The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) is involved in a project to develop case studies on ‘what works’ as regards using evidence to inform and/or improve practice across social services in Scotland.

The first in the series focuses on empowering vulnerable children and their parents using Talking Mats. It describes the use of Talking Mats at Stenhouse Child and Family Centre (Edinburgh City Council) with very young, vulnerable children and their parents.

Talking Mats is a low-tech communication tool originally developed by the Alternative and Augmentative Communication Research Unit to support people with communication impairment including those with stroke, learning disability and dementia.

Stenhouse Child and Family Centre often work with very vulnerable children who have experienced significant adversity and trauma in their lives. This often means that children are hyper vigilant and find new people and experiences stressful and at times impossible. Child protection systems can heighten these children’s stress levels and as research into early brain development attests, stress can have a significant impact on children. Though it is often inappropriate for very young children to be part of meetings and children’s hearings, the Stenhouse team identified a huge gap in empowering and ensuring that these children’s views and wishes were represented.

Staff at Stenhouse explored the use of Talking Mats, gathering and documenting its effectiveness, and thereby creating new evidence. Talking Mats is an evidence-informed tool as such, useful for gathering evidence of the views, feelings and wishes of children and their parents and sharing it with professionals.

Read the full case study on the IRISS website.

Michelle Drumm
Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services