Makaton and Something Special

[lingstudent]

Dear all,
I am an undergraduate student at Leeds University and I am currently writing my dissertation.
I am looking for stories from parents who have used Makaton with their children and how it has effected their communication skills.
Anything at all would be helpful, positive or negative.
I will be using the data for analysis purposes only and all stories will be anonymised.
Thank you for your time in advance, even the smallest of comments would be greatly appreciated!

Claire

happy to help. (but 'affected' lol)...

how are you collecting data? (don't really understand 'for analysis purposes only' btw - either you are using it, or you aren't, lol.)

anyway, cat me or madwomanintheattic at hotmail dot co dot uk if you need me.

dd2 is 6 with cp. she used makaton initially but is now fully verbal. i, on the other hand, can do a mean 'goldilocks rap' after a beer or two.

thanks Madwomanintheattic,
Im glad spell check exists or my dissertation would be riddled!
When I say for analysis purposes only, I just mean that your opinions will be used to create a general view on Makaton and I won't be storing the information or using it for anything else after I have finished my research.
Thanks for your comments, do you think Makaton helped her in becomming verbal?

Hi, my dd2 (ASD) now uses makaton after becoming verbal. She started by using PEC'S (PICTURE COMMUNICATION) and showed no signs of signing but as soon as she started to speak (6 months ago) she started to sign (when she talks), it can be a great help to us as sometimes her speech is unclear so a sign helps us to understand what she is saying.

I hope that helps .

for sure. we were told she would not be verbal due to her poor oromotor/ coordination (she was tube fed intially as she was born with no gag/ swallow) and would always be reliant on alternative communication (she also used a 'Big Mac' switch). she was started on makaton by the slt at about 18 mos (she'd had slt input from birth due to her feeding difficulties) but didn't really start to sign herself until about 6 mos later - her fine motor was also compromised, so it was a bit like trying to read scribble...

imo makaton was the breakthrough that enabled two way 'conversation', as well as allowing her to join in with singing at nursery - the nursery were very good and her keyworker went on makaton trg to support her. so all the kids signed at songtime as well as sang. she still loves to sing lol, she's just noisier now

(but you do need to check uni rules re keeping data - some insist on it being stored for x amount of time - ie in case they need to revisit your dissertation (just in case they think you've made it all up, for example ), so you need to check their rules on data handling. even if you're not intending on using quotes etc, it will have been used to formulate your opinions. are you putting a data collection section in your write-up?

My dd is 8 and her only form of communication at the moment is signalong. It is a lifesaver for us and has reduced her tantrums significantly. She is always demanding things and also enjoy participating in songs.

For us makaton has had a large impact took ds 18 months to sign back but when he did was like watching a light go on that he could communicate

Our son is almost 3 years and totaly non-verbal. He is currently being assessed for ASD.
He attended Tiny Talk (baby sign language classes) and uses a combination of makaton and signs he has made up.

Something Special is his favorrate programme.

I firmly believe that this has helped reduce tantrums and enabled him to communicate his needs as well as have "conversations" about things he has seen or done.

MAdwoman- I had nearly forgotten teh goldilocks rap, you just bought it flooding back.... thanks
Boy hasn't asked to watch "dave and tractor" for a while.

sorry!

Thank you to everyone who has posted stories on here so far they have been extreamly useful!
This is an on goig study until about the middle of Mayso if anyone else can contribute to my research by just saying a little bit about how Makaton has effected themselves and their interaction with their child I would be very greatful.
Thank you again for all your help so far

We stared using signs with my DS when he was 2.2, but we had no luck and a very unhelpful SALT who just gave us the pictures without teaching me the signs, so I had to ask on here. It didnt seem to be working and we were both getting frustrated, so we gave up.

Then just after DS's third birthday (which was in March) he started watching Mr Tumble, and I bought him some DVD's. Since then he has picked up alot of the signs, but also the words. This means that he doesnt use the signs to communicate to me as he already can say the words, but its really helped his social language so that he will notice and item like a teddy or a car and be able to name it and sign. His signs are very arkward and if you didnt know what he was signing you wouldny be able to guess. His co-ordination is bad so his interpretations are always a little off. Such as 'red', he doesnt touch his lips, but his hair, and with 'nurse' where he touches his chest rather that his arm.

It has also helped as his receptive language is very poor, but he understands the signs for No, wait and stop, so I can use these to help him to understand what I want him to do. We are learning more and more and its really helping his social language.

Another non-verbal one here (aged nearly 8) who can sign quite a few things, but you have to know what she intends to be able to interprete. Her hand control is not good enouogh to make clear signs.

I would complain that Makaton take too much close control over the availability of signing and symbol material, making it too expensive for families to buy anything, and we have to rely on SS on TV or school dissemination of material. Something Special DVDs are also very expensive.

I think it should be available on the NHS!

The vocab is also too small for much school topic work after the basics, so many schools are changing to alternatives.

Hi, have only just seen this thread.
I teach baby and toddler sign language which I've been doing professionally now since last October. Prior to that I taught my DC the odd sign just for fun.

At the moment I have three different age groups, 12 to 18 months, 2 to 3+ and 4 to 6 (this is a relatively new class which I started after the older siblings of some 3 year olds wanted to join in too) At the moment none of the children are known to have SN. I have however been asked to do one to one sessions with a boy who is autistic. He is 10 years old and his mother says his 'mental age' (not sure if this is the right term so apologise if it isn't) is around 18 months. His lessons start tomorrow and I'm really hoping that I can help him as he has no communication skills at all at the moment from what I understand.

When I started my classes last October at first I was concerned that some of the children were not taking much in but then after about 4 weeks one boy (aged 18 months) that had shown no interest previously suddenly started signing along to a song and it was obvious he had been absorbing it all.

If you have any specific questions please feel free to email me on
[email protected]

Hi, Thanks for your mail, I explained to my class this morning what you are doing and have passed on your contact details so hopefully they will be in touch with you.

I used Signalong with all of my kids - 2 NT, one with sensory issues.

DD (now aged 6) used her first signs from around 9 months and used them along with words until she was about 18months, when she used speech alone.

DS1 (4 now) used only a few signs, but used them really well and appropriately. He was speech delayed (still is!) and will still occasionally use a sign if the stupid idiot adult is not getting his words.

DS2 is 16 months and uses lots of signs, and really well, it's lovely.

In my work (teacher) I used Signalong all the time as part of a total communication environment. It's a fab tool. One thing that really, really annoys me - teaching children the sign for "please" and "thankyou" as the third or fourth sign! Totally meaningless in many, many cases. Let them TALK to you first, THEN they can thank you! I find food signs often the best to start with, and learning them through songs is the best way to teach them! HTH x

We started sing and sign when my twins were 9 months old. I didn't realise until much later that the signs were based on Makaton.

DS2 started signing a couple of signs when he was a year old (more was the first one) and still signs occasionally although he is a prolific talker. DS1 had no signs at all until he was 28 months. We actually did an extra term of S&S to see if he would pick it up despite the advice of our useless SALT who said if he hadn't picked it up after a year then he never would. I'm very glad we persisted because now he uses loads of signs and understands virtually all of them. He had no words until he was 2.5 and it's been slow progress since then. We are using the signs to prompt words if he isn't sure what to say so I sign the word and he says it. It seems to help the words come to him. We also use them to try and work out what he wants because he's very poor at requesting things.

And DH and I use the signs to communicate to each other when we can't hear. Very useful!