July 9 - Talking Mats: an innovative way to help people with dementia express their views

Here at Ostrich we would like to offer our thanks to Dr Joan Murphy, Co-Director of Talking Mats Ltd for writing this guest blog on how Talking Mats can help patients with dementia express their views.

Rita lives in a care home and has moderate/late stage dementia. She likes having a 'blether' and always wants to please but there is very little content to her conversation. She tends to repeat words and phrases such as 'I like my people' and 'I'm just a bit daft' which she uses as social fillers. The result is that staff and relatives never really know what her views are and come away from a conversation feeling dissatisfied and confused. Staff at her care home were interested in trying Talking Mats with her to see if it could help give a clearer picture of her views.

Helping patients express their views

Talking Mats® is a communication tool which uses visual images to help people understand, think about things and then express their views. It was developed by a team of Speech and Language Therapists at the University of Stirling and is underpinned by robust research. It is now used widely throughout the UK and abroad.

When Rita used Talking Mats she was able to have a much more meaningful, thoughtful conversation than when just using speech alone. She concentrated for longer, was less distractible and was much more focused on what was being discussed. Staff commented that they felt more relaxed as they had a structure for explaining things to Rita and for understanding her views.

Here is one of Rita’s mats about what she thinks about the activities in her life.

She clearly enjoys a lot of things e.g. when she was asked about TV and radio she thought for a bit then put the symbol under the like icon on the mat and said 'it’s good - it entertains you'.  She is not so keen on exercise, reading and going for walks. When asked what she thought about church she indicated that it was something that was important to her and added 'it’s not against anyone' and 'we should all be together', ' nothing against anyone'. Using Talking Mats showed that, contrary to what most people thought, Rita did have some coherent thoughts and opinions, even about something as complex and personal as her faith.

Talking Mats now established in various care homes

Talking Mats is now used in many care homes to help residents communicate their views. For example, it can be used to get to know someone when they first move into care; to find out likes and dislikes about different activities or what the person feels about the care home; it is used to get people’s views for review meetings so that the resident can be genuinely involved in the process; and possibly most important of all, it is an enjoyable activity for both the residents and for those who live and work with them.

Here are some quotes from care homes who are using Talking Mats.

‘It enabled us to build a profile of our clients focusing on their abilities. This is built into their care plan’ – Mains House Care Home Ltd 

‘We find it a really useful tool for night staff – using it with residents can be calming’ - Adamwood Nursing Home

‘The Care Inspectorate commented favourable on our use of Talking Mats’ Mains House Care Home Ltd.

‘It’s a good tool for a blether’ – Gracelands Nursing Home

Talking Mats is now available in two formats – as an original low-tech tool with three topic sets and as an App for iPad and Android tablets with 13 topics sets.

Talking Mats Ltd is a Social Enterprise whose aim is to help people with a range of communication difficulties. For further information please go to the Talking Mats website.