Ireland’s hospital waiting lists for routine procedures often feature in national news reports. Otolaryngology (ENT) wait-times were the third-longest of the publicly visible waiting lists at January 2016. Accordingly, Sound Advice was invited to present at an Open Health Data Night at the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, on January 20th, 2016 in a panel
A certain irony existed in being asked by Dr Peter Sloane, to join a panel at the Vasco da Gama Movement Forum in Dublin – after doctors in the 1970s had said I would never talk. Before this call to speak on the science of cochlear implants, the VdGM (Vasco da Gama Movement), the WONCA Europe Working Group for New
At Griffith College, Cork, SMS texts are used to advise students of cancelled classes. Texting is a simple and often free method of communication that is available to anyone with a mobile phone. And these users range from young kids given phones by parents just in case of an emergency, to the elderly who may
Ireland’s government offers a free preschool year to all infants aged over three, regardless of additional needs they have. The Early Child Care & Education (ECCE) initiative, which is open to all preschools in Ireland, is profiled on Sound Advice. For children with deafness, creche and preschool is a pivotal stage in their spoken language development, with the foundations
A teacher recently asked IDK how to source a soundfield system for a child at their school. The system needed to be movable between classrooms. Our first response was to ask if the school has any contact with the Visiting Teacher service for deaf students at the Department of Education (DES). If yes, the visiting
TV3’s Ireland:AM team invited Caroline Carswell from IDK, and Kate Gaynor from Special Stories, into the studio to talk about their “Birthday For Ben” book after Special Stories received a Moonbeam award in the US during late 2009. The video clip of the interview is online at the TV3 website. Subtitled video clips are also
Ann Heelan, executive director of AHEAD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability), recently had an excellent piece in The Irish Times. A key point in the article states: ” Children with disabilities can learn as much as other children when given the right tools and the right learning environment. Technology can make a significant
IBM’s KidSmart program was recently displayed at the Young Scientists’ Exhibition in the RDS. This program aims to integrate interactive teaching and learning activities into pre-schools and is aimed at 3-7 year olds. The program is currently used with over 2 million children in 60 countries. The focus is on underprivileged areas as well as
A conference on The Future of Deaf Education in Ireland took place at The Croke Park Conference Centre in Dublin, on March 4th, 2010. The conference saw the launch of a new policy document compiled by DeafHear.ie, The Catholic Institute of Deaf People and the IDS that aimed to set out a new future for
Irish company, Off We Go! Publishing, has released a set of books for children to learn about different first-time experiences in early life. These books benefit those with special needs and any young child experiencing these outings for the first time. Twelve different titles are in the series, including “Going on a Plane’, “Going to
A pilot scheme in the UK which aims to improve service co-ordination for children with deafness, is expected to be underway by early 2010. The Local Record of Deaf Children in the UK seeks to improve services and raise awareness of the numbers of young people living with hearing loss. Information will be shared by
Special Stories Publishers, whose Series 2 includes the IDK childrens’ book, “A Birthday For Ben“, won a silver medal in the 2009 Moonbeam Awards. The international Moonbeam awards seek to acknowledge that “children’s book authors and publishers are creating books that not only celebrate the joys of childhood, but help kids and families deal with
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