A very natural and wonderful experience

Matilda Lironi Macintyre, 5, has Down's syndrome. She has just started at the local village mainstream primary school, where her brother and sister are already pupils.

Her mother, Katy Lironi, tells Matilda's story:

"I first heard about Makaton through a friend of my sisters, whose parents are both deaf. She recommended it to me when Matilda was a baby and I got contact details of Makaton tutors through Matilda's speech therapist. I did the introductory course for parents and carers, and began using Makaton with Matilda when she was about 20 months old.

"I found the intensive two-day course very useful in terms of understanding how Makaton works and why it might be particularly useful for Matilda. However, I found a lot of the vocabulary I learned on the course was irrelevant to Matilda's day-to-day needs and situations. I spent a lot of time looking for child friendly vocabulary and when I discovered Something Special, Dave Benson's nursery rhymes, and Singing Hands, these have been my and Matilda's main resources for learning new signs. Though a dictionary of childhood signs would be great. Learning through songs is fantastic both for me and Matilda, and something her school is happy to incorporate.

"We use Makaton a lot in songs, stories and nursery rhymes, and it also helps Matilda to focus and really actively listen to specific instructions. She understands everything I say, but signing helps her to retain that information. Although her speech has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few months, it is still unclear. Signing takes away all the confusion and possible frustration. She is a fantastic wee signer who only needs to see something new once before she can incorporate it into her communication.

"My husband and I both use Makaton with Matilda. Her older brother and sister use the basics, but can generally understand her signing to them. Her younger brother and sister have grown up using Makaton, but now, at almost 3, use it much less, but again, can understand.

"From the age of 20 months Matilda has been able to communicate her basic needs: more, hungry, drink. We stuck with those most important ones for a while and built up gradually. It's been a very natural and wonderful experience for us and for Matilda, I really can't imagine what it would have been like for her or us not to have had Makaton as an integral part of her development. Now she can verbalise most of her needs, and naturally signs and talks. She can come home and tell me it was Joshua's 6th birthday and they all sang to him at school. If she told me without signs I would be nodding blankly, desperately trying to decipher the odd word. She talks about catching crabs on holiday two months ago, friends she hasn't seen for weeks, and wakes up and tells us what she's been dreaming about. That is really quite amazing.

"Using Makaton has been a wonderful thing for our family. Through all the stressful toddler years with Matilda, at least she has been able to communicate with us and vice-versa. She has a normal sibling relationship with her siblings, and after telling the children at school how to say "show me the sign for...." she's building great friendships too. The children are all enthusiastic and willing learners and their parents are delighted at this new skill they're picking up as a result of Matilda being at the school.

"Matilda has been at school for one month, on week 2 she decided she'd had enough. "No more school" she told me, "No school clothes". I knew what she was telling me, there was no tantrum, just a wee bit of sadness and a cuddle and a reassurance and off she went to school. She runs in happily, on her own. I hope it continues. From being able to communicate her most basic needs as a toddler , she's now a schoolgirl who can tell me about her friendships, her happinesses and sadnesses. It's important stuff."

September 2009