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Southend’s signing firefighters |
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Crews from Southend and Leigh Fire Stations have learned a special type of sign language to help them engage with children who have special needs. They put their skills into practice when they had a visit from a group of children, aged between seven and nine years, who all have special needs.
The firefighters took part in a course to teach them how to sign in Makaton, a simplified form of sign language often used by children with special needs, so that they can help to spread the fire safety message to this hard-to-reach group. Southend Station Officer Barrie May said: “The idea came from Michael Freed, a firefighter on our watch who uses Makaton to speak with his son who has special needs. He suggested that it would be a good skill for us to have here in the fire service. “So we arranged a special two evening course for the watches at Southend and Leigh fire stations where we all learned how to sign and get our message across.
“This is the first time we have had an opportunity to use the language but we all hope that this is just the first and there will be more chances to use it in the future. “It was a wonderful day and a real success, and we all hope that it is the first of many. It was so nice to have children with special needs here at the station as they are a group who are often overlooked and seeing them smiling and so happy was enough to bring a smile to the face of even the most hardened firefighter. “This was a fantastic initiative and a great idea by firefighter Freed and we have all really enjoyed learning Makaton, and hope that it is something which will be adopted Service-wide.”
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