Including Deaf Children At Preschool - Part Two
Thursday, February 25th, 2010This 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 there?
(The Mum)
Once Charlie’s deafness was confirmed, we understood that communication methods had to be adjusted. He [...]
The Value Of SMS Texting To Deaf Youngsters
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010At 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 [...]
Including Deaf Children At Preschool - Part One
Monday, February 15th, 2010This spring, the Irish government rolls out its free preschool year for all children born between February 2, 2005 to June 30, 2006 (with exemptions for children with special needs). The Early Child Care & Education (ECCE) initiative, which is open to all preschools in Ireland, is profiled on IDK.
IDK will this week [...]
Deaf Education Conference - March 4, 2010
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010A conference on The Future of Deaf Education in Ireland will take place at The Croke Park Conference Centre in Dublin, on March 4th.
The conference will see the launch of a new policy document compiled by DeafHear.ie, The Catholic Institute of Deaf People and The Irish Deaf Society. This policy sets out a new future [...]
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 [...]
“Through Sophie’s Eyes” - Deaf Children Do Dance
Monday, November 30th, 2009Traditionally, deaf or hard of hearing people were not taught to dance on the basis that if they couldn’t hear the music, how could the rhythm be kept?
A new children’s book aims to change this. Bristol author Catherine Gibson was driven by outdated ideas to write a book: “Through Sophie’s Eyes,” and tell the story [...]
Hands On - November 29th at 12:50pm on RTE 1
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Every week, two deaf babies are born in Ireland. When a child is diagnosed as being deaf, parents must make decisions about what is best for their education, communication, language acquisition, social skills and identity.
This can be a difficult process, one that many parents report can be made harder by a lack of information and [...]
Lamh - The Manual Language Explained
Thursday, November 19th, 2009After receiving several queries about Lamh, the manual language, we asked Mary Cullen, Lamh Development Officer, a few questions.
What is Lámh?
Lámh is the accepted manual sign system used by children and adults with intellectual disability in Ireland. Some people use Lámh as their main way of communicating while others use Lámh together with speech and [...]
Family Options To Feature In ‘Hands On’ TV Show
Friday, October 9th, 2009Hands On is the TV programme on RTÉ 1 devoted to issues related to deafness and the deaf and hard of hearing communities.
The producer, Anne Heffernan, has contacted IDK about a new programme in the pipeline, for which input is being sought from parents of deaf children.
As Heffernan explains, “it has come to our attention [...]