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Alex Kelly LtdAlex Kelly Ltd
  • Home
  • About Alex
    • Alex’s working life
    • Alex’s personal life
  • Training
    • What Alex can provide
    • Upcoming Courses
    • What others say
  • Talkabout
    • What is TALKABOUT?
    • Social Skills Training
    • Upcoming Social Skills Courses
    • Talkabout FAQ
    • Centre of Excellence Programme
    • Case Study – Afasic Cymru
    • What others say
  • Speaking Space
    • The Day Service
    • School Speech Therapy
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

What is TALKABOUT?

A bit about Talkabout

Talkabout is a structured programme for teaching and measuring social skills. It is a whole scheme of work which helps you assess, teach and measure your work easily. It uses a hierarchical method of teaching social skills which means that having assessed the child using the Talkabout assessment, teachers will choose the appropriate level or book to start work at. This means that you may start by developing a child’s self-awareness and self-esteem before progressing onto body language. You will then move onto conversation skills and then onto friendship skills and assertiveness.

‘I feel very lucky to work in a school where our pupils get the opportunity to utilise Talkabout resources and to see the benefit that this has made to them and their peers. You are making a difference!’ – Nicole Thomas, Teacher, 2017

Talkabout is…

  • A hierarchical approach to teaching social skills: foundation skills are taught prior to more complex skills.
  • Includes an assessment and outcome measures: the Talkabout assessment includes a method of quantifying results and if you attend Alex’s training, she gives you additional systems to measure effectiveness through using targets and spreadsheets.
  • Includes activities and plans of intervention: Talkabout is a scheme of work that is designed to be followed week by week, with plans for your intervention divided into 3 academic terms for anyone working in schools.
  • Suitable for all ages: the different books are designed with a certain population in mind, so that you will use the resource best suited to your client group, from young children (4+) to adults.
  • Suitable to put onto a school curriculum: the Talkabout resources have been written with schools in mind, so that teachers can easily put social skills into their lessons or onto their curriculum.
  • Proven effectiveness: Talkabout has been proved to be an effective tool for developing self-esteem, social skills and friendship skills and Alex is happy to share evidence from schools who have measured their progress.
  • A social skills textbook: Alex has recently written a textbook on social skills which combines sound theory with experience and evidence to make it an essential book for anyone wanting to further their knowledge of social skills.

A bit about the hierarchy

Talkabout was first developed in the early nineties following a clinical study into the effectiveness of social skills work which found that the success of intervention increased if nonverbal behaviours were taught prior to verbal behaviours, and assertiveness was taught last.  In addition, it was found that basic self and other awareness and self-esteem should be developed first if necessary and that friendship skills should be taught after social skills.  If we spend time developing the foundation skills of self-esteem and self-awareness and then concentrate on body language prior to the more complex areas of conversational skills, friendship skills and assertiveness we are more likely to see progress.

Self-awareness & self-esteem

Nonverbal behaviours
(Body language & the way we talk)

Verbal behaviours
(Conversational skills)

Verbal behaviours
(Conversational skills)

Assertiveness

Information to download

Talkabout and the hierarchical method of teaching skills Information Leaflet 2020

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  • Alex Kelly Ltd
  • Fleming House, Alma Road, Romsey, Hants, SO51 8ED
  • 02380 987134
  • 02380 987136

Recent News

  • Training courses by Alex Kelly Ltd New Dates for 2023
  • Alex’s Talkabout Tips… No 10 – The theory that underpins developing social skills…
  • A New Year, a new start… … to developing social skills
  • Alex’s Blog No 8… A Right to Reply
  • Alex’s Talkabout Tips… No 7 – Body Language 3…
  • Alex’s Talkabout Tips… No 6 – Body Language 2…

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