The Talking Mats Team have been funded by the Scottish Government to adapt the CARE Measure to make it accessible for children and to examine if the Paediatric CARE Measure (PCM) can be used to gain the views of children or parents attending AHP services. It is a patient-centred measure of relational empathy. It measures patients’ experiences of the interpersonal aspects of clinical encounters. It is recommended that the PCM is used by all Paediatric Allied Health Professions as standard practice. This should be supported by AHP Child Health Leads and will inform the self-assessment component of recommendation 5.6 in the AHP National Delivery Plan and will be integral in the development of the AHP Children’s Services Plan (Recommendation 4.1).

For information about the research project which was carried out to establish the feasibility, reliability and validity of the PCM please click on the following links:

Paediatric CARE Measure – Phase 2 Final Report

Paediatric CARE measure – Phase 2 Summary

For copies of the AHP guidance, PCM forms and information sheets please click below

Paediatric CARE Measure

Karen did a talking mat with her 5 year old daughter about what she wanted from Santa. She gave her a selection of options and Tamara put the 4 she wanted most under the thumbs up symbol. She put some in the middle and some she didn’t want. However when Karen asked Tamara if she wanted to change anything she had got wise and shifted everything to the thumbs up side!

Don’t think Santa will agree!!

We are delighted that Margo Mackay has joined the Talking Mats Team and will be focusing on extending the work of Talking Mats in education.

She has just completed a research project, funded by NHS Forth Valley, which examined whether using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) can be usefully combined with Talking Mats to provide a practical framework for decision making and target setting.

The project found that Talking Mats, when combined with ICF-CY, is a powerful tool with the potential to greatly enhance the nature of partnerships between pupils, parents and professionals.

For a copy of the full report please click here

For a copy of the executive summary please click here

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.

What an exciting week!

On Tuesday Sally Boa joined the Team in a more permanent role as our Senior Associate. She will be working with us for 2 days a week and will allow us to develop some of the new ideas we are planning including new resources, new consultancy and new research. She has already brought fresh insights and excitement to the office.

On Wednesday we interviewed for the companies to develop new symbols for us and also the digital version of Talking Mats for tablet devices. We are honoured to have such high quality applicants.

On Thursday Lois and I were training staff from Aberdeenshire Council Social Services. We had a great day with a very positive and enthusiastic group of participants – loads of new ideas.

Also on Thursday we were thrilled to hear that Talking Mats has won the Award for the Best Start-up Social Enterprise in Scotland! This means lots of new support and connections and also puts us through to the UK finals in London on 12th November. Our whole team plan to attend the official ceremony at the Scottish Parliament on 13th November to celebrate.

NHS Education Scotland Allied Health Profession (AHP) education strategy 2011-14 recognised that there needs to be a real and sustained emphasis on making communication skills even better. As part of that they were keen to support staff to reflect and improve their skills. Working through Communication Forum Scotland, Capability Scotland and Talking Mats were tasked with working with people who had communication difficulties to develop a resource that would impact on staff, allow for reflection, personal  and clinical development . So on a wet and wild January day in 2012 the group was formed and over the next 2 months, through 3 workshops this diverse group of 20 people shared their ideas for how they want to be treated by health staff . These ideas were turned into 10 visions and then they told stories of the experiences in health settings some good, some not so good and some dreadful. We employed a film maker to capture these stories, developed some questions and collected some useful web resources to signpost people to. The web resource is a powerful tool for anyone wanting to think about the impact of communication in health interactions.  As one recent user of the resource said   ‘I applaud all the individuals who have so kindly taken the time to share their experiences of how communication difficulties impact on everyday life.   The extent of isolation,  lack of respect and sheer frustration is palpable from their reflection of their experiences, as is their determination to positively use these experiences to educate other people in the practicalities of good communication to prevent any other individuals with communication difficulties from suffering.’ So please use the resource to support your work  http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/allied-health-professions/about-nes-ahp/resources-and-publications/making-communication-even-better.aspx  . The only thing we would ask is that you give us feedback by filling in the evaluation form

Yesterday Lois attended a ‘Long Term Conditions Alliance’ event in Glasgow where she highlighted the fact that many people with a range of long term conditions need communication support to self manage their conditions. She pointed people to the excellent NES funded resource Making Communication Even Better.

Yesterday morning Joan attended a 3 hour Twitter course so we are getting geared up to embrace it!!

This morning we were notified that we are through to the final of the Scottish Enterprise awards for the best start-up Social Enterprise.

This afternoon we met with the Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson, at the Scottish Parliament.  We had a very useful meeting where we explained and discussed our work. The Minister was particularly interested in the way Talking Mats could be used in early intervention across a range of conditions.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring??….

Well … the next day brought news that we have been voted as finalists in the UK Social Enterprise Awards 2012.  We must be doing something right

Talking Mats wishes to develop its training , products and consultancy in the education market and is seeking a further Talking Mats associate based in their office in Stirling . It is a 2 day a week post funded for a year. If you are interested  and think you have the relevant skills and experience then please email info@talkingmats.com This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  requesting the job spec. Once you have received the job spec and you feel that you are interested then please send a CV and a covering letter outlining how you meet the job specification by 9a.m on Wednesday 3rd of October . The interviews will be held on Wednesday the 10th October in the afternoon.

Involving young people in making decisions that affect their education can be both challenging and time consuming. Margo Mackay has just completed a research project, funded by NHS Forth Valley, which examined whether using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) can be usefully combined with Talking Mats to provide a practical framework for decision making and target setting. It tested whether:

1. combining Talking Mats and the ICF-CY framework was acceptable to secondary pupils with complex needs, and
2. using the information obtained from them is helpful in setting targets for their Individual Education Plans

The project found that Talking Mats, when combined with ICF-CY, is a powerful tool with the potential to greatly enhance the nature of partnerships between pupils, parents and professionals.