Rainbow Speech and Language Therapy

28/08/2024

Our wonderful sing and sign group at the college where I work part time.

Today is Makaton International Awareness Day! But what is Makaton, and how do we use it at Ruskin Mill Trust?

Makaton is a communication programme that combines signs, symbols and speech to empower anyone living with learning or communication difficulties to understand and be understood. A number of the schools and colleges in Ruskin Mill Trust use Makaton to support the students to communicate with each other and staff.

Makaton opens up communication for many people in our communities, and provides an additional means of communication for others who wouldn’t normally use signing or visual support in their own communication. In schools and colleges around the Trust, we use Makaton as part of a staff and student ‘Sing and Sign’ choir, we have a ‘sign of the week’, we also have regular signing training for staff to develop their signing skills too, amongst many other signing initiatives.

Visit the Makaton Charity website www.makaton.org to find out more about the impact Makaton has on Makaton Users, their families and support networks.

23/08/2023

Brilliant way of getting kids to say bye bye to dummies! Seen at Churchfields today

01/08/2022

What an amazing communication board I spotted in a Welsh park this morning!

09/06/2022

🎓NEW TRAINING FOR EARLY YEARS PRACTITIONERS
As part of the Early Years SEND programme, we're pleased to announce new training sessions on 'Supporting Social Communication in the Early Years'. Book your free place today: https://bit.ly/3iDEuz0

08/06/2022

Now... Next boards.

Visuals can be so helpful to children who are struggling to understand and communicate. Imagine being in France and you couldn't speak any French, you'd look for clues to help you understand right?

Now...next boards contain 2 photos or symbols which show the child what is happening right now and what will be happening after this. They can be particularly helpful for supporting children's understanding of what is happening and for children who find it difficult to transition between activities or events.

25/05/2022

I've been working on choices this morning using photos.

When children don't yet have the words to ask for things then visuals can really help them to learn the words and to learn the power of communication!

1. Take photos of favourite toys, snacks, songs etc...
2. Hold up 2 photos for your child to choose from and name each one.
3. When your child points to, reaches for, names, or looks at 1 of them name it and reward them with the item!
4. If it's a toy then join in while they play with it then say "my turn" and repeat the sequence. If it's food or drink then just give them a small piece each time so they need to choose again!

10/05/2022

Brilliant as part of deaf awareness week!

It will be the first story narrated in British Sign Language in the programme's history.

05/05/2022

Testing out my fab new sensory toys from Little Rascals Sensory Shop
Great for developing early communication like tracking skills, shared attention, pointing.

23/03/2022

???? QUESTIONS ??????????
One of the things I advise most often to parents worried about their child's language is to reduce the amount of questions they ask them.
Asking a child "what's that?“ or" who's this?“ or "where are you going?“ puts pressure on the child and does not provide them with a model for language.
Instead try:
✅Making a comment on what your child is playing with "ooooh car!"
✅ Naming the person, object or place
✅ Commenting on what your child is doing "drinking juice"
✅ Giving a simple description "big bus" or "red cup"
✅ Using language at the same level or slightly above your child's: if they are using single words, you use single words and some 2 word phrases.

03/03/2022

It is the night before World Book Day and Mummy is happily dicking about on social media and ignoring the twins when she sees a new post pop up on the on the school page.Oh dear. Mummy has forgotten about World Book Day because she has a life, a job, 726 unread emails, a damp […]