BBC News NI education correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Despite being non-verbal 17-year-old Troy McKay has used his voice to create a unique choir.<\/p>\n Troy is a pupil at Fleming Fulton Special School in Belfast, and communicates through an app on his wheelchair.<\/p>\n It was his idea to create a special choir made up of pupils from Fleming Fulton and Belfast Boys’ Model school.<\/p>\n They use the sign language Makaton, and BBC News NI was invited to their first performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Their performance of Avicii’s Wake Me Up and Ben E King’s classic Stand by Me brought the house down at the Boys’ Model school concert.<\/p>\n And Troy was pleased that his musical dream had been realised.<\/p>\n “I am part of the Makaton choir at Fleming Fulton,” he told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n “I thought it would be a good idea to collaborate with the Boys’ Model school and teach them some songs in Makaton.”<\/p>\n “I have really enjoyed organising this collaboration,” he added.<\/p>\n “I would like to thank Mrs Baird and Belfast Boys’ Model school for letting us be part of their concert.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Makaton is a form of sign language, which uses symbols, gestures and speech to enable communication.<\/p>\n Troy’s speech and language therapist at Fleming Fulton, Natalie Wray, said Troy had first suggested the Makaton partnership with Boys’ Model when he was elected to the student council.<\/p>\n “Makaton would be used across our school,” she said.<\/p>\n “A lot of our pupils would use Makaton to express themselves but also to help understanding.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Wray said the enthusiasm of the boys at Boys’ Model who were learning Makaton for the first time was “amazing”.<\/p>\n “They were practising with me and practising without me and they’ve just done so, so well.”<\/p>\n She said she had found it “very emotional” seeing the pupils perform together.<\/p>\n Troy’s friends from Shankill Juniors Football Club, Ross and Lennox, were among the pupils at Boys’ Model to learn Makaton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another Boys’ Model pupil who performed was 17-year-old Carter Gibson.<\/p>\n “We’ve been communicating in videos, doing Makaton and some of their teachers have come up to us,” he said.<\/p>\n “We’ve been rehearsing every Wednesday to practice for this concert.”<\/p>\n He said Makaton was “so unique”.<\/p>\n “It’s something that me and none of the boys have ever done before, so it’s been quite fun to learn.<\/p>\n “Everyone’s loving it, so they are”, he added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Boys’ Model music teacher Sharon Baird said her pupils had learnt “singing in a different way”.<\/p>\n “We learnt the tunes and we had great fun actually putting it all together,” she said.<\/p>\n “They picked it up really quickly.<\/p>\n “Particularly in the Avicii number where there’s a little bit of freestyle dancing they really embraced that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/9dbc\/live\/b2502930-16cd-11f0-963a-3738e7f2791c.jpg.webp\")
BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7807\/live\/ac87c0d0-16cd-11f0-963a-3738e7f2791c.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat is Makaton?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7dca\/live\/e19a06c0-16cd-11f0-963a-3738e7f2791c.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Carter](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/d897\/live\/52a74c30-16db-11f0-b212-bb9cfda6de14.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Sharon](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/390c\/live\/39f4e470-16ce-11f0-963a-3738e7f2791c.jpg.webp\")
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