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via Udemy |
Go to Course: https://www.udemy.com/course/makaton-bsl-using-signs-to-support-communication/
Certainly! Here's a detailed review and recommendation for the Coursera course based on the provided information: --- **Course Review: Communicating with Children with Autism Using Makaton on Coursera** If you are a parent, educator, therapist, or caregiver working with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and communication challenges, this updated Coursera course offers valuable insights and practical tools to support language development and effective communication. **What’s New in the 2024 Edition:** - The course now features practice lectures and additional materials designed for extra practice, making it highly interactive. - In-depth explanations on how to use signs to facilitate communication with children with autism, especially those who struggle with spoken language. - The instructor provides a comprehensive overview of why children with ASD often face language acquisition difficulties, emphasizing the importance of flexible, functional communication systems. **Course Content and Focus:** This course teaches over 200 signs from the Makaton core vocabulary, a widely used augmentative communication system. Notably, most of these signs are borrowed from British Sign Language (BSL) and adapted into a simplified form suitable for those with communication difficulties. Makaton emphasizes signing key words while speaking, often employing simplified versions of signs, fostering a bridge between spoken language and visual communication. The course also highlights the fundamental difference between Makaton and full sign languages like BSL: - **Makaton** uses a simplified vocabulary and signing alongside spoken or written language, following the structure of the spoken language. - **Sign Languages** (e.g., BSL) are complete languages with their own grammar and syntax. **Value and Practicality:** This course is especially useful for educators and caregivers in school settings, where Makaton is frequently used to support children with ASD. It aims to enhance vocabulary, foster communication, and provide children with tools to express their needs, desires, and thoughts more effectively. The instructor also compares Makaton to Sing Supported English, emphasizing its role in aiding language comprehension rather than replacing full sign language. **Final Thoughts and Recommendations:** I highly recommend this course for anyone involved in supporting children with autism and communication difficulties. The updated content ensures learners gain practical skills through detailed explanations, practice opportunities, and supplemental materials. Whether you're new to Makaton or looking to deepen your understanding, this course offers a valuable resource to help bridge communication gaps and enrich your child's or students' language environment. **Pros:** - Comprehensive introduction to over 200 signs - Updated with practice and additional materials - Clear explanations of communication strategies - Focused on practical application in real-world settings **Cons:** - Assumes some familiarity with basic communication concepts (not for absolute beginners) - Primarily focused on the UK context due to the use of BSL-based signs Overall, this course is a well-structured, practical, and timely resource that can significantly impact the communication skills of children with ASD. --- Would you like me to tailor this review further or suggest how to enroll?
UPDATED 2024NEW CONTENT: -Practice lectures-Added materials for extra practice-Explanations on how to use signs to communicate with children with Autism / Autistic children who struggle to communicate speakingOn this course you will learn and practice using more than 200 signs from the Makaton core vocabulary. But don't forget that the immense majority of these signs have been "borrowed" (taken and then trademarked) from BSL, the language of the Deaf community in the UK. Nevertheless, I am using the name "Makaton" as it is gaining popularity and in essential its idea is very useful: to sign the key words of the spoken language while you speak, and sometimes with simplified versions of the signs. On the updated edition of this course I have explained in detail why children with ASD struggle with language, with some of them never acquiring a flexible form of language (a system that can be used flexibly to communicate). Makaton and signs in general are used a lot in schools to support children with ASD and I hope that this course will help you to help and develop your child's language, adding richness to their vocabulary and their ability to communicate with others about what they want and what they want to say about the world. Using Makaton is quite similar to using Sing Supported English. The difference between using a sign language like BSL and using signs with learners who have communication difficulties lies in the complexity of what you say and that in a sign language you use a visual grammar, different to the spoken grammar, this is, the word order is different than in the spoken language. When we use signs to communicate with children or adults who have communication difficulties, we can do it alongside English or a visual communication system like the ones copyrighted by THe Makaton Charity or others like Widgit. In those cases, we normally use simple sentences that follow the structure of the spoken language. That is the essential difference between Makaton and Sign Language.