28 August is the Makaton International Awareness Day. At Treloar’s, Makaton assists staff and students to communicate on a daily basis.
During our work-up week, the Makaton tutors run a range of Makaton training; including Makaton Level 1 and 2 courses and our ‘taster’ session. Makaton is really beneficial for a lot of our students. It is a language programme which uses symbols, signs and speech to help develop essential communication skills. Whilst some students may not physically sign back to staff, they still use Makaton as a comprehension tool to aid their understanding of what people are communicating to them.
At Treloar’s, we use Makaton in a range of ways. This includes:
- Signs of the week which are shared in assembly and on a wall calendar
- Over 300 staff are trained to at least Level 1 Makaton to use on the house, in class, therapy and in many other departments and areas
- College have a Sing and Sign YouTube channel where they film songs using Makaton signing
- School and College have Sing and Sign clubs
- Makaton signing in the Christmas carol concert