Anyone have experience of using Makaton?

[tigersmummy]

Hi everyone,
My DS has recently been referred to SALT and we are going through all the channels with regards to that. Last night DH and I went to a parent workshop run by SALT's, they recommend Makaton as an aid to encourage communication and don't believe it confuses children, which was always my problem with it.
Has anyone else used it with a child who had slow sppech development and how did you get on?

Hi - I'm a special needs teacher who has used makaton. It's very infections - and useful (especially in crowded noisy rooms with other makaton users) Once you start talking & signing it's difficult to keep your hands still! Provided you speak when you sign it encourages & clarifies speech (in my opinion) - we even use it bi-lingually - really helps brdge the gap between languages. It's usually the adults who have a problem with it, not the kids.

I use it in work, my dd1 had speech problems ad i used it with her. It helped ease her frustration at not being understood.

I used it with my son when we realised his speech was delayed. It was like turning on a light bulb for him, suddenly he could say what he needed, in spite of his speech developing slower than his need to communicate. It reduced his frustration so much and meant that he didn't become delayed in other areas, as he was communicating.
He is five now and is ever so happy and chatty, I still use Makaton sometimes, if I need to stop him or tell him something across a crowded or noisy room. It is also useful during a tantrum to back up verbal communication. It think it made all the difference in the world for my little fellow and cannot see how it could be at all harmful.

Thank you so much, that's very reassuring. How would I go about finding out more, getting books etc?

Justin Fletcher (something special ) uses Makaton, if you can sky+ it in some way,you can pick up the basics, this is the cheaper version

I use makaton with my 2 year old, she has only just started talking and used makaton to communicate with me before talking

I also did a beginners course as I'm a relief TA and the school sent me on the course.

This is the Makaton site www.makaton.org/about/learn.htm

to be honest I think you need to 'see' the symbols in person IYSWIM, rather than trying to pick it up from pictures on the net

www.makaton.org/about/learn.htm

My BS1 learnt it at nursery, they had a deaf child there and decided to teach it to all the children (although limited)as a way of helping communication generally, particularly with the young ones or those with delayed speech. They also did some classes for the parents so we could use it at home. I taught some of it to my DS2 when he was young but even now, at coming up for three, if I need him to say please (say to my mum for a biscuit) I often remind him by doing the Makaton sign and he immediately says please (often signing it to my mum too!)

I think it's great, my boys were good with their speech, but I believe there is eveidence to suggest that it improves speech even for those who don't have a delay. Lots of libraries do books on it.

as a child i learnt makaton as my sis had SN - my NT dd now does it at nursery and LOVES it, i think it is fab for all children, not just those with speech issues

we use Makaton with dd2 (9, DS, severe speech delay). It is great! She always uses it together with speech, and whilst her speech really is poor and she is very difficult to understand, she rarely gets frustrated as she generally manages to make herself understood, using a combination of speech, Makaton and body language.
We did a course 8 years ago, but nowadays all the SALTs we see say that watching Something Special is the best way to learn it.

My ds was taught makaton in his first special needs nursery. He also had a Speech and Language therapist who taught it to him. We didn't think that he had picked up anything of it though as he didn't use it. He was only 2 at the time so we thought maybe it wasn't for him. However we were stuck at an airport in France (they had just decided to go on strike and leave us stranded!!) with all the fuss about trying to find another way home, I had forgotten that it was teatime. My poor ds was getting very fractious and was crying. Suddenly he started signing "eat"!! Just shows that something was being taken in by him, he just didn't need to use it till he was really desperate!!

I don't think that it slows down talking at all or confuses children, I've seen many children do very well with it and have gone on to be lovely chatty children.

Agree about the dvds ds2 and ds3 both used makaton at their sn nursery but the rest of us picked it from Dave Benson Philips (is he still going?) and we all sang nursery rhymes. Not difficult to pick up. Definitely a path to go down. Good luck

I recognise that name icecold!

Justmooching - have you changed yours then??

I was JustMoon, when you were on the thread being told to change your name with Thumbwitch. It worked, I recognised you!!

Sorry for thread hijack!

Ahh!! Justmoon I recognise!! I can't think of any name better than this so have kept it!!

I'm sorry for hijacking too!

Nice to see you again

I was a BSL signer and had used Makaton in work as well. When both my dds were little I used signs with them as it was instinct to me to sign all the time. dd2 was/is speech delayed and has had ongoing hearingissues.It was useful to her to support her speech and in noisy environments where she couldnt hear me.

Both often suppliment speech with signs now (8&10) especially since I have now remarried and dh is also a signer and we often sign without being concious of it.

Thanks! And you!

I'm a Child minder and I use Makaton with my own DS and any child who does not talk very much. I even take my mindees along to Makaton sing and sign classes when they are on! It does not delay speech at all!