Makaton

Last updated

Makaton is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system which uses signs (hand gestures) and symbols (images) alongside speech & written words to support communication. Despite its use of signs, Makaton is not a sign language. [1]

Contents

Makaton is used by hearing people with communication challenges and learning disabilities to communicate and supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention, listening, comprehension, memory and expressive speech and language. [2] [3] The Makaton language programme has been used with individuals who have cognitive impairments, autism, Down syndrome, specific language impairment, multisensory impairment and acquired neurological disorders that have negatively affected the ability to communicate, including stroke and dementia patients. [2] [4]

The name "Makaton" is derived from the names of three members of the original teaching team at Botleys Park Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey: Margaret Walker (the designer of the programme and speech therapist at Botleys Park), Katherine Johnston and Tony Cornforth (psychiatric hospital visitors from the Royal Association for Deaf People). [5]

Makaton is a registered trademark of The Makaton Charity, which was established in 2007 [6] to replace the original charitable trust, the Makaton Vocabulary Development Project, established in 1983. The original trademark application for Makaton was filed in Britain on 28 August 1979, with registration approved as from that date under trademark registration no. 1119745. [7]

Programme

The Makaton Language Programme uses a multimodal approach to teach communication, language and, where appropriate literacy skills, through a combination of speech, signs, and graphic symbols used concurrently, or, only with speech with signs, or, only with speech with graphic symbols as appropriate for the student's needs. [3] It consists of a Core Vocabulary of roughly 450 concepts that are taught in a specific order (there are eight different stages). For example, stage one involves teaching vocabulary for immediate needs, like "eat" and "drink".

Later stages contain more complex and abstract vocabulary such as time and emotions. Once basic communication has been established, the student can progress in their language use, using whatever modes are most appropriate. [3] Also, although the programme is organised in stages, it can be modified and tailored to the individual's needs. [2] In addition to the Core Vocabulary, there is a Makaton Resource Vocabulary of over 11,000 concepts which are illustrated with signs and graphic symbols. [3]

Development

Original research was conducted by Margaret Walker in 1972/73, [8] and resulted in the design of the Makaton Core Vocabulary based on functional need. This research was conducted with institutionalised deaf cognitively impaired adults resident at Botleys Park Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey (which closed in 2008). The aim was to enable them to communicate using signs from British Sign Language. [3] [9] [10] Fourteen deaf and cognitively impaired adults participated in the pilot study, and all were able to learn to use manual signs; improved behaviour was also noted. [3] Shortly after, the Core Vocabulary was revised to include both children and adults with severe communication difficulties (including individuals who could hear), and was used in many schools throughout Britain in order to stimulate communication and language. [3] [9] [10]

In the early stages of development, Makaton used only speech and manual signs (without symbols). [3] By 1985, work had begun to include graphic symbols in the Makaton Language Programme and a version including graphic symbols was published in 1986. [3] The Core Vocabulary was revised in 1986 to include additional cultural concepts.

The Makaton Vocabulary Development Project was founded in 1976 by Margaret Walker, who worked in a voluntary capacity as director until her retirement in October 2008. The first Makaton training workshop was held in 1976 and supporting resources and further training courses were, and continue to be, developed. In 1983 the Makaton Vocabulary Development Project became a charitable trust, and in 2007 it changed its status to become the Makaton Charity. [3] [9]

Use

Makaton is used extensively across Britain and has been adapted for use in different countries; signs from each country's deaf community are used, along with culturally relevant Makaton symbols. [2] For example, within Britain, Makaton uses signs from British Sign Language; the signs are mainly from the London and South East England regional dialect. [11]

Makaton has also been adapted for use in over 40 countries, including France, Greece, Japan, Kuwait and the Gulf, Russia, South Africa and Switzerland. Using signs from each country's own existing sign language ensures that they reflect each country's unique culture and also provide a bank of further signs if required for use with Makaton.

In 1991 The Makaton Charity produced a video/DVD of children's familiar nursery rhymes, signed, spoken and sung by a well-known children's TV presenter, Dave Benson Phillips, who had previously used Makaton with poems and rhymes in the Children's BBC show Playdays . The aim was for it to be enjoyed by children with developmental disabilities and their peers and siblings. Following this major success, in 2003 it became a significant part of the BBC's Something Special programmes on the CBeebies programme thread, presented by Justin Fletcher as "Mr Tumble", which has won numerous awards and is now into its thirteenth series.

On 16 November 2018, comedian Rob Delaney read a book on the BBC's children's channel CBeebies entirely in Makaton and English; he had used Makaton to communicate with his late son Henry, who was rendered unable to talk after a tracheotomy. [12]

Criticism

Members of the Deaf community, including the British Deaf Association, have been critical of Makaton. A 2022 statement by the British Deaf Association decried the rapid growth of social media posts using "sign supported communication systems" such as Makaton and Signalong, emphasizing the limited nature of these non-languages. [1] The statement argued that it would make more sense to teach both hearing and deaf children signs from British Sign Language, enabling them to communicate with the Deaf community. [1] Scholarly critique of Makaton has included questioning of its methodology of sign selection and usage, and suggestions that the "teaching method and vocabulary structure were highly restrictive and, if not revised, might impede communication skill development with some children." [13] Other considerations focus on the proprietary nature of Makaton, believing that protecting the integrity of the signs & symbols with Copyright restricts access to Makaton. [14]

Related Research Articles

The three models of deafness are rooted in either social or biological sciences. These are the cultural model, the social model, and themedicalmodel. The model through which the deaf person is viewed can impact how they are treated as well as their own self perception. In the cultural model, the Deaf belong to a culture in which they are neither infirm nor disabled, but rather have their own fully grammatical and natural language. In the medical model, deafness is viewed undesirable, and it is to the advantage of the individual as well as society as a whole to "cure" this condition. The social model seeks to explain difficulties experienced by deaf individuals that are due to their environment.

Signing Exact English is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English language vocabulary and grammar. It is one of a number of such systems in use in English-speaking countries. It is related to Seeing Essential English (SEE-I), a manual sign system created in 1945, based on the morphemes of English words. SEE-II models much of its sign vocabulary from American Sign Language (ASL), but modifies the handshapes used in ASL in order to use the handshape of the first letter of the corresponding English word.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Sign Language</span>

New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. The purpose of the act was to create rights and obligations in the use of NZSL throughout the legal system and to ensure that the Deaf community had the same access to government information and services as everybody else. According to the 2013 Census, over 20,000 New Zealanders know NZSL.

Manually Coded English (MCE) is an umbrella term referring to a number of invented manual codes intended to visually represent the exact grammar and morphology of spoken English. Different codes of MCE vary in the levels of adherence to spoken English grammar, morphology, and syntax. MCE is typically used in conjunction with direct spoken English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augmentative and alternative communication</span> Techniques used for those with communication impairments

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language impairments, including congenital impairments such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment and autism, and acquired conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. AAC can be a permanent addition to a person's communication or a temporary aid. Stephen Hawking, probably the best-known user of AAC, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and communicated through a speech-generating device.

Manually coded languages (MCLs) are a family of gestural communication methods which include gestural spelling as well as constructed languages which directly interpolate the grammar and syntax of oral languages in a gestural-visual form—that is, signed versions of oral languages. Unlike the sign languages that have evolved naturally in deaf communities, these manual codes are the conscious invention of deaf and hearing educators, and as such lack the distinct spatial structures present in native deaf sign languages. MCLs mostly follow the grammar of the oral language—or, more precisely, of the written form of the oral language that they interpolate. They have been mainly used in deaf education in an effort to "represent English on the hands" and by sign language interpreters in K-12 schools, although they have had some influence on deaf sign languages where their implementation was widespread.

Clinical linguistics is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics involved in the description, analysis, and treatment of language disabilities, especially the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology. The study of the linguistic aspect of communication disorders is of relevance to a broader understanding of language and linguistic theory.

Singapore Sign Language, or SgSL, is the native sign language used by the deaf and hard of hearing in Singapore, developed over six decades since the setting up of the first school for the Deaf in 1954. Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the Singapore deaf community has had to adapt to many linguistic changes. Today, the local deaf community recognises Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) as a reflection of Singapore's diverse culture. SgSL is influenced by Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL), American Sign Language (ASL), Signing Exact English (SEE-II) and locally developed signs.

The Paget Gorman Sign System, also known as Paget Gorman Signed Speech (PGSS) or Paget Gorman Systematic Sign Language is a manually coded form of the English language, designed to be used with children with speech or communication difficulties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech-generating device</span> Augmenting speech device

Speech-generating devices (SGDs), also known as voice output communication aids, are electronic augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems used to supplement or replace speech or writing for individuals with severe speech impairments, enabling them to verbally communicate. SGDs are important for people who have limited means of interacting verbally, as they allow individuals to become active participants in communication interactions. They are particularly helpful for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) but recently have been used for children with predicted speech deficiencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deaf education</span> Education of the deaf and hard of hearing

Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to help students achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency and success in the school and community than they would achieve with a typical classroom education. There are different language modalities used in educational setting where students get varied communication methods. A number of countries focus on training teachers to teach deaf students with a variety of approaches and have organizations to support and advocate for deaf students.

Tangible symbols are a type of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) that uses objects or pictures that share a perceptual relationship with the items they represent as symbols. A tangible symbol's relation to the item it represents is perceptually obvious and concrete – the visual or tactile properties of the symbol resemble the intended item. Tangible Symbols can easily be manipulated and are most strongly associated with the sense of touch. These symbols can be used by individuals who are not able to communicate using speech or other abstract symbol systems, such as sign language. However, for those who have the ability to communicate using speech, learning to use tangible symbols does not hinder further developing acquisition of natural speech and/or language development, and may even facilitate it.

Partner-assisted scanning or listener-assisted scanning is an augmentative and alternative communication technique used to enable a person with severe speech impairments to communicate. The approach is used with individuals who, due to sickness or disability, have severe motor impairments and good memory and attention skills. It is used as an alternative to direct access to symbols, pictures, or speech generating devices when these are not used.

Semantic compaction, (Minspeak), conceptually described as polysemic (multi-meaning) iconic encoding, is one of the three ways to represent language in Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). It is a system utilized in AAC devices in which sequences of icons are combined in order to form a word or a phrase. The goal is to increase independent communication in individuals who cannot use speech. Minspeak is the only patented system for Semantic Compaction and is based on multi-meaning icons that code vocabulary in short sequences determined by rule-driven patterns. Minspeak has been used with both children and adults with various disabilities, including cerebral palsy, motor speech disorders, developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and adult onset disabilities such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Prelingual deafness refers to deafness that occurs before learning speech or language. Speech and language typically begin to develop very early with infants saying their first words by age one. Therefore, prelingual deafness is considered to occur before the age of one, where a baby is either born deaf or loses hearing before the age of one. This hearing loss may occur for a variety of reasons and impacts cognitive, social, and language development.

Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written with a lower case d. It later came to be used in a cultural context to refer to those who primarily communicate through sign language regardless of hearing ability, often capitalized as Deaf and referred to as "big D Deaf" in speech and sign. The two definitions overlap but are not identical, as hearing loss includes cases that are not severe enough to impact spoken language comprehension, while cultural Deafness includes hearing people who use sign language, such as children of deaf adults.

Signalong is an alternative and augmentative key-word signing communication method used by those individuals with speech, language and communication needs. The Signalong methodology has been effectively used with individuals who have cognitive impairments, autism, Down's Syndrome, specific language impairment, multisensory impairment, and acquired neurological disorders that have negatively affected the ability to communicate, including stroke patients, and people who speak English as a second or third language.

Margaret Walker is a British speech and language therapist who co-developed the language programme Makaton in the 1970s.

Lámh is an augmentative and alternative system of manual communication used in Ireland by developmentally disabled and neurodivergent children and adults. Many of the signs are adapted from Irish Sign Language (ISL), used by the Irish Deaf community.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "BDA statement on "sign systems" and the oppression of BSL". bda.org.uk. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Beukelman, David R.; Mirenda, Pat (2005). "Symbols and rate enhancement". Augmentative alternative communication: supporting children adults with complex communication need. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co. pp.  65–67. ISBN   978-1-55766-684-0. OCLC   59817863.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Grove, Nicola; Walker, Margaret (1990). "The Makaton Vocabulary: Using manual signs and graphic symbols to develop interpersonal communication". Augmentative and Alternative Communication. 6 (1): 15–28. doi:10.1080/07434619012331275284.
  4. ↑ Le Prevost, Patricia A. (2009). "Using the Makaton Vocabulary in early language training with a Down's baby: a single case study". Journal of the British Institute of Mental Handicap. 11 (1): 28–29. doi:10.1111/j.1468-3156.1983.tb00091.x.
  5. ↑ Sheehy, K; Duffy, H. "Attitudes to Makaton in the ages of integration and inclusion" (PDF). International Journal of Special Education. pp. 91–102. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Makaton Charity" . Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "MAKATON – UK00001119745". Intellectual Property Office – By number results. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Walker, M (1977) Teaching Sign Language to Deaf Mentally Handicapped Adults (A Practical Account and an Experimental Evaluation) in IMS Conference Proceedings 3, Language and the Mentally Handicapped (pp3-25) Kidderminster: British Institute of Mental Handicap
  9. 1 2 3 Byler, Judy Kay (2007). "The Makaton Vocabulary: An Analysis based on Recent Research". British Journal of Special Education. 12 (3): 109–116. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8578.1985.tb00622.x.
  10. 1 2 Walker M, Armfield A (September 1981). "What is the Makaton vocabulary?". Spec Educ Forward Trends. 8 (3): 19–20. PMID   6458105.
  11. ↑ Elton, Frances; Squelch, Linda (2009). London and South East Regional Signs. Lexisigns, http://www.lexisigns.co.uk
  12. ↑ Sandhu, Serina (9 October 2020). "Rob Delaney to read CBeebies bedtime story in Makaton, the AAC he learned to communicate with his ill son". i . Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Sheehy, Kieron; Duffy, Hester (2009). "Attitudes to Makaton in the ages on integration and inclusion". International Journal of Special Education. 24 (2): 92. ISSN   0827-3383 . Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  14. ↑ Nović, Sara (28 October 2024). "Signed Away". The Baffler. Retrieved 5 December 2024.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.