All About Makaton

Imagine a day of not being able to communicate in any form - how frustrating would that be? Being able to communicate is one of the essential skills we need in life. For some children and adults with communication difficulties, expressing their needs and feelings can be extremely challenging. Makaton is one of many solutions to enable them to connect with other people and the world around them.

So what is Makaton? Makaton uses speech with gestures and symbols to help people communicate more clearly. Makaton is designed to support spoken language, and you might have been using Makaton yourself without realising! Here are some examples of Makaton signs and symbols:

Today, over 100,000 children and adults use Makaton signs and symbols to help them complete everyday tasks, learn, ask for food, sort out problems, make friends, and have fun. Makaton is also used in some mainstream schools to support all children to develop communication, language and literacy skills. People looking after babies and young children may find Makaton signing useful too - Makaton aids understanding by giving you an extra visual clue to what is being expressed.

Learn more about Makaton here: