Lines of Communication

workshop image

Conclusion of Workshop Programme

All workshops planned as part of the project have been held within the Lewin Ward at Addenbrooke's Hospital with a total of thirty two patients taking part assisted by eight staff members in varying numbers and combinations on each occasion.

Staff from the speech and language therapy department felt the workshops to be beneficial and in particular, the Touch and Talk workshop that used sensory exploration of different materials to stimulate descriptive language was felt to be of value to patients who were trying to increase their vocabulary or who had difficulty in word retrieval and/or word processing. Patients, who were blindfolded, felt a series of materials with their fingers - feathers, flour, pebbles, fabric and lavender were some examples - and

then spent some time describing the qualities they detected in each material. At times certain materials could be detected by the sense of smell as well as touch. Patients with very limited verbal communication were able to draw their interpretation of the experience onto paper.

The final workshop, 'Image and Music', proved to be more challenging. Patients listened to a variety of pieces of music and in each case were asked to draw the sound (either by association of memories, mark making in response to the sound and/or beat or any other way to express what they were hearing). A wide variety of drawing and painting materials were available.

Whilst the use of music was stimulating in itself, patients found the abstract concept of 'drawing the sound' hard to grasp. Equally engaging patients through the music established not surprisingly, that 'good' taste is an individual opinion. Although in this workshop, the music was the vehicle used to stimulate expression, it became a dominant factor in patients' responses. The chosen music (popular, novelty, classical) was not always to everyone's liking - a fact that equally highlighted any age differences within the group - and this disrupted the natural flow of the workshop.

Evaluation of the workshops overall has indicated a 97% enjoyment rate for patients. Staff who took part in the workshop programme evaluated the benefits to patients as positive in100% of the workshops. All workshops were felt to have had manual dexterity benefit for patients and several were felt to have assisted with mobility.

Subject to funding, some of the patients artwork produced during the workshops will be framed for presentation on the corridors walls in the Lewin Ward.