Hearing Dogs – not yet widely seen in Ireland – are companions to deaf people, and alert their owners to everyday sounds like doorbells, door-knocks, phones and cooker timers that otherwise might go unheard. Smudge the Hearing Dog features in this contribution to the website by his owner Tina Lannin, from Co Derry & Co Down, but who now lives in
Communication is a major decision for parents of deaf children, as it will shape their child’s life and prospects from an early age, with implications for their education and working life. Here’s a communication options chart with all the options and their commitments for families to review. Printing the chart to discuss with your family and others may help
Recently, a friend in the UK emailed. Her six-year-old girl had had a dream in which I could hear everything in the whole wide world about everything! This made me smile, as Elina (the little girl) is a big fan of mine and donates her ‘princess bed’ every time I visit. She’s not the only
Explaining hearing-devices to children (a deaf child, siblings, family, friends or peers) can be a challenge in making sure everyone understands the facts. Concept books are great for explaining to all children the specific frustrations and issues deaf children can experience. Understanding is increased, with the deaf child realising others are in their position, and hearing children
On March 23, 2008, Newstalk FM featured IDK in its Change-Makers series. Note: Caroline has since had two cochlear implants, which make her speech clearer now. Newstalk’s Louise Williams spoke with the founder of IDK, Caroline Carswell. Here is the full conversation. C: Caroline Carswell and L: Louise Williams C: ‘My name is Caroline Carswell and I’ve been
Deafness isn’t the tragedy that it was, at one time. With sustained early intervention and hearing-devices from birth to age three, a baby or child who is deaf achieves a good quality of life with their own personal milestones. However, if deafness is diagnosed at a late stage (after the child is 2.5 years of
Speech is a priceless gift. Especially when it has to be acquired through intensive speech therapy, language lessons and hours of pronunciation practice. Babies with a hearing impairment aren’t able to absorb and replicate the speech heard in their environment, as their hearing peers do. Help is needed, but the huge effort is rewarded with
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