Makaton

a language programme that uses a combination of speech, signs and graphic symbols as a communication aid for people who have difficulty speaking

In a media climate dominated by topics such as Brexit wrangling, the battle against plastic, or the controversial strategies of a Machiavellian US president, it's often easy to overlook those much lower key but genuinely positive news stories out there. One such example in late 2018 nudged a little-known but highly effective linguistic tool into the spotlight – a communication aid called Makaton.

Makaton describes itself as a language programme, designed to support spoken language rather than replace it, and used in conjunction with speech and other graphic symbols

In mid-November 2018, the BBC's children's channel CBeebies took the ground-breaking step of having an actor read and simultaneously use Makaton to sign a story in its bedtime programme, the first time it had used the language in this way. This met with a phenomenally positive response, making national headlines when the story of six-year-old Tom McCartney went viral. Hearing-impaired and with a range of complex medical problems, Tom was able to engage with the programme in a way he'd never experienced before, his face suddenly changing as he recognized that someone was speaking his language and excitedly began to stand, clap and laugh.

So what exactly is Makaton and how does it differ from other widely used sign languages? A fundamental difference is that Makaton describes itself as a language programme, designed to support spoken language rather than replace it, and used in conjunction with speech and other graphic symbols. Signs are used in the order that words are spoken and so provide extra clues about what's being said. Symbols (you can see some examples of use here) can be used for people with limited speech and those who are unable or prefer not to sign. These signs and symbols are designed to be simple, intuitive and can be personalized to an individual's needs. Where appropriate, they initially support communication but may then later be dropped, at an individual's own pace, as their speech develops. The theory therefore is that, by giving two different types of input for the same word – a sign or symbol and a spoken form – you can support or speed up language skills in children or adults where speech is delayed or impaired by disabilities.

Makaton now has over a million users and is making an increasing impact in a range of scenarios, with recent reports of choirs, dentists and even whole communities embracing it. The Hampshire town of Romsey in the UK, where over 30 organizations learnt the language, is thought to be the first in the world to be described as Makaton-friendly.

Background – Makaton

Makaton was devised in the 1970s by speech and language therapist Margaret Walker and colleagues Katharine Johnston and Tony Cornforth. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Walker worked with the deaf and people with severe communication difficulties to develop a Makaton vocabulary, initially comprised of sign language only but later including symbols. Makaton now has a core vocabulary of 450 concepts which are taught in eight stages, the earlier of these including basic needs like eating and sleeping, the later more complex or abstract concepts like time or emotions.

The name Makaton was formed from letters taken from the first names of the programme's creators, i.e. Ma-rgaret, Ka-tharine and Ton-y. Fusing truncated parts of proper nouns is a common way of forming trademarks, and among the many examples are supermarket Tesco (from founders T. E. Stockwell and Jack Cohen), household electricals company Kenwood (from founder Kenneth Maynard Wood) and film company Miramax (from the founders' parents Miriam and Max Weinstein). A similar process, technically known as ‘clipping', is a regular pattern of word formation at work in compounds such as satnav, sitcom and conlang.