Makaton Makaton can help learners who have difficulty with: Communicating what they want, think or how they feel Making themselves understood Paying attention Listening to and understanding speech Remembering sequencing The use of Makaton signing is well established within the provision as a way of helping develop communication skills and compliments the approach to a total communication approach. Makaton is a visual way to develop communication skills, which helps stimulate sounds and words. This visual way of communicating in turn helps to encourage language development, i.e. putting words together. Makaton helps understanding, giving the child or adult an extra visual clue. Makaton signs help convey meaning, because the signs give an extra clue when speaking, for example ‘Hello’ and ‘Drink’. The signs used in Makaton are from British Sign Language (BSL), which is the language of the deaf community in Britain. Listed below are signs for you to practice in a range of different categories: Manage Cookie Preferences