As a real believer in the NHS and all that it stands for and someone who worked in it for years, it took me many years to decide to leave and set up as an independent therapy practitioner which I did 8 years ago now. I have worked in the NHS in London, Worcester, Gloucestershire, Bristol and South Gloucestershire areas and I have seen first hand how speech and language services have decreased and have been stretched during the past thirty years. I also worked abroad in Canada for over five years early in my career. As a parent myself, I believe that families need some extra speech and language help within Gloucestershire and have the right and the choice to do so. With this in mind, Peter Piper Picked was born- a name to reflect the fun, the listening skills, the speech and language therapy work with children and families at its Centre. Here are the areas that Peter Piper Picked specialises in:

• Articulation and Phonological Therapy – Working with the production of sounds
• Verbal Dyspraxia- Working with difficulties in Co-ordination of speech
• Expressive Language Delay or Disorder- Working with language and rules of language
• Attention, Listening or Memory Skills- Building up these skills with gradual instructions
• Receptive Language /Comprehension Skills- Working with understanding of language
• Word Finding Difficulties- Activities to help improve this
• Training in Language Development and how to help.
• Training in Articulation, Sound Development and how sounds are made.
• Dawn is a Makaton Tutor and Ambassador for the Makaton Charity and runs ONLINE Makaton training sessions in Gloucestershire regularly and will run them for your organisation throughout the year- please see the section for upcoming course dates.

Please feel free to *protected email* or call me on 01452 740453 if you would like to know more about any of these areas or to discuss your child and family’s needs.

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Makaton is now 50 years old!! Originally devised in 1972 by Margaret Walker, Speech and Language Therapist, and then updated and revised in 1996 when additional signing vocabulary was added for children and adults with a variety of speech, language and communication needs.

Makaton uses signs, symbols and speech to help people communicate. Signs are always used with speech, in English language word order. Research shows that signing with all children from an early age is very effective on building language skills and speech- signing does not prevent speech it actually encourages it! It also helps provide extra clues and understanding about what someone is saying- a spoken word is said and gone in an instant, whereas signing key words- a child can hear the word, see the word, do the word and say the word– all four learning styles are covered. Using signs can help people who have no speech or whose speech is very unclear and children who are finding it difficult to understand language. Using symbols can help people who have limited speech and to support early literacy skills it can also help children complete routine everyday tasks like getting dressed in the morning and build on their independence. These are regulated Makaton Courses by the Makaton Charity and are the same throughout the country. Dawn also enhances the courses with many examples of children and adults she has worked with and what worked for them.

If you are a parent or carer for a baby or child with additional needs Makaton is a wonderful way of enhancing your baby or child’s communication skills before they can talk, at the same time building on their understanding of language and speech and reducing their frustration. The next Makaton Level 1 and 2 course is taking place on Wednesdays 1st, 8th, 15th February 2023 and concludes on 1st March 2023. All courses are offered on the Makaton Hub within Gloucestershire but feel free to email Dawn with a request for a Taster, Refresher or Training Levels. No previous experience of signing is necessary. Please email Dawn for more information and to register your interest for a course. The Makaton Level 1 and 2 courses are designed for professionals, carers and parents -you will learn stages 1-4 and additional vocabulary of the Makaton Core Vocabulary. You will receive workbooks with all the slides and theoretical background information about Makaton as well as all the signs and symbols covered in the two days. Each level costs £81 (£162 for both levels) which includes a workbook posted out prior to the course and a Certificate afterwards.  Please email Dawn for more information and to book onto a course.

The Makaton Level 3 and 4 Online workshops are for professionals, parents and carers who have completed Level 1 and 2 course previously. This course is run over four sessions and covers stages 5-8 of the Core Vocabulary and builds on signing and symbol skill and knowledge at the sentence, conversational and story level. This course costs £72.50 per level (£145 for both levels) and covers all  workbooks and attendance certificate and tuition. The next Level 3 and 4 Online Makaton course will take place on Weds in April/May 2023.

All courses are online. I can provide face to face training again so if you would like to arrange any training please get in touch.

 Please feel free to *protected email* or call me on 01452 740453 if you would like to know more about the next courses within Gloucestershire or if you would like Dawn to provide a Makaton taster session/ a Makaton Level 1,2 or 3 and 4 / Makaton Safeguarding Workshop/ Using Makaton with Singing / Makaton signing for Babies.

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Dawn

The Makaton  language programme is designed to inform parents and carers how to encourage the development of communication and language skills in children and adults. As a Highly Specialist Speech and language therapist, Dawn will be giving lots of tips on speech and language development during the online sessions using examples of functional words and phrases to use with your child or adult.

If you are a parent/carer or toddler group/nursery please contact Dawn as she can provide your group with Makaton Taster Courses to teach you some early signs and symbols to build speech,  language and action songs to encourage speech and language. You could become a Makaton Friendly establishment and use the Makaton Friendly Logo on your leaflets and website when so many of your staff are trained in basic Makaton signs and symbol use!

Please *protected email* or call me on 01452 740453 to book a place on this course or for more details about the next available Makaton Online Workshops within the Gloucestershire area. Dawn is happy to run one in your area too face to face if you wish.

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