The Core Points Newborn hearing tests (since 2012) and infant education give today’s kids a headstart. Today’s cochlear implants and hearing-aids give digital sound quality like never before. Infant verbal education leads children into preschool with peer-level spoken language. Over 3,300 deaf children in Ireland (90%) are mainstream-educated, with under 4% using sign language (#NCSE, 2011). Currently
The teaching of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing has altered with technologies like cochlear implants and speech-to-text tools, according to a recent report from Project Forum, at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, in the US. Read: Technology Has Changed The Teaching Of Deaf Students Notable findings in the report include: Greater acceptance
A recent news story cited the Virginia School for Deaf and Blind (VSDB), to show how an IT implementation can go wrong. One very surprising aspect of the story, is that it happened in the United States, which leads Ireland in the availability of technology and resources to deaf & hard-of-hearing children. The story details
Statistically, more deaf and hard-of-hearing students are enrolling in mainstream third-level institutions in the US (Raue & Lewis, 2011). The same is happening in Ireland, with more students in this diverse deaf population accessing higher education than ever before. Tertiary education supports students who: have hearing aids and use their residual hearing have a cochlear implant (CI)
Ireland has about 880,000 people with hearing issues (deafened, and deaf), while about 1,077 people who use ISL are in the signing Deaf community, at 0.1% (zero point one per cent) of the total population. During a recent chat in a Dublin hotel, two of the Sound Advice team were interrupted by an academic. He
The parent of a deaf student emailed IDK. Her child’s secondary-school teaching support hours were cut during Transition Year, when the regional SENO said this was not the case. A deadlock had resulted, so our advice was sought. Here’s what we suggested. Get a statement of resource teaching &/or SNA hours at the start. All
The increasing cohort of 21st century parents and deaf children who choose technology like cochlear implants in place of learning sign-language, is documented in a front-page article in The New York Times (July 27, 2011). Less than 20 percent of all families [with deaf children] choose American Sign Language, with 80 percent wanting their children to
NOTE: Digital hearing-devices are available earlier, to many pupils and students since this post was written in 2011. Some are accessing sound from infancy with actual independence and self-directed learning in their classrooms. The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme in schools in Ireland was assessed in value-for-money terms by the Department of Education and Skills
Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are not mandatory in schools in Ireland, but give a practical way to structure and document a child’s learning progress. Parents & educators will use web-based tools for regular, collaborative contact and record-keeping. Try this formal IEP Checklist for a child in mainstream education. Building An Individual Education Plan When devising an
On July 13th 2011, a public protest took place outside Leinster House, on Kildare Street in Dublin. Public opposition was shown to government proposals to cap the number of special-needs assistants (SNAs) in the education system for the 2011-12 school year, amid moves to reduce the number of SNAs in the education system by 200
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