Ballymena man praised by national sign language charity for 26 years of service

BALLYMENA man Grant Wetherall has been praised by national sign language charity Makaton for his sterling 26 years of service as a Makaton Regional Tutor.

Through his business SignSimply, Grant has trained over 3,000 people across the UK and Ireland to use this unique language programme that enables children and adults with communication and learning difficulties to interact with each other, those they work with and the general public.

Grant first became aware of Makaton when he was a student social worker in London.

While investigating an abuse case in a care home, he discovered that the residents could sign, and he could not.

He realised the power that being able to communicate brought to those in care and those who worked in the caring industries.

He went on to learn the Makaton language and qualified as a Makaton Regional Tutor in 1996.

Since then he has trained thousands of people from all walks of life and in all professions.

He has worked with schools, churches, care homes, nurseries, health Trusts, charities, retailers, and the police.

He also set up Northern Ireland’s first Makaton Champion Scheme.

Grant said: “The ability and need to communicate is fundamental to humans. Makaton is a simple sign language to learn, and hugely empowers those with challenging needs to communicate with each other and the people they engage with. I am honoured to have brought that ability to so many people.”

CEO of the Makaton charity, Stephen Hall, said: “Grant, firstly, many thanks and congratulations for such sterling service. We couldn’t achieve what we do without the passion, enthusiasm, and hard work that you put in. So, a big thank you.”

To find out more about Grant Wetherall and his sign language training company SignSimply go to signsimply.com.

Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate.

It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression. To find out more about Makaton visit Makaton.org.