Makaton Monthly, March 2021

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March 2021

Welcome to the March issue of Makaton Monthly.

March Madness sale
It's March Madness time again! Get 15% off the cost of most resources. Offer valid until Wednesday 31st March 2021.

March Madness

Our Makaton Member Events have been a huge success!
We have welcomed over 350 people to our webinars over the past few weeks and have received fantastic feedback and support. All our members who attended felt that they benefitted from the sessions and would like to attend future events.

If you missed any of the live webinars but would like to watch the recording of either of the previous events on ‘Early Communication’ and ‘Employment’, they are available to view within the Makaton Library in the 'Member Events' folder, together with two new supporting resources (see below).

Exclusive Makaton Member Events are designed to put the principles of Makaton into practice. The webinars bring you experienced individuals, from a wide variety of professions, to provide innovative ideas and insight into how Makaton can be used within your daily lives and communication journey.

We recently had Sarah Norman, a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and Makaton Tutor, talk about the Early Communication Pyramid and how Makaton can be used within each stage of communication. All events are included within your annual membership.

Some of our events are free for everyone to attend, these events are run in collaboration with partner organisations and are designed to be a central hub of support and information. We recently held a joint event with Mencap, discussing their four training programmes, which provide advice and assistance to people with SEND or a learning disability who would like to enter the world of into work.

What the attendees have said so far…

“Really enjoyed it, really well presented and clear information. Definitely worth attending.”
“Thought it was fabulous, have signed up for loads more!”
“Great idea to include these webinars as part of membership. Good that they are recorded so they can be accessed at a later time if the time doesn’t suit or to replay information.”
“It was a brilliant session, and I took a lot from it. I’ve booked myself on to some more of the webinars.”

What are you waiting for? See the link below to get yourself booked onto the upcoming events…

Member Events

New resources for Members
The following new resources are available to Members (in the Library go to 'Core Resources' then 'Activities and Games').

I Hear, I See is a fantastic resource to support with communication while you're out and about. It includes scripts for communication partners, signs and symbols for flash cards, and an observation sheet to help you remember what you have seen.

Joining Two Words Together supports joining words together within early communication. The principles can be used with other symbols available in the Library.

Become a Member today!
Core Membership give you access to:

Core Vocabulary signs, symbols, and videos
Additional resources to support you day-to-day
The ability to download up to 40 assets per month including: signs, symbols, videos and resources
Access to the MakaChat community, where you can gain support and advice from our knowledgeable Tutors, Ambassadors and other members
Access to Member events

Become a Core Member

Tailor-made membership packages... Coming soon!
We know it is important for you to have access to the right vocabulary to suit your situation and needs, and this can differ between our members. Over the next few months, we will be introducing ‘add-on’ options for your Core Membership, including:

Living and Learning
Animals
Transport and Vehicles

Little Bilinguals: books & downloads
The Little Bilinguals Sing 'n' Sign a Language books are collections of original songs combined with carefully illustrated Makaton line drawings of signs. Available in Spanish and French.

Suitable for the whole family, these delightful songs and Makaton line drawings of familiar signs lift the barriers to language learning in a fun and interactive way.

Created to encourage and support a love for learning languages, these songs are the perfect resource to supplement language learning, and are suitable for all ages and abilities.

Get the accompanying Spanish or French songs and karaoke tracks for free when you buy the book.

Each song is also available individually as a downloadable PDF and MP3 audio file.

Little Bilinguals: books & downloads

New date for the MakaHike!
If you are craving an adventure and would like to set yourself a challenge, we have the perfect event for you!

On Saturday 11th September 2021, we are taking on the majestic and awe-inspiring Mount Snowdon in Wales. Rising 1,085 meters above sea level, there’s something wild and breathtakingly beautiful about the Snowdonia landscape, with soaring, sharp and magnificent peaks rising up high above the deep welsh valleys.

Depending on your experience and abilities the ‘MakaHikers’ will set off at different times to tackle Snowdon, the route will be a challenging 8-9 mile ascending hike, taking around 6 -8 hours to summit and return.

Once everyone has reached the summit there will be a Makaton ‘sing and sign’ to celebrate our achievements and promote the wonderful work of The Makaton Charity.

We would be delighted if you were able to join us!

The hike costs £49, this includes organisation, small group mountain guides and your insurance. We are asking people who are taking on the ‘Makahike’ challenge to commit to a minimum of £150 in fundraising – which can all be done online through our wonderful donation portal.

If you can’t join us, you can show your support by donating to our brilliant team of Makahikers!

MakaHike: info, application & donation

#21signs to Include me
We are delighted to collaborate with Positive about Down Syndrome to promote signing in pre and primary school settings.

#21signs to include me is a fun and engaging way for young children to enjoy Makaton and be able to communicate better with Makaton users.

The interactive calendar reveals one of the signs each day, demonstrated by 3 people - an adult, teen and child. This has been running from the 1st March with the final sign revealed on the 21st March, which marks World Down Syndrome Awareness Day.

PADS works hard to ensure children and young people with Down syndrome are fully included valued members of their communities.

Thanks to Amanda Glennon (Makaton Ambassador Tutor) for her support with this project.

#21signs to include me

My online training experience
"I decided to book on the Level 1 course to get a proper certificate. I chose this particular course with this tutor so I could grow my knowledge of signs, starting from the very beginning."

My online training experience

Staffordshire University Collaboration with Makaton Tutors
"In early 2020 we engaged with Makaton Tutor Amanda Glennon from Inclusive Teaching Matters to deliver Makaton to our students on Campus. This was so beneficial we wanted to offer this to students in 2021, however with a lockdown in place we had to be a little bit creative and decided to move to online training.

"During February, Amanda and a team of Makaton Tutors delivered a mammoth month of online Level 1 Makaton training for our Education and Early Childhood Studies students at Staffordshire University. And what a month!"

Staffordshire University Collaboration with Makaton Tutors

Happy MOMents' Makaton journey
"Happy MOMents is a network of families that provide support, services and fun for the whole family in Batley and Dewsbury in Yorkshire.

"From a Makaton Taster Session with Kerry Cawley in December 2019 (for 20 volunteers and as many children!) to 16 of our volunteers being trained up to Level 2 Makaton in October 2020 in between lockdowns, Makaton has been transformative to our transition as an organisation during lockdown."

Happy MOMents' Makaton journey

Our free resources, including Make your own Mother's Day card and vocabulary for Easter, are now stored in the Makaton Library. To access them simply:

Go to makaton.org
Sign in (or create a free account)
Click on Free resources in the burger menu
Click on the Makaton Library button

Free resources