#272 Makaton

Whenever I am “home”, I always am excited to walk past a particular building which proudly displays the Makaton Friendly sign.

I had never heard of Makaton* until I started working in North London and had the honour of teaching Sarah, a student who experiences Down’s Syndrome.

I say teaching, however, in many ways, Sarah and her family taught me so much regarding inclusion, implementation and integrity.

I hold dear to many of those lessons, continuing to draw on them in my day to day practice and thus welcome the visual reminder (of the Makaton Friendly sign) as and when I am back “home”.

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* Makaton.org provides the following definition, “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.” https://makaton.org/TMC/About_Makaton/What_is_Makaton.aspx