New Partnership: Makaton
Collaboration is key!
As parents, we know there are many paths to success, and success will look very different for every child. As a community there is no one size fits all, and here at Learn and Thrive we believe in bringing together different strategies that help meet the needs of our community. By reaching out and collaborating with others, we can ensure that children and young people stay at the heart of every decision we make!
That's why we are so pleased to announce our partnership with The Makaton Charity in our upcoming language videos developed with Symbol UK.
As of today, over 100,000 children and adults use Makaton symbols and signs, either as their main method of communication or to support speech. Therefore, it would be a surprise to discover that this is your first introduction to Makaton. However, if that is the case, we’ll begin by explaining a bit about the charity for your benefit.
According to the Makaton website:
Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs, and speech to enable people to communicate. It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression.
With Makaton, signs are used, with speech, in spoken word order. This helps provide extra clues about what someone is saying. Using signs can help people who have no speech or whose speech is unclear. Using symbols can help people who have limited speech and those who cannot, or prefer not to sign.
As you may know by now, we are a new charity supporting learners with Down’s syndrome to access free, specialist support to help them learn and thrive. Covering the whole of the UK and beyond, we’re passionate about our community, and are very present and connected to those that need our support, both in-person and virtually. Makaton signing has a huge impact on our community, unlocking early communication skills, and giving our children and young people the opportunity to better access the world around them. When you can communicate through words or signs, you are less likely to rely on negative behaviours to get your needs meet. We see this every day in our work with children with Down's syndrome, so we decided that Makaton should be a cornerstone of the next phase of videos.
How does Makaton support our community?
Children and adults who have Down's syndrome can experience delay or difficulty with their speech, language and communication skills. However, this hugely varies, as no two people are the same! Introducing Makaton! The Down's syndrome community in particular, hugely benefit from this programme, as it's proven to make unclear speech more understandable, or it can be used as a way of communicating for those with no speech.
About Partnership
Partnering with Makaton felt like a seamless relationship as our ethos' and communities are similar, and we use their programmes in our everyday work and personal life. In a study on the efficiency of Makaton, Anna Larkin stated that 'Makaton is effective in facilitating communication and social interaction in children and young people. It allows children flexibility in communicating in ways that suit them, increasing feelings of inclusivity, and leading to a better quality of life... Makaton gives a voice, be it literal or not, to children who may otherwise not have been able to express themselves'. This is something that we hugely resonate with here at Learn and Thrive, as our whole purpose is to break down barriers, and support people with Down's syndrome to live their best life! For this reason, we’re pleased to say that they’re working with us on our new 'Exploring Language' videos for early years and young children.
It's coming very soon, so sign up here to get the information directly in your inbox!