New Words-App For Children With Hearing Devices
Friday, January 27th, 2012A new app enables children with hearing-aids and cochlear implants, to practice their listening and speaking with flash-cards and a range of speech sounds for each letter. Very cleverly, the app has parent tips for its use.
Read more >> New HOPE Words App for iPhones and iPads
Watch the video >> See the Hope Words App in [...]
Early Learning With Smart-Phones And Tablet PCs
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012Are you curious about what your child will learn when they start school? How will they learn, and with what? Computers, not books! Today’s toddlers are digital natives. Namely, they will grow up knowing how to use smartphones and tablet PCs, regardless of their social or educational background.
More preschoolers know how to use a smartphone [...]
TCD Evening Seminar For Students With Disability
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012The Disability Service at Trinity College, Dublin is hosting an information evening this month for potential students with physical/sensory disabilities.
Date: Friday January 27th 2012
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Room 3074, 3rd Floor, Arts Building, TCD
The evening will begin with an overview of the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE), and will outline the range of supports available at [...]
Newborn Hearing Tests In Waterford And Wexford
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011From November 7th, 2011, babies born at Waterford and Wexford Regional Hospitals can have free newborn hearing tests, in an opt-in programme that is also available to babies born outside of hospital in Waterford.
These new hospital newborn hearing test programmes, costing in the region of €1.1 million annually, are part of the HSE’s Newborn Hearing Screening Programme for the [...]
Write-Up Of IDK’s Tech Event (Oct 10th, 2011)
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011Irish Deaf Kids held a technology and education event in Dublin on October 10th, 2011. The event proved to be invaluable for all attendees, and was put together to give parents, educators and other stakeholders in-depth insights to how deaf and hard-of-hearing (hoh) children can use digital tools to better communicate and learn in a [...]
Video Games: The Literacy Of Problem-Solving
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011“Video-games, and the type of learning and thinking they generate, may serve as a cornerstone for education and economies of the future”.
For children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, video-games offer great learning potential. Social and interpersonal skills can be taught, as can problem-solving abilities (which the children in question may have already).
Read the full piece: Is [...]
Insights To The Deaf Education Debate In The US
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011A deaf person’s life-experience of the education system, shapes their views on deaf education, according to a new post on the Paraquad Disability Blog.
The Deaf Education Debate Continues: Influences of technology, policy and environment
The different perspectives in this post are worth reading, for a better understanding of the core issues around school placements for students.
Further [...]
Communicate, Educate, Integrate – Technology And Deaf Children In Mainstream Environments
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011IDK is hosting a seminar, “Communicate, Educate, Integrate – Technology and Deaf Children in Mainstream Environments” on October 10th, in Dublin.
This FREE event is for everyone with an interest in hearing, communication, language, learning and supportive technologies for deaf children/students in mainstream environments.
No prior understanding of deafness or of the technology solutions reviewed, is required [...]
NY Times: Budget Cuts Polarising Deaf Education
Friday, August 5th, 2011The 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 enjoy [...]
SNA Provision: The DES Value For Money Review
Thursday, July 21st, 2011The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme in schools in Ireland was assessed in value-for-money terms by the Department of Education from 2007/8 to 2010. Their June 2011 report is online.
In the report, concern emerges that “excess [SNA] support may lead to an over-dependence by the student on … support, [with] loss of opportunity for the student [...]