Learning makaton

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So my son has a severe speech delay. Looking for suggestions where I could learn makaton best please. Many thanks

I'm a firm believer that you will do best by learning half a dozen signs and using them all the time, then gradually add to them just a couple at a time.
If you go on a course, it can become quite overwhelming to try to learn too many at once - this is for you, as the adult. Imagine how difficult it would be for your ds, if you did memorise 100 and suddenly start using them all at the same time!

Does he go to a Nursery, or does he have a SaLT ? As they will often start you off with a few signs. Some SaLTs run courses for parents.
Or ask at your local Children's Centre if they know of anywhere / anyone who could show you 1/2 a dozen signs.

If you go on to the Makaton website, thy will put you in touch with trainers, but they are incredibly expensive and- as I said above, potentially a bit overwhelming.

Then of course you can watch Mr Tumble / Something Special on the tele.
There are quite a lot of videos on You Tube too

Thank you, I was looking at courses but thought that would be a bit intense as you describe. I'll start off small 😊

I don’t know what age your son is, but there might be “sing and sign” near you that you’d enjoy.

My local disabilities centre did a free Makaton course for me. It was brilliant and I liked learning lots of signs as it gave me a better rounded idea of how makaton can build as my ds gets older.

Totally agree with the pp where you use only use a few signs to start with to get your child used to it, the you can build from there.

There is a great app for the iPad call My choice Pad Pro. It's a paying app but you can trial it free for a month (I think). It has a library where you can search for signs. They then have videos of how to do the signs. My ds loves it and I find it easier to search for signs he wants to learn.

I've heard the signing hands videos on you tube are also popular.

Brilliant thank you I will look into all of this. He is only 3 xx

Hi.

I bought a Makaton DVD from the official website and essentially used that to teach myself Makaton.

It is a brilliant DVD in the respect that you can either learn the signs in suggested phases, or, you can use an alphabetical menu to learn specific signs!

I would highly recommend this, as a lady demonstrates each sign individually, and you can look at it as many times as needed to grasp it!

Also, just because I think this resource is equally as fantastic; if your child requires any visual symbols as part of your family life...Wigit Online let's you create visual routines/timetables/charts/stories etc for just £5 a month subscription. Invaluable in my opinion!

Thanks so much everyone I today learnt my first handful of signs 😊 already feeling less daunted by it all x

Great news. Really pleased for you (and your ds)

The original Something Special episodes, with white backgrounds before they introduced multiple Mr Tumble characters, are fantastic. You might be able to find them on DVD or YouTube.

Mr tumble is the way to go. Maybe on iplayer or YouTube