Deaf Children at Home
The following is an extract from the Deaf Children at Home
project (Sutherland and Kyle, CDS, 1993).
When children are diagnosed in the County of Avon they are
referred immediately to the Education Services for Hearing-Impaired Children.
In some cases, the services will be involved with the children prior to this and
even when the child is a few months old. Social workers with the deaf are now
involved from this earliest time.
Where appropriate, the parents will be visited almost
immediately by a teacher of the deaf and assessment carried out and preliminary
advice given. This support is many-faceted ranging from information on
hearing-aids and statutory provision, to child-rearing strategies. Parents will
be invited to participate in weekly groups with other parents where problems can
be shared and where contact with deaf people and a range of other professionals
is provided. Depending on family factors the parents will be visited on a
frequent regular basis at home by the teacher and considerable links will be
developed. When the Deaf Children at Home Project (DCAH) was first suggested it
was placed within this already existing framework and the guidance and support
of the teaching service was obtained.
The purpose of this project in dealing with children from
diagnosis to 11 years of age, was to:
(a) Provide a role model for the deaf child.
(b) Enable the family to become friendly with a deaf adult.
(c) Help hearing parents realise that deaf adults can be the same as
themselves, and can master all the same personal and social skills - such as
driving a car or buying a house.
(d) Help parents to be more positive and accepting of deafness in
general.
(e) Introduce or improve signing skills in the home.
In addition, there were family workshops arranged twice or
three times a year (within the project and within the service), where the
pattern of training linked to practice with the child was emphasised.
