Makaton

Makaton might sound like one of Dr Who’s adversaries or a Star Trek planet but it’s a popular and increasingly widely used communication tool for those with speech and/or other physical impairments.

While conventional sign language (BSL) is primarily an aid for those with deafness or hearing difficulties others with different physical or other limitations may find signing alone difficult to manage. Makaton uses signs along with symbols to augment speech and the written word to increase understanding making expressive communication easier.

It’s very flexible in that it can be tailored to the individual’s needs at a level they’re comfortable with. Our course is specifically designed for adults with different levels of physical disabilities and learning difficulties.

The Makaton ‘dictionary’ comprises two vocabularies. A core vocabulary, comprising essential words or concepts of increasing complexity and a much larger topic based resource vocabulary of signs and symbols covering broader life experiences and used in association with the Core Vocabulary. It is this Core Vocabulary that is the primary focus of our foundation course.

More detailed information on how Makaton works can be found on the Makaton site here.