National Audiology Review Seeks Service Feedback
Monday, March 8th, 2010Ireland’s audiology service raises serious concerns, according to reports in the national press - and forum members on the irishdeafkids.ie website.
March 19th is the deadline for having your say on this essential issue.
The National Audiology Review is looking for parents, carers and service users to inform the HSE of their concerns and experiences with the [...]
Inclusive Education Is ‘All-Encompassing’ Learning
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Inclusive education gives all children mutual learning experiences - while also benefiting teachers’ preparation skills and professional development.
Fundamentally, inclusive education teaches children about diversity, and leads teachers to diversify within their own professions, for social benefit.
This academic blog post, “Inclusion Is Needed In Classrooms“, makes a solid case for inclusive education, with an itemised reading [...]
IDK & Special Stories on TV3’s Ireland:AM Show
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010TV3’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 available [...]
Schools ‘Must Change Their Attitude To Disability’
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Ann 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 difference and [...]
IBM’s KidSmart PC Supports Language Teaching
Friday, January 29th, 2010IBM’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 educating [...]
‘Experience’ Books From Off We Go! Publishing
Monday, January 18th, 2010Irish 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 the Optician” [...]
DeafHear Information Weekend March 5-7, 2010
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010DeafHear’s 2010 Information Weekend for families with newly-diagnosed deaf children is from March 5th to 7th, at the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise.
This annual weekend fills up very quickly but a profile of the 2008 event is on the DeafHear website. Queries can be directed to DeafHear if wished.
Friday, January 29th is the booking deadline for this weekend, which [...]
Hearing Screening For Newborns Brings Results
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010A 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 state [...]
New Simply Signing Initiative For Parents/Teachers
Monday, January 4th, 2010Simply Signing is inviting members to join its new “Now I Can Sign Programme” (NICSP), which is geared to parents and teachers.
The NICSP gives the skills to learn basic vocabulary in Irish sign language (ISL) such as “more” and “all gone”. These signs can be easily introduced to all babies and children from as young [...]
Special Stories Wins A Silver In Moonbeam Awards
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009Special 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 its [...]