Makaton questions

[JJ]

Thanks for all the help, now here come all of the questions:

-- when doing a name, can I use something other than the actual letters in the name? Ie, my youngest calls my eldest "Gargar"; can I use "G-R-G-R" as his name? (it's a pretty good sign combo..)

-- does it matter which hand I use to do things?

Any other tips?

Fio and geekgrrl, you guys are my fave people at the moment. Have received the Dave video (brilliant!) and all of the Makaton stuff. The official rep here in CH told me she couldn't sell it to me without a training course... which she could provide in July and presumably for shitloads of money.

My son loves it. Thanks to all for your help. Will report back with more thank-yous after the dev paed visit.

Jimjams, my sister gave me the same kick in the ass about that! You guys would get on well.

JJ - I'm no expert, but I'm alwasy used some form of abbreviation for names (eg first letter or two for main family names), so pretty sure "G-R-G-R" or even "G-R" would do.

Don't think that which hand is that essential, but I've found it best to keep the hands consistent...

Dave is great
Good luck with the Makaton- let us know how it goes

JJ we simply bought a set of two books that covered the basic signs from Makaton website - no mention of training course.

For us it is consistency - that looks fine for the name if that is what you use all the time.

Strangely I have found that signs for the same thing are different depending on what country you are in. In Australia the sign for toilet is different to the sign in the UK makaton book.

Thanks for the tips! I was nervous we weren't doing it right. We're off to a farm for a week, so I'll have the chance to practice my animals!

Moooooooooo....

we love dave!!
btw morrison's have another dave video in the sale atm - for £2.99
HTH

oh wish we had morrisons - note to self - get a Dave video before we leave for Aus

We get the chance to practice our animals every time my MIL comes to stay

In case anyone's interested the new CBeebies "Something Special" series starts today. It's all based on Makaton so lots of signing. It's presented by Justin from Tikkabilla, Tweenies etc.

bum - my mum doesn't do digital and that's where the Lotmeister is.
Does it come onto BBC1 at all?

Oh b*gger! Just checked the listings and it looks as though it may be next week instead. Doh! It should be on the terrestrial channels too I think, but my TV guide only goes as far as this Friday.

I had to teach my dd MAKATON, most of the time if she didn.t know the sign she invented one! But I wish you luck....lots of fun and wait till Christmas, great set of signs you will need to learn then !
I hope you have fun, we turned it into a family fun game, so we all learnt together, It is hard to go wrong, so have confidence in yourself and when it comes to names, often pick a feature like glasses or hat often worn, and make a sign combo using that.
My favourite sign is 'Pig', my dd taught her whole class the sign and when the teachers back was turned the whole group made the sign, but did not realise that they had been spotted by another teacher. The outcome was at the end of the day, and this was playschool, (storytime), I went to collect my 'angel' and was asked what the sign meant. Hmm, not wanting to get her into trouble I said 'maybe she had an itchy nose', 'the whole group?', came back the response. I made a hasty exit dd in tow... Well I did sort of tell her off at home and explained why, but I think a child should be told off at the time not hours later, so I was not at all strict, but holding back the giggles. to this day I still have happy memories of the MAKATON stage, so enjoy it and don't think of it as a task, it is fun and I hope will leave you with many happy memories!

Hi I have recently started working as a Learning Support Assistant in a Special Needs School. I need to learn Makaton but cannot find any good websites. Do any mums know of any good Websites so I can teach myself at my own pace?
Many Thanks

deb5, have you looked at the Makaton website? They have a video of core vocab and I think they do training. Or you could find out if any local charities do Makaton training (Kids do if you're near them).

Although we use Signalong , I mailed Makaton about the "Something Special" programmes that have just finished on CBeebies. Today I have received a nice letter of thanks,info on their products and training and a newsletter. They have also asked if my comments could also be made to CBBC- obvoiusly so that more of this type of programme could be aired.
They have requested that my details can stay on their database so that further info can be sent out. A great little info pack.
No good at links
www.makaton.org
tel 01276 61390
email: [email protected]

deb5 - there are two little books that you can purchase from the makaton website - we used those to teach ourselves makaton to use with dd.... they were about 6quid each.. the first one had the signs we tended to use with dd... but they are well worth the money.

Yes, it has SueW. I taped it for my DD who is nearly 3 & has Down Syndrome-she knows more signs than I do now.
You can find out more from the Makaton website but I believe there is 16 new episodes coming on at the beginning of December. From what I remember there on BBC2, Sat 4th & Sun 5th for 2 hours each night between 2-4AM. I will have to get my video set!!!!
Makaton themselves seem very helpful makaton

HHHOOOORRRRAYYY...my first link that's ever worked -simple when you know how!! just had to share that with you.

No probs SueW!
I started using Signalong with DD when she was about 6 months old and she amazes me how quickly she picks it up,(well in excess of 100 signs now) just as well really as her expressive language is still pretty minimal!
I thought the programs were great & I am a strong believer that all children should learn it in a ideal world. It is not just children with SN that have communication problems and I think it helps to break down the "disabled"barrier.
One thing Makaton did say was that if you thought that the Something Special prog was good, let the BBC know in the hope that more programs of this type can be broadcasted.