  

Sarah Hayward

Acknowledgments: Joanna Holmes

This research was carried out as part of Sarah Hayward’s PhD supported by a studentship from The University College London, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership (Ubel-dtp), an ESRC funded organisation ES/P000592/1.  

Sarah’s PhD is supervised by Professor Steven Bloch, Dr Daniel Hayes & Dr Michael Clarke.