Every year on 28th August, we celebrate Makaton International Awareness Day. This date was chosen to mark the birth date of Margaret Walker, the British speech and language therapist who developed the Makaton language programme.
What is Makaton?
Makaton is a unique language programme that combines signs, symbols and speech to help facilitate understanding and communication. It can be used for all ages and abilities, but is commonly used to support those who experience difficulties with speech, language, or cognitive processing. It can also be used by autistic people and those with a learning disability. It is an inclusive way to support communication skills and enables users to connect with others. Tools like Makaton play an important role in breaking down barriers, building confidence, and helping people connect
While it is widely used by people with learning disabilities and communication challenges, Makaton is also regularly used in mainstream schools to support literacy and social communication skills in children. You may have seen Makaton symbols in public places such as libraries, hospitals, and schools!
Try it out: “Hello, my name is…”
Here is how to sign “Hello, my name is…” in Makaton:
Learn more
The NHS has a helpful Makaton vocabulary guide to get started.
The Makaton Charity offer dozens of free downloadable resources to support your Makaton learning journey, including vocabulary, activities, games, and stories. You can also take Makaton training online.
Other Communication Support
Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) refers to all ways that someone may communicate aside from talking. Makaton is a type of AAC, but it can also include any use objects, symbols, photographs, and technology to help those who may struggle more with written and verbal communication, including autistic people who may struggle with non-verbal communication.
- Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) is a system that uses pictures to support users to communicate their needs.
- Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCAs) are speech generating devices where the user selects words or phrases from a pre-recorded.
- Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) books are symbol-based books to support communication.
- Text-to-speech functions on tablets and smartphones or apps such as Jabtalk and ClaroCom.
