Effective communication within health and social care

Can you imagine what it would be like if you couldn't understand speech? How would you cope?

Write down how this would really make you feel!What would you miss the most?

Monday 11th October 2010

Todays lesson objectives

• All of us will be able to identify the service users that could benefit from both sign language and Makaton

• Most of us will be able to explain the difference between MAKATON and sign language

• Some of us will start investigating how certain things are said/ represented in MAKATON and BSL

What’s the difference between MAKATON and SIGN LANGUAGE?

• Makaton is designed to help hearing people with learning and communication difficulties, it is an aid to communication not a language as such

• Makaton is unique because it combines signs, symbols, and speech to provide multi-modal communication

What is sign language?

• Sign language is a visual means of communicating using gestures, facial expressions and body language.

THINK…what service users may need sign language?

• Those who are deaf and have hearing impairments may use sign language

• BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE is the preferred language of between 50 – 70 000 people in the UK.

BSL has its very own alphabet….can you draw your name in your exercise books?

Lets see if we can learn some…

• http://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn_signs_weather.php

• http://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn_signs_school.php

MAKATON is different to BSL

• Makaton uses speech together with a sign (gesture) and/ or a symbol (picture),

• The Makaton programme can be used with autistic children and adults and is recognised as a useful method of developing communication.

• Makaton can help if a child has difficulties with understanding and speaking.

• We all hope that we will be able to talk to our friends, but for some people this can be a problem. We know that Makaton can help

• Makaton was developed in the 1970s to help people with learning disability to communicate.

• Makaton uses speech together with a sign (gesture) and/ or a symbol (picture), for example:

SLEEP SLEEP

WHEREWHERE

Research has shown that signs/ gestures are easier to learn than spoken words.

Draw these in your exercise books

Frustration!

• People who can’t speak often become withdrawn

• They may communicate through behaviours like shouting or harming themselves

• By using Makaton, it can help them communicate in a more acceptable way

Adam Matthews, 10, was diagnosed with autism at about three and half. He

had started to make sounds and said a few

words but then it disappeared.

He became a very frustrated and cross little boy not being able to get across what he wantedOn his fourth birthday he started a special nursery where they started teaching him Makaton, he took to it very quicklyHe is now 10 and his speech is fantastic. He can make himself understood through speech but also signs to back it up

Frequently asked questions about Makaton…

• What's a symbol?A symbol is a picture used to represent a word• When do you use symbols?Symbols can be used to develop language and

reading skills• Who needs to use Makaton?We learn to speak by listening to other people

speaking. Everyone needs to learn signs/ symbols and use them as much as possible to help the person communicate.

http://www.makaton.org/about/users.htm/

The most basic level is where one symbol or sign represents a whole sentence or message. For example, the symbol or sign for eat could be used to represent the

whole sentence the man is eating an orange.

The next level is to use key symbols and/ or signs to convey all the meaning, but not the grammatical items. So the symbols or signs for man, eat and orange would be used to represent the whole sentence.

THE MAN IS EATING AN ORANGE

THE MAN IS EATING AN ORANGE

Plenary

• In groups of two think of something to say to the class using your sign language alphabet

• Or draw a picture that you think could be used in MAKATON to represent something

Have we achieved what we wanted?

• Have all of us identified the service users that could benefit from both sign language and Makaton

• Can most of explain the difference between MAKATON and sign language

• Have some of us started to investigate how certain things are said/ represented in MAKATON and BSL