Makaton with Lucinda
1921. Nikki Holt
Nikki Holt, from Weston-super-Mare, is helping people understand Makaton, a language programme using signs together with speech and symbols to aid those with communication difficulties, through her own series of video tutorials ‘Makaton with Lucinda’.
Nikki began the series after her daughter, Lucinda, who has Down’s Syndrome, benefited from using ‘Makaton’, which is designed to support spoken language and can particularly help children who have no speech or whose speech is unclear. Nikki has now made thousands of videos and interactive tutorials to help people understand how to communicate words and nouns in Makaton, including animals, months of the year and religious holidays, which have received over 125,000 views.
John Penrose, MP for Weston-super-Mare, said:
“Weston can be incredibly proud of Nikki, who has invested her time and talents into creating hundreds of videos to promote and explain the Makaton language programme, so more people can communicate with family members, neighbours or work colleagues who use it. The videos are on a YouTube channel that anyone can access anywhere at any time, and the benefits are clear through the beautiful bond Nikki has with her daughter Lucinda, who stars alongside her in the videos. I’m delighted the Prime Minister has recognised how important Nikki’s work is and hope that this award brings even more awareness to their YouTube Channel.”
Nikki said:
“Makaton has helped Lucinda so much. She is a visual learner so Makaton works perfectly with her strengths. I am so proud of her. I studied to become a Makaton Tutor during lockdown as I wanted to be able to help others in the same way as it has helped Lucinda. We have been doing our sign videos for a few years now and she loves doing them!
“Makaton is a language programme that uses signs and symbols along with speech – to help people with communication. If you would like to find out more please visit the Makaton website.”