Home

About In My Shoes

In My Shoes Training

Links

Contact us

What is In My Shoes?
In My Shoes is a computer package that helps children and vulnerable adults communicate about their experiences including potentially distressing events or relationships. Extensive testing shows it can be used in a wide range of circumstances, including interviews with children who may have been abused, or who have difficulties in expressing emotions, who are hard to engage or who have developmental delay or other difficulties. It has been used successfully in interviewing learning disabled adults.

How does it work?
In My Shoes uses images, sound, speech and video. Through a series of modules, children are encouraged to share information on their experiences and emotions with different people in home, educational and other settings. The interview is structured, systematic and clear. Forensic considerations have been central to its development, and the focus is on facilitation of communication about the subject areas, with leading questions being avoided.

Does the child use it alone?
The program has been designed so that a trained adult will sit alongside the child and assist, guide and interact with them through a structured interview process. The information that is gained is a product of the three-way interview; it is not a question and answer session with the computer. However, the nature of the program is such that children who are unable to use the spoken word can still, with appropriate support, use the tools within the computer program to give an indication of their experiences and feelings.

How does it help?
In My Shoes is an excellent means of engaging the child and building rapport between the child and the interviewer. It promotes communication in a unique way, and provides a structure for the interviewer, which helps to maximise the opportunity for the interview to address sensitive areas and to facilitate sharing information. It helps children to communicate about their experiences, thoughts, feelings and wishes. It also provides extensive and detailed session records. It provides a wealth of pictures for later use and discussion.

When is In My Shoes useful?

In My Shoes is useful in a range of contexts and settings. These include:

• Enabling a child to talk about their experiences, thoughts, feelings and wishes
• Helping a child to talk about their experience of living in their current, or previous family or other care settings
• Contributing to an assessment of the likelihood of significant harm and abuse and neglect
• Contributing to assessment and planning about a child's rehabilitation to their birth family
• Gathering a child's wishes and feelings about being fostered, moving to an adoptive family
• Communicating about pain and discomfort past or present, including children in hospital
• Assessing the needs of a sibling group
• Talking about school with a child - learning, friendships, relationships with teachers and others
• Enabling children with learning disabilities or hearing impairments to communicate
• Helping children with problems in concentration to focus
• Engaging adolescents who find face-to-face interviews challenging
• Talking with a young person about leaving care
• Communicating with vulnerable adults

Who can use In My Shoes?
Any professional working with children who engages in interviewing may find it helpful. It has been used by psychologists, social workers, child psychiatrists, other mental health staff, health workers, educational workers and specialists in forensic services. In My Shoes enhances the skills of practitioners and clinicians in direct work with children and young people.

What are the requirements for computers to run In My Shoes?
In My Shoes requires either a PC computer with a sound card (or a PC laptop) which runs Windows 2000 or later, or a Macintosh running OS X.2 or later. An extra mouse or trackball is very highly recommended (this allows interviewer and interviewee to each have control of the computer). The software for both Macintosh and PC computers is supplied on a single CD.

Training
Professionals require training to be able to use In My Shoes effectively. There is a two-day training course based on an action learning approach. The two training days are separated by a number of weeks, which enables trainees to try out In My Shoes in their work setting in between the training days.

For further information and to apply for training
Please see the contact us page for details.

The development team
Rachel Calam, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Manchester
Antony Cox, Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry, Guys Hospital, London
David Glasgow, Forensic Clinical Psychologist, Carlton Glasgow Partnership, Lancashire
Phil Jimmieson, Senior Experimental Officer, Computer Science, University of Liverpool
Sheila Groth Larsen, Educational Psychologist, Liverpool

The Department of Health, the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester supported development of the programme. The current version and the training programme was completed with support from the Instone Bloomfield Charitable Trust and the Department for Education and Skills

The programme is described more detail in:
Calam, RM, Cox, AD, Glasgow, DV, Jimmieson, P and Groth Larsen, S (2000) Assessment and therapy with children: can computers help? Child Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, 5(3) 329-343.

In My Shoes incorporates the computer assisted version of SAGE, a special interview technique referred to in: Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance for Vulnerable or Intimidated Witnesses, including Children, 2002 page 50 para 2.143

[back to top]