Pop-up café: learning through interaction

Practice manager, independent SLT and educational doctorate student, Louise Scrivener shares how her experiences running a pop up café helped increase communication skills in a fun and sociable way

Three years ago, while working in a specialist school environment, I helped set up pop-up café for pupils and it quickly became the highlight of my working week. We wanted to promote the generalisation of communication skills for young autistic people with additional complex needs in a fun and functional way. The pop-up café in school was an ideal way to achieve this.

Pupils at the school use a range of high- and low-tech communication aids as well as some speech. To create an inclusive café, we used visuals at every opportunity and catered for specific dietary needs. We had one box of resources which included trays and plates, tablecloths, table decorations, register, apron, money, wallets and of course food. Our visuals included symbolised menus, chat sheets, ‘open’ and ‘closed’ signs and talking buttons as an option to tell us about their experience as they leave.

Set up took around five minutes each week. The pupils were given a wallet on arrival with two £1 coins and a ‘finished’ symbol inside. They took a seat and chose their orders from the menu. They then queued at the cash desk communicating with the ‘café owner’ (honestly the best job) and placing their order before taking a tray. Every item was priced at £1 for ease which also gave us an opportunity to work on money skills.

Chat sheets provided on each table allowed staff and peers to comment on their food choices and ask and respond to questions. After two turns the pupil was shown the finished symbol, the closed sign was put up and we waved goodbye until next week. The school kindly provided us with a packet of biscuits, some fruit or vegetable sticks or sometimes ‘chef’s specials’ the pupils had prepared that week in cooking class. The money was recycled each week, so there were no other ongoing costs.

The model of a café is a quick and simple way to promote communication, meet a range of targets, sit down, have fun with pupils and create connections.

Our pupils were also involved in running the café by shopping for food items or preparing the food as part of their lessons. We themed some weeks, linked with school topics and we were able to build in options to expand communication by introducing different sized cakes or different coloured iced biscuits.
To gain even more benefit from the programme, we planned to include some of the older pupils in school for ‘work experience’ and ultimately to promote inclusion in the wider community.

We improved the experience through a lot of trial and error and over time the outcomes were amazing. I feel very fortunate to have worked with like-minded, creative professionals to create such a fun, practical and worthwhile experience for everyone involved.