TASS

Talkabout Assessment of Social Skills

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Who are we?

Photo of the author Alex Kelly

Alex Kelly 

Alex is the author of the Talkabout publications. She worked as a speech & language therapist (SLT) for 37 years, primarily in the area of social communication. She spent 23 years working in the NHS but now runs her own business & spends her time writing & lecturing around the UK & abroad. 

I have always loved my work and would probably sum up my passion for social skills with the fact that I believe that we all want the same thing for our children when they leave school:

  • We want them to feel happy with who they are.
  • We want them to have a good circle of support and to know how to make friends if they want them.
  • We want them to be able to engage in meaningful activities and to experience success in life in whatever motivates them.

These 3 things will have an impact on that child’s happiness and quality of life and so I believe that children should be supported to develop a healthy self-esteem and the communication skills necessary to navigate their world.

I worked initially in the NHS – spending 10 years working in London and then 13 years in Hampshire, in the south of England, where I became the Trust Lead for adults with mental health difficulties and learning disabilities. I left the NHS in 2009 to set up my own business and I have been working independently ever since. I now have returned to focusing on Alex Kelly Ltd and provide training and consultancy work on developing social skills, self-esteem and relationship skills. I am also pursuing a second vocation and am currently training to become a part-time priest.

Photo of the author Naomi Pearson

Naomi Pearson

Naomi is a speech and language therapist (SLT) with 24 years’ experience working in both the NHS and independent sectors. Naomi is due to complete a PhD in 2024 investigating the effectiveness of the Talkabout programme.

I have worked with Alex since I qualified and have been delivering Talkabout training with Alex since 2009. I have always loved this aspect of my work as a speech and language therapist, and I have always been motivated by the theory and research behind any intervention. So it was on a journey back from a training course in Wales, where a conversation occurred between Alex and I where the idea for a PhD was born! I wanted to explore the evidence we were seeing and hearing about more. Why did it work? Did the hierarchy play a part? What were the factors that meant success? These were my initial questions, and the following 5 years were all about developing an effective methodology for investigating the Talkabout programme in a robust manner. The re-design of the TASS was an integral part of this process, and my PhD concluded with a study which evaluated the psychometric properties of the TASS. Although so much progress has been made I am in a position now when I am nearing the end of my PhD journey, where I have so many more questions I would like to investigate. This is such an important area of work and has such a huge impact on so many people, so I will be spending a portion of my time for the rest of my career investigating this topic, and hopefully adding to the evidence base.

In 2022 I became the Managing Director of Speaking Space (Romsey) Ltd, based in Hampshire. This is a company that was set up by Alex in 2011 to provide a day service for adults with autism and/or learning disabilities and also a speech and language therapy service to local schools. We also provide training in many aspects of communication including:

  • Talkabout social communication training
  • Makaton
  • Speech, language and communication needs
  • Total Communication
  • Communication and behaviour

You can find out more about us and our work at www.speakingspace.co.uk