Dawn McMullan-Cooper – Founder of Peter Piper Picked – Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Since graduating from Central School of Speech and Drama in 1990 Dawn has worked with children and their families in a variety of settings as an NHS Speech and Language Therapist in London, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Bristol.
Early in her career Dawn worked in Canada for five years and became a HANEN trainer, training parents, carers and professionals how to encourage and improve their children’s speech and communication skills in a variety of ways. She has worked within multi-disciplinary treatment centres closely with Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, Children centres, Health Centres, Early diagnostic clinics, Language Units, Special schools and with complex special needs. She also set up and ran the ICAN Early Years Language Centre in Worcester which was a centre of excellence in the area working with children with DLD Developmental Language Difficulties within the NHS, LEA and ICAN.
Makaton ONLINE Courses
Dawn is an Experienced Makaton Tutor offering Levels 1- 4 ONLINE training via zoom regularly, Regular Tasters, Safeguarding Workshops, Using Singing with Makaton, Makaton Signing for Babies. If you or your organization would like more information about Makaton please email Dawn for more information dawn@peterpiperpicked.co.uk. Dawn has also just recently become an Ambassador for the Makaton Charity.
Research proves that signing with all children from an early age does not prevent speech and language but actually encourages it! Makaton always has speech as an accompaniment to the sign!
- Sign Language lowers frustration
- Increases speech and language skills
- Slows your speech down
- Your child can ‘see’ the word, hear the word, do the word and say the word
- Fun/relaxed group setting
- Highly Specialist Speech and language therapist with lots of tips on early speech and language and how to promote it
Dawn is offering Makaton Signing for Babies training ONLINE if you are a group of parents with babies or toddlers if you’d like to learn signs, a toddler group or Nursery and would like to learn signs to work with babies or toddlers and parents in your care- you could become a Makaton Friendly organization and use their logo on your newsletters or website. Please contact dawn@peterpiperpicked.co.uk if you would like to learn more or find out whether Dawn could do some training for your group.
Makaton Online Workshops are designed for parents and carers with children or adults who have communication needs and for the professionals who work with them. Makaton is a multi modal sign language in that every sign has a symbol to represent it. The Makaton Charity have recently updated the courses so they can be run online really effectively Makaton Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 and teaches signs and symbols from Stages 1-8 of the Makaton Core Vocabulary. It costs £81 per level which includes a workbook posted out to you prior to the course and a Certificate of attendance once completed. Email me to register your interest.
These courses are held on zoom which is great, very easy to use and Dawn will send you the joining instructions and links to click to join the meetings which are 3.5 hours in length. The best way to learn Makaton is to attend a workshop. It means that you learn with other people who need to use Makaton within their work, share your experiences, receive feedback on your signing and symbol work and enables you to practice with others. It also gives you the opportunity to meet and build a relationship with a Makaton Tutor and other communication professionals who can help and support you in the future.
Next Makaton Level 1 and 2 Course ONLINE: February 2023. Please email dawn@peterpiperpicked.co.uk to register your interest for this course. To secure your place on a course payment in full is required up front. Each level is £81 and you receive a Certificate of attendance on completion as well as a workbook included in the price posted out to you with all the signs and symbols learnt over each of the two sessions and includes all the presentation slides and background reading and research.
Makaton Level 3 and 4 Course ONLINE: NEW DATES WILL BE Forth coming!
Using Makaton with Singing: New Dates will be forthcoming!
Safeguarding Makaton Sessions- You need to have completed a Level 1 and 2 course before coming onto this course. NEW Dates will be forthcoming!
Makaton Taster Sessions Contact me for more information
Dawn will provide Makaton Taster sessions for various groups ONLINE or face to face- preschool nurseries, hospital staff, staff groups, primary schools, care centre staff and University Students to inform them what Makaton Sign Language and symbols are all about. These sessions last 90 minutes and cover background information and you will learn around 30-50 signs and symbols to see whether you’d like to learn more on the two day courses. Fees are kept very low for this training (at around £15 per person) but contact Dawn for exact costings depending on numbers and your location or for any other training in the area of speech and language development.
Professional Accreditations A full member of MHCPC (Health & Care Professions Council), a fully registered member of MRCSLT (Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists) and the MASLTIP (Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice). Dawn is an Experienced Makaton Tutor for Gloucestershire and beyond and a Makaton Safeguarding Tutor, Using Makaton with singing, MSB and MSB TTT Tutor and an Ambassador for the Makaton Charity. Registered Member of ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office)for GDPR requirements. Dawn has an Enhanced Certificate for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and is eligible for the Update service and has up to date First Aid Training and Safeguarding.
What to do next
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s communication skills then please feel free to or call me on 01452 740453