Talking Mats

I've been using a modified version of talking mats to help patients with severe expressive language impairments contribute to decisions about their care. Heres a little summary:

Visual scale - pictures to reflect feelings, opinions or choices  (positive feelings or experiences on the left side across to negative feelings or experiences on the right side)

 Once a topic is chosen, the person using the talking mat places pictures, representing issues or activities, along the visual scale.

The parts of a Talking Mat include:

• A Mat (that velcro can stick to)
• Picture cards or written word cards that show ideas or thoughts around a topic.
• A topic card that identifies the topic to be discussed and considered.
• Blank cards for the person to add their own thoughts (SLT supported).
• A scale along which to indicate thoughts or feelings about the topic eg. I like this, it’s OK, I’m not sure, I don’t like this, I hate this. 

Talking Mats can help people arrive at a decision by providing a structure where information is presented in small chunks supported by symbols.