‘Makaton Has Made Our Bond So Much Stronger’

“Since we’ve been able to communicate, our bond has become so much stronger”, says mum Tasha of her son TJ.

Tasha, from Derby, is now learning to become a Makaton tutor after she mastered the language programme to communicate with TJ, who has Down’s syndrome, is autistic and non-verbal.

She decided to share her journey of learning Makaton with TJ on TikTok in 2023 and has since gained over 360,000 followers, whilst raising awareness of children with special educational needs (SEN).

Speaking to BBC Radio Derby, Tasha said: “A lot of my followers are parents, carers of the SEN community themselves. I’ve had people tell me that they have learnt lots of things from us, it’s been amazing.”

‘Changed our life’

Tasha said TJ, now aged 15, “spent a lot of his first years” in hospital.

“The doctors said he’d never walk, never talk, and we were told he would be lucky to reach his teenage years, but he’s proved every professional wrong,” said Tasha.

Before learning Makaton with TJ, Tasha found it “extremely hard” to communicate with her son.

“When he was around nine months old, he went to nursery, and we tried to use very basic sign language to communicate with him,” she explained.

“He then learnt more sign language at primary school, but I wasn’t being taught what he was, so I had no idea what he was trying to tell me,” she added.

Tasha then discovered Makaton through music, which she said “changed our life”.

Different to British Sign Language (BSL), Makaton is a language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate.

It is used in the CBeebies show, Something Special.

The symbols are simple black and white drawings that show what words mean.

They make it easier to communicate a message and can be used by people who prefer not to sign.

Now able to speak to TJ fluently, Tasha said sharing their journey on social media had been “amazing”, with followers from the US, Australia and New Zealand.

She said she originally started posting on TikTok for a fundraiser to help build a sensory garden for TJ.

“As time went on, I decided I didn’t want to use TikTok to ask for help; I decided I wanted to give back,” said Tasha.

“Everyone has seen us start as a mum and son that didn’t know how to sign together properly, to being a mum and son who are signing together fluently.”