Makaton

Also called Makaton signing, Makaton symbols

Signs and symbols used with speech, in English word order, to help people with learning disabilities understand and be understood.

What it is

Makaton is a programme that uses signs, symbols and speech together. You say the sentence in normal spoken English and sign the key words as you say them, and the same words have a matching line drawing that can go on a timetable, a label or a card. It was developed in the early 1970s by Margaret Walker, a speech and language therapist working with adults with learning disabilities, and it is run today by The Makaton Charity.

It is not a language and it does not claim to be. The signs are borrowed from British Sign Language but they are used in English order, with speech, and most sentences sign only the two or three words that carry the meaning. A Deaf person who uses BSL will recognise many of the signs and will find the grammar missing. That is by design: the point is to support spoken English, not to replace it.

The vocabulary is organised in stages. The Core Vocabulary is a few hundred concepts covering the essentials of daily life, taught in a fixed order of stages, and the much larger Resource Vocabulary sits behind it for topics from science to religion.

Who it can help

Children and adults with a learning disability who understand more than they can say, or who find spoken words alone hard to hold on to. Children with Down's syndrome are the classic case: many sign before they speak, and the signing does not delay speech. It also helps autistic children for whom a visual word is steadier than a spoken one, and it is widely used in early years settings for every child, where it does no harm and gives the children who need it a head start.

It is not the right choice for a Deaf child, who needs a full language, and it is not enough on its own for someone with a great deal to say and no speech, who will outgrow a few hundred key-word signs and need a symbol vocabulary or a speech-generating device alongside it. Makaton and a device are not rivals, and plenty of people use both.

How it works

Three things happen at once. You speak the whole sentence, you sign the key words, and where a symbol is useful you show it. The multi-sensory redundancy is the mechanism: a person who lost the spoken word still has the sign in front of them, and the person who cannot yet sign back can point to the symbol.

The signs are chosen and simplified for people with motor difficulties, so a Makaton sign is sometimes a coarser version of the BSL one. Symbols are black-and-white line drawings, deliberately simple, and each concept has one.

Training runs in levels. Level 1 and 2 workshops cover the first stages of the Core Vocabulary over two days each, and Levels 3 and 4 go further. Tutors are licensed by the charity, and the vocabulary and symbols are copyright; a school or service that wants to print them buys a licence or uses the charity's own materials.

Getting started

Learn ten signs this week and use them every time the word comes up: more, finished, drink, eat, toilet, help, good, bad, please, thank you. Sign as you speak, never instead of speaking, and do not wait for the person to sign back before you carry on. This is modelling without expectation, and it is how everyone learns.

Then book a Level 1 workshop through The Makaton Charity, which lists local tutors. A parent, a keyworker and the person's teacher all doing the same course is worth more than one expert, because the signs only work if the whole household and classroom use them.

Put symbols where the words live: on the fridge, the bathroom door, the visual timetable. And keep the speech. Makaton without speech is not Makaton.

Where to get help

The Makaton Charity for training, resources, a free sign of the week and a directory of tutors. Your speech and language therapist can advise whether Makaton, Signalong or a symbol system suits the person, and the NHS route is a referral to speech and language therapy. Mencap and the Down's Syndrome Association both have practical guidance on signing with children and adults.