A recent question came in from the childcare sector. How are creche staff taught to manage a child’s hearing-devices (and a sound-field, if relevant)? This is a valid point. Devices like hearing-aids, cochlear implants and sound-fields can really benefit a child ‘picking up’ information in their environment, and to interact with creche staff and other
Two recent articles in the Irish press highlighted two essential issues facing families with deaf children in Ireland. These are the need for: hearing-aids from as young as possible (under 1 year old), and early spoken-language intervention for children with severe to profound deafness How Does Hearing Lead To Education? Newcomers to deafness may ask,
Many visitors to the Sound Advice site ask this question. Its frequency is notable. There’s no reason a child who’s deaf can’t participate at creche, with the right supports in place. Same as when a child moves to junior infants at primary school. The team here is aware that some deaf children don’t attend preschool or creches
Children need to develop literacy skills before their first day of school and research consistently shows children learn literacy skills even before talking. Emergent literacy theorists believe that children start learning about literacy (reading and writing) from birth. Infants can learn about the letters of the alphabet and concepts of print long before they are
Mobile phone subscribers globally, will hit the 5 billion mark during 2010. To this end, the U.S. Department of Education has earmarked $5 billion for competitive school-reform grants to scale up pilot programs of handheld devices & define best practices for learning. An article, “How Smartphones and Handheld Devices Are Bringing On An Educational Revolution”
Here’s another mum’s story about being let down by audiology services in Ireland, after her son failed a hearing test at 9 months. Other parents also shared their stories on the irishdeafkids.ie site. Charlie was 10 months old when the audiologist suggested glue ear was the underlying issue. I was told to return to the
Just recently, the Early Learning Initiative at National College of Ireland launched its new Parent Child Home Programme (PCHP). Many of the programme’s “points” are similar to the home-work the parents of severely to profoundly deaf children need to do, to develop their child’s spoken language as early in life as possible. Based on a
This post continues the piece, Including Deaf Children At Preschool (Part One). A key question was put to the mum & creche manager: How did you identify the potential challenges you (mum & creche) might meet during Charlie’s early days? NOTE: Charlie was late detected at around age two, unlike today’s infants who benefit from
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
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
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