Sunday 28th August 2022 marks the first official Makaton International Awareness Day, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Makaton Language Programme.

Our colleague Jacky Smith, Communication Development Practitioner, has recently been learning Makaton online. Read about her experience below.

“Recently I have been learning Makaton online.

Makaton is a language programme made up of signs and picture symbols and is designed to support children and adults who have communication support needs. The signs are taken from or adapted from British Sign Language (BSL), and the symbols are designed so they can be drawn freehand. Makaton is split up into eight stages of signs and symbols and is taught over four workshops. The language programme is designed so that the most used signs are in the first stages.

Before the pandemic, Makaton was almost always taught in-person, but now there is a choice of in-person or online. I searched for workshops on https://makaton.org and chose to learn online as it gave me more flexibility in dates. The workshops I chose cost £77 each, which seems to be average for online workshops.

All of the online workshops I attended were split over two half days, and held on Zoom. I received a Participant’s Manual through the post before each workshop, and some additional materials by email which I needed to print off. Each workshop was a small group of between 3 and 6, and the other participants were a mix of professionals (mostly working with children) and parents.  Each workshop was a mix of presentations, learning the signs and symbols, and exercises in smaller groups.

Makaton Workshop Level 1

Mike, the Makaton Tutor, works for the Makaton Charity, and had a wealth of knowledge he could draw on in his teaching and to answer our questions. We covered the signs for Stages 1 & 2 and some additional vocabulary. Everyone was friendly and supportive, and the pacing and content were just right. I learned that my thumbs have a mind of their own when I am signing and need to be tamed. Mike wanted to be able to see all our signs properly so we needed space behind us to move back so the camera could pick us up from waist to head, so I needed a fair bit of room behind me so I could move the chair back.

Makaton Level 2

I booked in for the Makaton Level 2 Workshop a few weeks later. This time I chose a workshop with Laura, who is a Licenced Makaton Tutor. We revised the signs from Stage 1 & 2 and covered the signs and symbols for stage 3 & 4. Laura had lots of great tips for remembering the less straightforward signs and reminded us all that Makaton works best if we slow down a bit. I think that is good advice for me. I felt that my thumbs were less wayward too.

Makaton Level 3

I chose to do my Level 3 Workshop with Mike, after a gap of a couple of months. We covered stages 5 & 6, and practiced translating sentences into Makaton. We then moved on to Objective and Subjective pronouns. I must have missed that lesson at school, but luckily Mike explained clearly what they are before we moved on to learn the signs and symbols. Mike also suggested we record ourselves practicing our signs using Microsoft Teams or Zoom, as a way for us to review the accuracy of our signs. I still have to book my level 4 Workshop but plan to do that soon.

I often use Makaton in my day-to-day work, and it was useful for me to have a refresher on the signs. I brushed up on some of my handshapes and placement, and we had some interesting discussions about interpreting and translating spoken/written words into Makaton and the performative aspects of sign.

My takeaway though is that signing doesn’t need to be perfect, so long as we do the best that we can, and keep learning. That is pretty much my feeling about communication too; if we have a genuine interest in communication, keep on learning and keep on trying then communication will flow.”

Written by Jacky Smith, Communication Development Practitioner