{"id":76114,"date":"2023-06-13T14:38:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/?page_id=76114"},"modified":"2025-06-04T16:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:42:53","slug":"what-is-a-talking-mat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/about\/what-is-a-talking-mat\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Talking Mat?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A Talking Mat is a visual communication framework which supports people with communication difficulties to express their feelings and views. Talking Mats can be carried out physically or in a digital space, for example a tablet, laptop or computer for which we have created one of the best apps for communication disability.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-1024x855.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14474\" width=\"512\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-1024x855.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-768x641.png 768w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-1536x1283.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-2048x1710.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Mat-Example-600x501.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Above, you can see an example of a (digital) Talking Mat. It is made up of three sets of picture communication symbols \u2013 topic, options and a visual scale \u2013 and a space on which to display them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the topic has been chosen, the participant is given the options one at a time and asked to think about each one, placing it on the Talking Mat to indicate how they feel about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do Talking Mats Work?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Our clinical, research and training experience provides evidence that Talking Mats helps people think about and express their views on a particular topic. There are a number of reasons why Talking Mats is effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Talking Mats support comprehension by:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Helping people process concepts by breaking information down into small, manageable chunks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Allowing the client time to process information and respond in their own time<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Reducing memory demands<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Talking Mats improve quality of information by:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Handing over control to the thinker<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Providing a structured framework for open questions<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Reducing anxiety<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2013<\/strong>&nbsp;Supporting people to express how they really feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Types of Talking Mat<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Card Resource<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This is our original, low-tech communication device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Specially designed symbols that are produced in no tear, wipe clean material.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Packaged in clear plastic wallets with quick reference postcards and guidance booklet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Health &amp; Wellbeing and Consulting Children and Young People Resources include mat and Fair Trade bag.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmatssite.mtcserver.com\/shop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy here&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Digital Talking Mats<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This new version of Digital Talking Mats has the following features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A video to introduce the platform and how to use it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Access to over 30 topics, depending on level of subscription.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ability to choose top scale.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ability to upload your own images to use in a mat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once trained, you have the ability to create and keep a \u2018Personalised Mat\u2019 to use again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once trained, you can gain access to our post-training and Advanced Resources. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symbols can appear with text or without text.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Additional accessibility features.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/talkingmats.com\/digital-talking-mats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmatssite.mtcserver.com\/shop\/#tab-DigitalTalkingMats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy here&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Talking Mat is a visual communication framework which supports people with communication difficulties to express their feelings and views.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"parent":412,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/content_page.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is a Talking Mat? - Improving Communication, Improving Lives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talking Mats is a social enterprise whose vision is to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties. 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