At Random with Martin Laing - 31.10.24

My latest example came by way of the Royal National MÒd in Oban this month, in particular  reports of the appearance by Oban’s Makaton Gaelic Choir “Aon Ghuth” (“One Voice”), who combine singing with the Makaton communication system of signs and symbols.

I confess that I had never heard of Makaton so was fascinated by the reports and found myself compelled to do a wee bit of research into the subject. I have subsequently signed up to Makaton.org, the charity’s website, and have been trying to learn some of the signs and symbols.

As a teenager, I learned the British Sign Language alphabet; I have not used it often in the many years since but, oddly enough, I have never forgotten it. Now I hope to add a reasonable amount of Makaton signs to aid communication with people who benefit from it.

For those of you like me who were unaware of it, the website says: “Makaton is a unique communication programme that uses symbols (pictures), signs (gestures) and speech to enable people to communicate. It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression.”

I’ll do my best to learn it; after all, every day is a school day.