This post is about the importance of the Talking Mats blog and how it can be used as a rich resource of information for anyone interested in communication. One of the first ‘tasks’ that I was asked to do after starting my new job at Talking Mats was to create and give a presentation to an international audience of trainees at our most recent course for Accredited Trainers. I had only been in post for 2 weeks and I was also a trainee on the course, so the pressure was on!

The main aims of the presentation was to promote the Talking Mats Blog as a source of rich information which is accessible to anyone, that Accredited Trainers can use it in their own training courses, and also to encourage Accredited Trainers to write their own blog posts to describe how they use Talking Mats in their working and personal lives.

I wanted to try and make the presentation look a bit more dynamic than the usual ‘death by PowerPoint’ that can sometimes occur after a whole day of looking at slides! I decided to use Prezi, “a cloud-based  presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas”, as I’d had good feedback about it when I had used it in the past and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to roll it out again. You can see the completed presentation here.

When the day came to give the presentation, I wasn’t feeling on top form after having flu for a few days previously. Because of this my memories of it are rather hazy (which isn’t good for the purposes of writing a blog about the presentation!) but from what I’ve heard, apart from looking ill, I managed to get my points across without confusing (or frightening) the audience!

It was a fantastic opportunity to take part in the Accredited Training course and to hear the stories of all the trainees who are dedicated to using Talking Mats to improve the lives of the people they help on a daily basis.

I’ve also just found out that the team at Talking Mats have been blogging for 4 years, so get reading!

What are social care outcomes and how do we measure them? The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) was developed over a number of years as a way of measuring user views on their social care. The ASCOT has been developed by researchers at PSSRU, University of Kent http://www.pssru.ac.uk/ascot/index.php

 There are eight domains of ‘social care-related quality of life’ included in the ASCOT. These include:

• Control over daily life
• Personal cleanliness and comfort
• Food and drink
• Personal safety
• Social participation and involvement
• Occupation
• Accommodation cleanliness and comfort
• Dignity

The measure has been tested with service users from different user groups and there are a number of different versions available, including an easy-read version.

Many people with who have communication difficulties are not able to provide views via interview alone.  Talking Mats is a communication tool that can be used with people who have communication difficulties. The mat consists of a set of symbols or pictures that are tailored to the subject you want to talk about.

The ASCOT Talking Mat: Tizard Centre’s Jill Bradshaw with Ann-Marie Towers and Nick Smith (both from PSSRU) have worked with the Talking Mats team at Stirling to develop three ASCOT Talking Mats.  These will enable people to give their views on:

• Where I Live.  This is a starter mat, designed to introduce people to the approach and for those people who might find more abstract concepts more challenging;
• My Care. People will be supported to give their views about whether aspects of their care are going well or not going well.
• Control over my Care. People will be given tools to think about how much choice they have over different aspects of their care.  The second and third mats have options for both basic and more abstract concepts.

The TM version of the ASCOT will enable researchers to investigate user views regarding social care outcomes.  By using this more inclusive methodology we will be able to engage with these seldom heard groups.  The use of symbols in combination with a structured approach will enable us to represent these participants’ own feelings/perspectives in the research, rather than us having to rely on the views of proxies.

Researchers at the University of Kent will be piloting the ASCOT Talking Mats with people with dementia and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (learning disabilities).

Jill Bradshaw (Accredited trainer) Lecturer in Learning Disabilities, Tizard Centre, University of Kent

Ann-Marie Towers (Research Fellow) and Nick Smith (Research Officer). PSSRU, University of Kent

The Children and Families Act 2014 makes clear that local authorities in England must have regard to the views, wishes and feelings of the young person and the parents. How do you ensure children and Young People are fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve? This blog describes how Talking Mats can be used to support the Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP).

A question like ‘What do you want to be able to do in the next 12 months,  that you can’t do now ?’ is difficult for us all. For children and young people who struggle with communication, this is even more of a challenge.Talking Mats is an ideal tool to support the young person to consider this big question because it breaks down the dialogue into bite-size chunks, makes abstract concepts more concrete, and creates a visual record of the discussion.

The top scale can change depending on the topic and what the interviewer wants to find out.  It can vary from

• things I like/ don’t like/ unsure
• things that are important to me / not important/ not sure,
• things I want to try/ don’t want to try/ not sure .

We have two resources that can be used to support conversations about planning :

1. Health and Well being – this resource is based on the WHO ICF framework and allows you to have a topic focused conversation on the various aspects that make up well being
2. Consulting Children and Young People this resource gives a much more holistic overview of how the young person or child is feeling about their lives
3. Example from Health and Well being resource

Using the work/education topic from the Looking after yourself  set in the Health and Well –being resource, this pupil is able to express what his aspirations are  post school. Click on picture to enlarge.

2. Example from Consulting Children and Young People resource

This example came from a primary teacher and demonstrates how the process of using Talking Mats can help a young person reflect on their lives and in this case make positive change . The teacher told us about a pupil aged 8 who placed the symbol for ‘being listened to’ in the position for something he liked, and the symbol for ‘listening to others’ in the position for something he didn’t like.  ‘That’s not right’, he exclaimed.

There was no miracle cure she said.  ‘But it was like a light bulb going on!’  He began to engage with work on his interaction and listening skills and ended up a playground champion.

Free Seminar 

We are holding a free half day seminar in London on the 20th October. The seminar is an introduction to how you can use Talking Mats to support pupil participation in planning . If you wish to attend please let us know by responding to our invite. We would love to see you. London Seminar Invite

We are delighted to be a Winner in the People Driven Digital Health Awards which were held in Leeds on Friday 3rd July. These awards were instigated to recognise the work of digital health innovators from across the UK and aim to connect the people who have ideas and make them happen.

The event was organised by mHabitat  and compered by a well known health commentator, Roy Lilley, of the Academy of Fabulous Stuff. The evening was full of fun and energy and we met lots of interesting people and made good connections. There is loads going on in digital health and services should make use of all these fabulous innovations that will improve people’s lives and health services. To get a flavour of the evening follow #PDDAwards15 and to find out about the other winners click here.

Our category, ‘the most impressive third sector digitally enabled service’ recognises third sector services which have embedded digital tools and services into improving people’s experience and outcomes. We very honoured to win this category with our digital Talking Mat. The announcement of the winners was followed by a flurry on Twitter which you can dip into here .

Background

Social workers are required to complete a detailed assessment of their client’s needs. It is recognised that it can be a challenge to ensure clients fully participate in the process if they have cognitive or communication difficulties. The City of Edinburgh Council were keen to explore if we could adapt their standardized assessment tool and make it into a Talking Mat framework. Several staff in the council are already skilled practitioners in Talking Mats so are familiar with the framework and use Talking Mats in their practice. They are enthusiastic about the benefits of using Talking Mats both in terms of how it increases participation of service users but also because in their view it makes interviews easier for staff to undertake.

Structuring Talking Mats assessment framework

In order to develop the bespoke Talking Mat we held a seminar to discuss the social work assessment tool and approach used. Six key staff attended the seminar, facilitated by two Talking Mats associates. The discussion at the seminar identified a structure that would enable us to construct a coherent visual conversation that would cover the issues required to complete the assessment, using mind mapping to support this process. It is also important to identify a top scale that matches the question you are asking and make sure the options you are including are neutral and not leading.

The structure that emerged from this discussion is a Talking Mat that enables people to explore their views on 3 topics

• their home
• their health and well being
• their community involvement

 Trialling the Talking Mats framework

Talking Mats then took the mind maps and developed these into symbol sets that were piloted by social work staff. At the end of the pilot a review was held and changes made which included alterations to

• the language used
• the symbols used
• the topic an option was included under
• making it clearer to staff when options were more abstract and required further explanation and or personalisation

Nicki Ewing from Edinburgh City Council who leads on the project says ‘ I am very excited that staff have a tool that can make assessment more meaningful for service users to participate in and makes it easier for staff to get good quality information’.

Next steps

We are thinking of holding a focus group for others that might be interested in using the framework for their practice if, you are interested please contact Lois  via the info@talkingmats.com email – call your email ‘social work focus group’.

Many thanks to Sara Toyn, Head of Adult Speech and Language Therapy, who has given us her thoughts on an organisational Talking Mats training course recently held in Powys, Wales. Together with Katie Earing, Sara organised the training course which included participants from a variety of NHS backgrounds and who worked with a range of adults with communication difficulties.

‘I attended a Talking Mats training organised by our team and offered to trained and untrained members of staff working in hospital and community. As an SLT I found it good revision and review of my own practice and also helped refocus some of my ideas and approaches.

The evaluations from all participants were extremely positive. We were overcrammed into too small a room as is the case with many training rooms and usually this is the first comment made on feedback.  I think it is positive that no one mentioned this at all on the evaluations as everyone was very engrossed in the activities and videos.  I have had several individuals point out how much they learnt and they report an increase in confidence in communicating with clients.’

Here are some of the comments from course participants

• This has opened up a whole new world of communication. Thank you.
• Very worthwhile course, have learned a lot and will surely use the mats at work.
• Feel I could integrate this into everyday practice with stroke patients – goal setting, D/C planning etc.
• Good interactive session.
• Completely unique! Thank you.
• Thank you. Excellent training, very transferable skills and will benefit patients.
• Really good. Being specific in the topic and phrasing questions openly, not only using Talking Mats.
• Have a patient in mind for tomorrow morning.
• Thank you. Really useful WHO ICF framework and framework for thinking about people’s cognitive level.

For further information about the training we offer, please click here

Thanks to Karen Wilson, a specialist teacher and one of our accredited trainers, who describes how Talking Mats can help in supporting Looked After Children in having their say.

‘I work as Principal Teacher for children with additional support needs in a mainstream secondary school. In supporting a wide range of children and young people, I am frequently involved in Looked After Children reviews. These reviews can be quite daunting for an adult, as all agencies involved with the young person are represented, along with their carers and their support agencies. I can’t imagine what it must feel like as the child.
Many of these young people find it difficult to express their views, partly because of the circumstances they find themselves in and partly because many of them have communication difficulties linked to their early experiences. I have been struck by how little information is often contained in their Having Your Say form. This should be one of the key ways for young people to express their views and is completed in advance of the review.
I recently used a Talking Mat to help a young person complete her ‘Having Your Say’ form. The young person reported that it was much easier to engage in the process and told me that she had enjoyed doing it. She normally does not like filling in the form. All of those involved in the review expressed surprise and delight at how much more information it was possible to get using a Talking Mat.
I am now working with Talking Mats to explore how this idea can be developed to give more of our Looked After young people a stronger voice in decisions which directly affect them.’

Have a look at the following blogs for further information on theTalking Mats GIRFEC resource and how it is being used

Many of you have requested the ability to add your own photos into the digital Talking Mat.The new version of the app allows you to do just that.

It is a great feature particularly, if you want to reflect on a particular activity like a day out or a holiday. I thought I would try it when I returned from my  recent holiday in Spain . You can see I had a great time the only one downside was the flight (as for some strange reason my husband, Jon and I were not placed in adjacent seats) . I placed shopping in the middle (I might have done a little bit more but I know it’s not really Jon’s cup of tea so I restrained myself!). However there were lots of things I loved, seeing my son in his new apartment in Madrid was great, the walking in the Sierra Nevada stunning, though did involve a lot of up and down !  and Grenada, well, the Alhambra has always been somewhere I wanted to visit and it did not disappoint.

I know that in Talking Mats we have always been slightly cautious about the use of photos but I think where places are concerned and where the photos relate to the immediate experience of the person then they can be really helpful. However, I also think the difference in the image ‘going out for a drink’ and ‘meals out’ demonstrates clearly the pitfall of photos. In the ‘meals out’ photo that I took there is too much visual information and without the written caption you probably would struggle to guess what that photo means. The symbol  of ‘going for a drink’ is much clearer and will work for lots of ‘going out for a drink’ situations.There is an additional risk  that that the photo of my ‘meals out’  that I took  becomes too specific to that particular meal rather than mean ‘meals out’ throughout the holiday if I had taken a photo of a more generic plate of food that might  lessen that risk.

Maybe I should have used this photo!

Adding images from your camera roll is an easy feature to use. After you have selected your thinker and added a new session you get to the ‘session set up’ page. There is a button on the top left hand page that says ‘Add local image file’ click this and go to your camera roll. Select the image and type the caption. you can select as many images as you need. The images will then appear after the blanks when you carry out the Talking Mats session with your thinker.

I think this new feature of being able to add your own images means that you could use the Talking Mats in really creative ways. It would be a great way to reflect on a trip e.g. schools could use the photos to talk to the children about their experience of a particularly outing. This could be the basis of  a great group discussion projected onto a white board. It could enable people to reflect and express their views on all type of experiences e.g. transitions, work experience, going to college, where to live, visiting their health centre etc.

If you already have the digital pro you will get a free upgrade to include this feature.  If  you don’t have the digital pro version  and want it click here to buy

We are delighted to announce the release of Version 2 of the Talking Mats App  

This app has a number of great new features which many of you have been asking for.
There are two new resources – Eating and Drinking – which has  3 main topic sets – Meals, Impact on Health and Things that might help.

The second new resource is Social Care which includes the topics Activities, Where you live and You.

There is an amazing new feature which many people have been asking for. Version 2 allows you to add your own images from your camera roll. This means that you can add you own personalised pictures to any of the topics.
Watch out for next week’s blog when Lois will tell you about her holiday using this new feature!

You can now also reset your password, use the Back button to navigate through the app, delete individual sessions and use the updated report page.

If you have already purchased the gold version of the Talking Mats app you will get all these new features for free.

If you wish to purchase the app please click here or for further information call our office 01786 479511

Handing over control of communication seems to be the most difficult of all the skills we need to have when we are taking part in communicative exchanges. Just how difficult this is, even for skilled communicators, can be clearly seen when people are using Talking Mats. Handing over control of communication is one of the fundamental principles of the talking mats framework. If the person has the physical skills, the facilitator physically hands over this control by handing the person the symbol (and of course other approaches are used when the person does not have the physical skills). The ‘thinker’ (the person who is doing the Talking Mat) then places the symbol on the Talking Mat, under one of the points on the pre-agreed top-scale, having been asked an open question e.g. how do you feel about …….?
When facilitators are learning about this approach, they seem to find it easier to ask open questions, slightly harder to stick to the agreed top scale but really difficult to hand over all of that control. As part of the training, participants film themselves using Talking Mats with someone. We use that clip to reflect on the facilitators’ skills, by taking about things that we liked and then reflecting on ‘it would have been good if…….’
The video clips work really well as participants can see themselves making the errors of retaining control in small (but nonetheless significant ways) e.g.
• Having the mat facing themselves rather than the ‘thinker’
• Moving the symbols after they have been placed by the ‘thinker’ to tidy them up/to make it easier for facilitator to see them
• Forgetting to give a neutral response where ever the symbols are placed (even if the facilitator thinks that the symbol has been ‘misplaced’)
• Telling people that they must place the symbols in rows underneath one another
• Not letting people use the top-scale creatively e.g. by placing the symbols at specific points between the top-scale e.g. to represent unsure but I am more happy with it than not.

The great thing about the Talking Mats training is that participants noticed these things that they were doing and will be working hard at noticing and doing them less in future.

We find it hard to give up control and find it hard to notice the things we do to retain this control, even when we are working within the talking mats framework. This is a framework where we are ‘symbolically’ handing over that control in the form of giving someone a symbol and so have a very obvious reminder of whose turn it is. How many ways then must we do it in everyday conversations and never notice? After all, in every day conversations, there are typically much less obvious reminders of whose turn it is and who should be in control.

Many thanks to Dr Jill Bradshaw, Lecturer in Learning Disabilities/Consultancy Development Manager, Tizard Centre, University of Kent for this thoughtful blog.