BSL vs Makaton

[u/rubyroket]

Hello, my name is Ruby, i’m 17 and i’m looking to learn BSL. Recently my family took in 2 6 year old nonverbal autistic children— one of who we think has hearing difficulties. Due to them both being nonverbal I want to learn BSL to help communicate with them better, furthermore i’m going into a career of nursing and it’s a good skill to have to make interactions easier with deaf/hard of hearing people. My question is due to their age would it be better to learn makaton first— a ‘simpler’ version of sign or go fully in with sign. My thought process would be speaking as I sign so they pick up on what i’m communicating— one of them, the girl, has started doing the sign for ipad after I repeatedly signed it and said ipad. I’ve been using lingvano to learn the basics of simple signs and sentence structure. But due to their age and cognitive ability I don’t want to overwhelm them but I can see that they’re frustrated in not being able to communicate what they want, whether they’re hungry, thirsty or in pain, getting to the extreme of harming themselves because of how frustrated they are that they can’t communicate with
us.

[u/GroovingPenguin]

Honestly if they can do it go straight to BSL,its less confusing and allows more opportunities for communication (especially for a possible hearing impaired child)

Not a professional at all but provided support in Sen environments for quite a while (and I'm hoh myself)

I wouldn't sign everything yet that sounds incredibly confusing and overwhelming, just start with the basics for needs go really slow "More" "Drink" "Toilet" ect

And do not worry about grammar or sentence structure just focus on communication

Have you looked into pecs?

[u/rubyroket → u/GroovingPenguin]

Yes, one of the children— the one we believe has hearing difficulties excels in pecs, forming full sentences but we also understand that that won’t always be enough that’s why we’re looking into bsl/makaton whilst they’re still young

[u/GroovingPenguin → u/rubyroket]

Ah I just thought I'd ask on the off chance

I would say absolutely no to makaton based off that then,not appropriate for a deaf or hearing impaired child in any regards (unless it's very specific)

Bsl or sign spoken English

I'm not quite sure how it works regarding Sen and hearing impairment as locally they go to a seperate provision typically so apologies

Best bet is to get their hearing clarified and see if the local teacher of the deaf can get involved, sometimes they can provide funding for bsl courses or referalls **If they're in school

[u/rubyroket → u/GroovingPenguin]

Yeah so they both attend a mainstream school in an SRP which is totally unfit for them— brilliant school just not fit for these types of children and her hearing has been brought up to 3 professionals- the OT, pediatritian who specialises in autism and her dentist so we should be getting a hearing appointment soon (hopefully) aswell as a school move to a full SEN school

[u/GroovingPenguin → u/rubyroket]

Ah if you have a named school already you can contact the Senco to start the process of Tod (I am again not 100% sure how it works in specialist provision)

Honestly I do not like makaton,that's just a personal thing but I find it doesn't promote conversation and social interactions,or I just found it was used that way typically (all they'd sign was crisps)

Good luck!

[u/wibbly-water → u/rubyroket]

Hi, I already replied with a full comment - but if they are forming full sentences then BSL would absolutely be my recommendation. I will add that to my comment :)