I'm Ryan and I'm Simone, and we're Dantae's parents. He's 22 months and he has Down syndrome. Dantae also has sickle cell anemia. It does affect his speech, he's a little bit delayed. So some of words that he does say, it doesn't come out clear. Obviously when he babbles, we don't know what he's saying. He'd talk for hours if he could.
[Babbles] Really?
We use Makaton, so that's helped him a lot.
More.Good boy. More.
Makaton may look complicated, but once you start doing it, you get the hang of it and it just comes naturally. He knows that he can use certain parts of his body to communicate, like shaking his head. We kept repeating it, even doing loads of songs and singing. Everything's a song and dance in our house. He loves singing and dancing.
[Sings] Wind it back again鈥
When he's going to do wind the bobbin up, he normally rolls his hands to say he wants to sing it over and over again.
Wind the bobbin up, wind the bobbin up, pull, pull, clap, clap, clap.
Quite recently, he's been pointing to his facial features and other people's facial features.He can point out the nose, eyes, mouth. Dantae loves the mirror. He talks to himself. Hand actions, he goes different pitches of his voice, tones. He's very loving. He's a sweet boy. He's very happy. And he just loves life. Everything that he's overcome in his short life, he's just always smiling.
Meet Ryan, Simone and Dantae, who has Down syndrome and sickle cell anaemia.
Ryan and Simone talk about the ways Makaton and gesture help Dantae to communicate with them.
For more information or advice about Down syndrome visit .
