Makaton
What is Makaton?
Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate. It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression.
Being able to communicate is one of the most important skills we need in life. Almost everything we do involves communication; everyday tasks such as learning at school, asking for food and drink, sorting out problems, making friends and having fun. These all rely on our ability to communicate with each other.
With Makaton, signs are used, with speech, in spoken word order. This helps provide extra clues about what someone is saying. Using signs can help people who have no speech or whose speech is unclear. Using symbols can help people who have limited speech and those who cannot, or prefer not to sign.
For those who have experienced the frustration of being unable to communicate meaningfully or effectively, Makaton really can help. Makaton takes away that frustration and enables individuals to connect with other people and the world around them. This opens up all kinds of possibilities.
How is Makaton used at Tor View?
At Tor View, we train our staff to integrate Makaton signing within their spoken language to support a Total Communication approach to learning. This means that our lessons are accessible to all learners. Most of our learners who use Makaton operate at a single word level but some develop their skills to help them communicate more even more fluently. Our staff know and understand the children’s needs and begin to better understand their signs which helps make communication more fluent and interactive.
We are very lucky to have two Makaton trainers at Tor View who deliver the high quality training to our staff. We also run parent training as the need arises in consultation with Mrs Daley, Parent Liaison Officer.
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