‘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” [...]
Study: Video, Games Improve Preschooler Literacy
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Word-rich TV shows, online games and hands-on resources improve preschoolers’ literacy, a new study by the Corporation of Broadcasting in the United States has found.
Media resources in the program improve literacy in kids aged 2 to 8. For this study, 400 students in up to 80 classes from 47 different centres were taught in a [...]
Interactive Whiteboards Promote Pupils’ IT Literacy
Monday, July 20th, 2009Using interactive whiteboards in mainstream primary school classrooms motivates pupils by offering educational tools with a strong visual learning element. For deaf children who learn visually, whiteboards can contribute to inclusive teaching in many ways.
Interactive teaching directly at the whiteboard is possible, instead of the child missing instructions while at a classroom workstation
The child easily [...]
Review Of Accessibility At AIB SPWC 2009 Festival
Saturday, June 27th, 2009Experiences are educational for deaf children, but verbal exchanges need to be relayed or accessible, especially at public events like SPWC. We are grateful to Miriam Walsh for attending this year’s AIB SPWC event and writing a report for IDK.
On Saturday June 20th, crowds gathered at Dublin’s Merrion Square for the finals of the [...]
Early Reading Skills For Lifelong Literacy
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009Reading is a key skill for deaf children to develop, as our world is driven by information. Think about it – your child and their peers will grow up with email, texting, computer tools, captioned TV, DVDs and online video clips.
As this website noted recently, digital tools like email, webtext, Skype, video relay or chat, can be [...]
Kiddie Care Supplies - Affordable Play Equipment
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Kiddie Care Supplies is a Carlow-based business which retails toys, art & craft supplies, books, Montessori equipment and more for children up to 6 years or older. Many items we offer are tactile or visual, with bright, vibrant colours, labels and descriptions. Children learn by association and have more fun if this process is stimulating and interesting. For [...]
Manipulative Visual Language Tested in Scotland
Friday, March 27th, 2009A Glasgow-based charity, Deaf Connections, is Europe’s first organisation to pilot a new way of teaching English to deaf people as a second language.
The manipulative visual language (MVL) system, devised a decade ago at Gallaudet University, uses wooden blocks to depict grammar components.
Indigenous sign languages like the Irish and British sign languages have different grammar and syntax to spoken languages. [...]
Interactive Whiteboards Benefit Inclusive Teaching
Sunday, December 21st, 2008Interactive whiteboards altered teaching practices at St Columba’s Girls National School in Co Cork, after its deaf pupils benefited from the tools.
St Columba’s GNS, which has a facility for deaf students and teaches all its 600 students sign language, quickly realised the value of the whiteboards.
When teaching new concepts in class, visual images and subtitles can [...]
Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-reading
Monday, October 13th, 2008Lip-reading can be an imprecise science at times, but certain children and individuals find it’s a lifeline to understanding what’s said around them.
Babies naturally look at peoples’ faces when their attention is attracted, or they are spoken to. It’s never too early to teach lipreading, regardless of how a baby is going to communicate eventually.
Lipreading ability is known in babies [...]
One Teacher’s View: Deaf Students At College
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Many teachers or lecturers who are assigned a deaf student in their classes, can only see potential disadvantages and no way to circumvent these.
Andy Kohn, who taught a deaf student at a VEC, believes otherwise.
” A deaf student in a mainstream college class has, for me, advantages rather than disadvantages. Admittedly, I teach photography, a visual [...]