The National Deaf Children’s Society has launched a new five-year strategy, Every Moment Counts, which aims to ensure all deaf children across Scotland receive the support they need during their early years (0-5), or as soon as their deafness is identified.
The charity is shifting the focus of its campaigning to early years as it strongly believes that families need first class support during this crucial period, so they feel empowered to make informed decisions and champion their deaf child.
For all children the early years is a crucial time, but the National Deaf Children’s Society says this is even more so for deaf children, given the impact deafness can have on language development, communication, and social skills.
Missed opportunities to spot deafness and provide the support deaf children need can lead to lifelong impacts, according to the charity.
It says a deaf child without good language and communication development in the early years, be it spoken, sign, or a mixture of both, can experience ongoing challenges. They may struggle to listen and follow instructions in the classroom, or miss conversations with their peers, leading to feelings of isolation and a sense of ‘missing out’.
Kirsten Abioye’s son was not diagnosed as deaf until he was almost three due to failures at their local heath board’s paediatric audiology service.
Kirsten said: “Our experience of early years was really hard. The audiology department was unhelpful and dismissed me as an anxious mum. We experienced delays and a general lack of communication which left us in a difficult position. We knew something was going on with our son but did not know how to support him. His diagnosis brought overwhelming relief.”
Teachers of the Deaf can help bridge this gap, by providing specialist support to deaf children of all ages once their deafness is identified. They play a vital role in deaf children’s lives, particularly during the critical early years – helping to reduce their chances of them falling behind developmentally, socially and educationally.
But a report published by the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE), shows Teachers of the Deaf numbers across Scotland have fallen by 40% in a decade and almost half (45%) are due to retire in the next 10 years. The fall in numbers is twice that of other parts of the UK.
This means thousands of deaf children across Scotland are not getting the support they need in school. Deaf young people in Scotland are already twice as likely as their hearing classmates to leave school with no qualifications and half as likely to go on to university.
Against this backdrop it comes as no surprise that some parents of deaf children in Scotland are concerned that their deaf child does not have enough support from health and education services. Having access to information and advice is crucial in helping families make tricky decisions about how their child will communicate, which technology they’ll use and what type of school they’ll attend.
Kirsten describes her family’s Teacher of the Deaf as an “advocate, support system, teacher, encourager, source of information – all in one woman!”
She said: “Her support has been a lifeline, and she works closely with our son’s nursery who also provide excellent support.”
But even with a great Teacher of the Deaf and nursery, Kirsten’s family still struggled, as the specialist support their family urgently required was simply not available to them.
Kirsten continued: “It was a very isolating, stressful time because we just wanted to be able to support our child. I contacted the National Deaf Children’s Society and had a chat with a member of staff, who was really understanding. She listened and understood my panic that we had missed the opportunity for language learning and were really behind.
“She helped me fill in an application for a family learning course, funded and run by the charity, which kick started our British Sign Language (BSL) learning. She’s been with us through various different parts of life since, most recently our difficulty finding accessible swimming lessons.”
The National Deaf Children’s Society warns that unless action is taken urgently things will only get worse. It is calling on local authorities across Scotland to commit to returning qualified Teacher of the Deaf numbers to 2011 levels over the next decade.
At their annual congress in May, The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), Scotland’s second largest teaching union, unanimously agreed a motion backing the charity’s call on the Scottish Government to address the dramatic drop in the number of qualified Teachers of the Deaf, as “matter of urgency”.
The charity also calls on the Scottish Government to develop and deliver a Scotland-wide workforce strategy for Teachers of the Deaf, and to ensure they are properly paid for the extra responsibilities they take on, in recognition that their specialist expertise is valued.
Mark Ballard, Head of Policy and Influencing for Scotland with the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “Deaf children are just as capable as their peers when they have right support in place, ideally from the very beginning. But many families in Scotland are struggling to access this support.
“It means that deaf children just aren’t being given the opportunity to thrive in those crucial formative years. Once they fall behind, it can be incredibly hard to catch up and this can have a lasting impact that affects them throughout their lives.
“Every moment counts, from the time a child’s deafness is identified, to their first day at school and beyond. We owe it to deaf children to give them the best start in life.”
For more information about Every Moment counts, visit:
To learn more about the support available for deaf children in their early years visit the National Deaf Children’s Society website.