Bloody Mr Tumble

[gallifrey]

or Justin, could he be any more bloody patronising?

Nobody talks that that really do they? Over pronouncing every single word.

I do notice that the staff at ds's special needs nursery talk in a similar way, very clearly and over enunciating the words whilst signing. I do notice ds watches their mouths, his SALT said to talk this way as ds may mimic our mouth movements, he has poor oro motor skills, so we do a lot of exercises using really exaggerated mouth movements.

I don't have to like him though, it's not the law!!

That's great Betsey I guess that means you won't all have to learn BSL then, just use Makaton as a 'back up' - Makaton is so much quicker to learn which means more people in his life can use it too IYSWIM. See how great Justin is?

I get a bit of a tear in my eye when I see the DCs on the sofa ALL doing it as they watch. They used to teach it at the first nursery they went to at carpet time, even when there weren't any children with SN using the nursery. I agree, I think he's absolutely brilliant.

Hush, you'll set me off!

Thanks for the explanation, I've never noticed the pictures probably because I'm not paying proper attention!

Poppywearer, my 3yr old watches disney junior, unfortunately my OH has started making up his words for the songs on Jake and the neverland pirates.
DS now sings "pack up the jolly piss stains" instead of jolly roger. Dreading the school talking about pirates at school now! OH is in dog house now!
DS has limited viewing time of disney now ha ha

Galiifrey I think you'll find that it is the law to like Mr Tumble.

The first inkling I had of my fourth pregnancy was when I sobbed through an episode of Something Special, thinking it was the loveliest program I'd ever seen I still think it's quite lovely, but manage not to cry now

I don't find this annoying, or even notice it TBH... probably because I make sure my diction is good myself, when talking to DS and DD.

As an aside... has anyone else noticed that 'Justin Fletcher' is a voice credit on Alphablocks? I wonder if his Empire has widened even further...

never knew he is involved in alphablocks but i think there are even some vtech type toys that have his voice on them! cant remember which ones

I watched an episode of something special where there was a deaf and blind girl playing the piano really really well. She was so professional and only 7 or 8 years old. I was about 8 months pregnant and went upstairs and sobbed at how talented she was even though she had all those supposed set-backs.

I saw that 1, I too was moved by that episode. Truely talented.

There is an episode with some children having an Easter egg party in it which made me well up, while I was feeling a bit vulnerable. It was a lovely little film.

I will admit to laughing at that other sketch-type show that Justin does, even though DD was well over the age range for it when it came out.

Actually, I've just looked, and I think the children are just looking for things in a garden. It's still lovely.

I worked with young adults with a wide variety of disabilities that led to communication difficulties and most of those used Makaton and Signalong both very similar sign languages, very few used BSL.

I was so happy to see a children's presenter promoting their use to young children and often watched it with my grandchildren who picked up an extra language skill before starting school.

IMHO YABU it does not matter how he pronounces his words as long as he entertains and educates little ones in a positive way.. remember the programs are not for you to like they are there for the enjoyment of your children.

We've looked really hard for makaton resources, books, flashcards etc - and still Something Special is the best resource we've found! Brilliant stuff!

But, back to the OP - it's not the law to like him but YABU because there's always the off switch... or the rewind if you're posh with sky plus, and you can go ogle Andy's space suit!

I do like to have it on because I can then go round taking the piss out of him all day and say to DD yes it's a BANANA in that inane voice, it makes her laugh anyway but then she is only 17 months old xx

Isn't that funny, I didn't find him so annoying this morning!

My kids adore him and I felt anger every time I saw him on tv. [punch]

That anger turned to guilt when I saw him being interviewed on BB breakfast once and he seemed like the nicest bloke, very intelligent and only wanting to do good for the rest of the world.

He has an OBE an' all for services to children so are you DISAGREEING WITH HER MADGE gallifrey?

Don't knock The Fletcher.

A friend of ours has children who have Downs Syndrome and they filmed a segment with Justin for Something Special. Their Dad said JF was exactly the same with the kids whether the cameras were on or off and has a natural affinity with children.

Arf @ 'The Fletcher'. Now I've got a lovely slightly scary mental image of Fletch off Porridge presenting 'Something Special' instead.