Makaton

I hadn't come across Makaton before, so thanks for drawing it to my attention, there are some very interesting ideas there.

I have rather the opposite problem to what seem to be the main core of Makaton users. My spoken language skills are reasonably good, and were as a child (with the exception of pragmatic language skills that rely on interpreting another person's state of mind). However, I have always had a great deal of difficulty with gestural and postural communication; almost a kind of "receptive dyspraxia" whereby I find it hard to interpret other people's body motion. I find it very hard to copy a demonstration of someone tying a knot or dancing, for example, because I can't translate their movements into equivalent movements of my own.

My initial answer to your question was; "I'm the kind of autistic person who doesn't need this.". But then I wondered whether anyone had any comments about using Makaton as a means to use speech to augment gestural skills rather than the more common way around. I can also lose speech and/or the ability to understand others' speech when I have a melt-down or shut-down, so I wondered whether people find that they can still sign at times when they lose their speech temporarily in this way.

Greetings. For what it is worth, I really like this idea, the whole "Makaton" thing. 

It is unfortunate that it is not more well known, and is done away with in favour of speaking. There would be a lot less 'screaming babies upon the bus' if their "carers" taught them Signs from the very start. Also, if anyone looks below, in the "related" section, there are few Makaton Threads, and they are very short - too short. There is more information upon the general Internet, fortunately. In any case, Good Luck with what you do, Mr. David.  

Extremely helpful. I was lucky enough to do the Makaton training and work with young children. It's amazing how quick it is picked up and is a great form of communication 

Knighton, Radnorshire.  Since posting yesterday, I've put a tentative bid in to Avivia for the money to buy noise-cancelling head phones, as suggested by the members of this forum.  If we get through to the vote, I'll be back to ask for some voting support!

What a great initiative.  What town is that?

The use of Makaton to aid communication with dementia patients is also an interesting development.  

This is of interest to me too, David as we have just had a grant from the Tesco carrier bag fund to try and make our town "Makaton-friendly".  Our thinking is that if everyone in our primary school can learn to sign Makaton from the start, children with additional language needs should not feel so isolated.  Makaton is also being used with some success in care homes in south Wales for residents living with dementia.

I'm interested to hear what the ASD community think.