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 [...]
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 [...]
European Award for Languages 2010 (Leargas)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Leargas, the national agency in Ireland for co-operation programmes in education, youth and community work, vocational education and training, is managing the European Award for Languages 2010 on behalf of the EU.
Schools, colleges, businesses and language institutions can apply for these awards. The aim in 2010 is to find organizations that promote language learning in [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Inclusive Reading of “Ben” Book At County Library
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Students from Tallaght’s Scoil Colmcille and Sacred Heart National School gathered at County Library for a reading of “A Birthday for Ben” on the Tuesday morning of November 10th.
During this interactive session the book was read by Elizabeth and signed by Christopher. At various stages, the kids stopped to learn the signs of key words [...]
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 [...]
Sign Language In Schools Benefits All Students
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Ballymahon Convent of Mercy Secondary School is breaking ground in deaf education in the midlands with a new deaf unit, which is currently educating two young girls in the mainstream system.
An initiative of Eileen O’Donovan (graduate in Deaf Studies at Trinity College Dublin), the unit was set up in September 2008 and supports several deaf [...]
How The “Ben” Book Affected One Young Reader
Friday, November 6th, 2009Some feedback from a mum about the “Ben” book really made us smile. We think you’ll enjoy reading it, too!
” Dear Caroline,
I hope sales of “A Birthday for Ben” are going well. It is one of Christopher’s favourite books and I thought you’d like to know the impression it’s having on him.
He’s obsessed at the [...]