The effectiveness of Talking Mats®with people with intellectual disability

Accessible summary • It is hard for the views of people with learning disability to be listened to. • Talking Mats uses pictures to help people say what they feel about their lives. • This study asked 48 people with learning disability to use Talking Mats to find out how well it works. • The study found that most people found Talking Mats helped them to understand and to say what they feel. • Talking Mats is a useful tool to help find out what people with learning disability feel about their lives. Summary People with intellectual disability have significant difficulties in ensuring their voice is heard. Talking Mats is a low tech communication resource which helps understanding and supports expression. This study examined the effectiveness of the resource for people with intellectual disability. A mixed method quantitative and qualitative study involving 48 people at four levels of comprehension was designed to compare the effectiveness of Talking Mats with the individual’s main communication method. Thirty of the 48 participants were identified as using Talking Mats effectively. Effective use of Talking Mats was associated with functional comprehension. The study found that scores on all indicators of communication effectiveness were higher when using Talking Mats compared to main communication methods. This study identified that Talking Mats can be an effective communication resource for many people with intellectual difficulty and can help them express their views by increasing both the quantity and quality of information communicated.