Publish date: 30 November 2023
On Friday 15 December, Ealing Community Partners' (ECP) Children's Speech and Language Team are hosting a Makaton Christmas singing and signing session to share a dose of Christmas cheer with Ealing shoppers and raise awareness of Makaton signing.
The event follows a hugely popular Makaton Flash-mob held by the team in September (to mark Speech and Language Therapy Awareness Month) and will include Christmas favourites such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Silent Night.
From 10.30am to 12noon, Hannah Howell-Day and Zoe Wilkinson from the Speech and Language Team will be joined in Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre by a number of community partners including Ealing Mencap, Dare2Dream and Ealing Council. Impact Theatre are also attending to perform a dance to White Christmas.
The Children's Speech and Language Therapy Team sees thousands of children and young people every year. Some have learning disabilities, or are deaf or hard of hearing. Many have a stammer, struggle to feed and swallow, and some have issues talking and understanding language. Using Makaton enables them to communicate with their friends and families more easily.
Hannah Howell-Day, Clinical Lead for Early Years Speech and Language Therapy: "We encourage anyone to come along and bring your voices for singing, hands for Makaton signing and any percussion instruments too."
Zoe Wilkinson, Senior Speech and Language Therapist: "No need to book, just turn up on the day as the more the merrier!"
If you’d like more information, or signs to practice please contact: wlm-tr.sltuniversalservices@nhs.net
The team have also provided Makaton practice videos of all the songs they will be performing via the following links:
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer