Staff mixing BSL with Makaton

[Care-Worker]

Does anyone else work with special needs? Before going into studying for nursery work I've had a long career with many other types of care including one-to-one support with severely autistic children. With most of my old clients I used Makaton to communicate on a daily basis.

Since starting at my learning disabilities placement I've noticed a lot of the 'Makaton' being used is actually BSL, ASL and Baby Sign. There doesn't really seem to be a pattern to it. I'm kinda finding it a bit annoying as although many signs are the same across the systems many are also very different -_-

Does anyone know of any free Makaton resources online? I kinda wanna show the manager that half the signs she teaches as Makaton are wrong but I need evidence. I think part of the problem is they teach themselves via the internet (which is excellent initiative/dedication) but at the same time many help sites online erroneously portray Makaton as BSL or vice versa...

[Ruthierhyme]

Hi I'm sure the manager would like to know your experience with signing in favour to being told they're wrong. There could be a few reasons why the mix of programmes happen along with the self-taught suggestion. Try not to let this rile you too much, find out how the different systems are used in your area - with parents on TV, through parenting classes, promoted through the local clinic and health visitor, and what training exists so maybe the option to upskill is there.

Finding credible free resources online is a risk, makaton babysign & BSL all have their own investments to ensure, ASL is potentially the most open source, youtube can be helpful if you've had training to check a video's reliability.

If it helps identify with colleagues signing the Lets Sign resources from Cath Smith are good

Best wishes

[Care-Worker]

It just annoys me because it's creating unnecessary and counterproductive issues for the children. We teach the babies Makaton and by the time they leave at 5 many are as fluent as senior support workers but as many will go onto varying types of 'special' schools they'll be sent in "knowing makaton" and then the class will start singing and signing with completely different signs and the kids will essentially be like WTF?

[Ruthierhyme]

Pragmatic assessment is wise as transitional information can be ambiguous.

I understand the long term sense of wasted time, effort & the need to make learning effective & efficient however if this is a scheme your placement has embedded into practice there will be reasons, placate your annoyance by enquiring why.

[tutu]

Originally Posted by Ruthierhyme

placate your annoyance by enquiring why.

quote of the day, brilliant