Makaton is a use of signs and symbols to help people communicate and is designed to support the development of spoken language.
Makaton signs are based on the gestures from British Sign Language, however, unlike BSL, Makaton signs are used alongside speech at all times to promote the use of speech as well as gesture. This means that eventually the use of signs and symbols can be reduced as the child develops their speech.
For children, their understanding develops ahead of their speech, therefore this can leave them feeling very frustrated as they know what they want but struggle to express it. The use of Makaton Signing can help them to express what they want to say, supporting their communication in many different ways.
All of our nurseries are fully inclusive and teach Makaton signing to develop the childrens communication and language skills. Makaton not only helps children with a delay in their speech, but also enables children to communicate to those of different first languages too.
We are proud to have several members of staff that have achieved their level 3 qualification in Makaton.
Over 100,000 children and adults use Makaton signs and symbols as their main method of communication or as a way to support speech.
Makaton can help children and adults who have difficulty:
Makaton is increasingly being used in an inclusive way with all children, not just for those with communication difficulties.
Wouldn't Change a Thing is a charity that we support here at Country Kids Day Nursery.
They are a charity trying to achieve a world where negative outdated perceptions of Down Sydrome are a thing of the past. They do this by creating and promoting projects to directly challenge outdated perceptions.
We raise awareness at nursery to support the 'Wouldn't Change a Thing' charity by doing things with the children, like wearing odd socks to nursery, or weekly we share Evie and Sophies 'Signs of the Week' videos to raise awareness on our social media pages.