Deaf friendly nursery

[Meli31]

Hi!
Sorry for the long post!

I'm doing some research about whether parents of deaf children, or deaf parents with deaf or hearing children, feel there is a market for a nursery that is designed around supporting deaf children's learning and development.

A bit of background.

I'm currently an early years practitioner and room leader at a private nursery.

I have a 1st class BA (Hons) in Education and Early Years and my dissertation focus was the inclusion of d/Deaf children in mainstream schools. I'm also qualified level 2 in British Sign Language.

Research shows a gap between deaf children and hearing children's learning attainment, which I feel (and my research showed) is greatly due to a lack of deaf awareness and resources/strategies to support deaf children.

I would love to create an inclusive nursery (for all), with a focus of deaf children to help bridge the gap to ensure children learn, develop and thrive through interactive learning and play.

My question.

Is there a need for a nursery like this?

Would you send your child to a nursery like this?

All replies and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I work in SEN, in Early Years
One (of many) things parents of EY dc want is for them not to have to travel to their education provision. They want their Nursery to be (usually) close to home or (sometimes) close to work.
The numbers of deaf dc is relatively small, so, for the Nursery to be sustainable, dc would have to travel some considerable distance to come to you.
Then many families feel that they don't want their dc to be 'removed from' their peers and would actively seek out mainstream rather than specialist provision. This is especially so when they are little.
I think - whereas knowledge and training could always be better, I know the overwhelming majority of parents of deaf children I have worked with, wouldn't be looking for this provision.

I have worked in a preschool with a child who had hearing loss and used b~SL and been in schools, Staff trained in BSL in order to communicate.

Hi Backforgood,

Thank you for replying. I see what you mean about the travel. Ultimately parents need childcare to be easily accessible and local. The nursery wouldn’t be an deaf only nursery so the worry of potentially excluding their child wouldn’t be an issue, it would be more a predesigned environment with all resources already in place. To he honest I thought this may be the case.

Thank again, I really appreciate it.

I'm a teacher of the deaf and love that you're so deaf friendly.

As was said, it's a low incidence condition so probably wouldn't work because of the small number of deaf kids in any one area. Making settings and schools deaf friendly is one of my missions in life

@june2007 thank you for your reply. Yes, this is also a great way to support a deaf child. I was hoping a predesigned environment (soundproofing, equipment, all staff trained in BSL and with a good understanding of deaf awareness throughout the entire nursery would be a bonus, but ultimately you and @BackforGood make excellent points.

I may need to rethink my plan. Thank you!

A deaf friendly nursery is actually is wonderful communication an environment and would benefit all children. And given the increase of speech and Lang needs that is how you could market it.

So not for deaf children but an inclusive setting with special attention to the listening environment for a superior learning, playing and communication conditions.

Many hearing impaired children will never learn BSL though as they don’t have to.

@ToDuk thank you for your reply. I agree, I think my passion for inclusive provision for deaf children has blinded me to realities of the quantity of children in a particular area. Totally agree we need to make all schools deaf friendly. Plus all provisions that do make it inclusive have benefits for all children (repeating yourself, or what somebody said, quieter environment, facing the child without the sun shining in their eyes). All simple things that make a world of difference. Thank so much for your reply. Best of luck on your mission! I’m glad I’m not the only one pushing for deaf awareness and better resources to bridge the gap!

My son has been diagnosed as deaf in the last few days. He's still very young, so we're not thinking about childcare just yet, but it has been on my mind.
I would definitely actively seek out a deaf friendly nursery for him. If he wasn't deaf I would probably prioritise finding the closest nursery to home, but as he will most likely need extra support to reach his full educational potential I would travel further to ensure he was somewhere that provided this support.

Just another thought--the leading non genetic cause of deafness in childhood is CMV, which often comes with other special educational needs, too. So perhaps a nursery that welcomed all but focused on inclusion for children with a range of sen would be beneficial for not only more children, but more beneficial for those with multiple needs, too.
I'm only just starting on my journey as a mother to a deaf child, but knowing that somewhere like this might be a possibility really gives me hope for his future. One of my biggest concerns is his educational needs not being properly met and his attainment being lower because of that.

@Atalune thank you for your reply. Yes, I have many deaf friends, some sign, many don’t-although most of the ones who don’t have expressed a desire to learn.

BSL and signing is shown to aid communication and language in (all) babies/children in addition to reducing frustration; as they are able to express their needs earlier. However the focus wouldn’t have been solely on BSL as, like you said, it’s not everyone’s preferred method of communication-which is fine and completely up to the family how they choose to do so. It would have been more the awareness and use of effective assessment and strategies. I appreciate your input though, as it’s important to take that into account.

@Atalune yes, I completely agree. I may have to aim for an inclusive setting using the strategies for all. Thanks so much for your replies. Seeing it from somebody else’s perspective really helps.

Can you say whereabouts you are? In a big city there’d be enough deaf children to support a specialist nursery.

I have deaf friends and they chose where to live based on where there were good deaf specialist schools - they’re in an area with two specialist primary schools and a lot of families with deaf children (greenwich in London) so maybe research where there are concentrations of deaf families? Eg by looking for deaf specialist schools or maybe there’s a deafness charity that could give you some guidance?

Alternatively (or as a starting point) you could look into setting up a playgroup or a drop off play centre that focused on catering for deaf children - so eg families could bring their kids on a Saturday for some BSL based playing/activities?

BSL is a whole different language it’s like learning French. I am a L3 signer and also know MAkaton which I use with babies and young children.

Not sure getting everyone doing BSL is a help really? Might put some people off.....

@Bhappy12 thank you for your reply and sharing. It can be a shock being told you child is deaf (my friends son is), and as a mother it was something she also had concerns about.

I completely agree about additional needs, many children (deaf or hearing) can have multiple special needs. I would have a special educational needs coordinated to ensure all needs are supported so children are able to learn and thrive using strategies to help them as an individual.

All children are different and it’s so important not to try a one size fits all approach.

Do you mind if I ask what area you live in?

Thanks again for your reply.

@8by8 thank you for your reply.

I’m not far from Cambridge (which is where I studied BSL).

That’s a great point and I wasn’t aware that families actively choose to live close to a specific area.

Contacting a deaf charity and the play group idea with the use of BSL and strategies is a great way to dip my toe in, so to speak.

I’ll definitely need to do more research. Thanks so much for your reply.

@Atalune I see your point. I use Makaton where I work now, so could use that or sign supported English generally and use BSL if parents request it as a main method with their child perhaps? Really good point, I’ll have a think about it. Thank you.

My ds has unilateral hearing loss and his speech improved with a hearing aid. His nursery just thought he was shy. His primary school would sit him in correct seat but that's as far as their help went. Teachers often walked around class when teaching so he would miss parts of what they said. Schools just need educating on being deaf aware.

In my county there are 4 specialist SEN provisions for high needs.

I think what you’re describing sounds like that...but what I think you want to offer is more mainstream.

The difficulty is that some children need specialist care and they should get it. There should be more specialist provision. Inclusivity and the mainstreaming of many high needs children I think can very detrimental to those with needs as well the mainstream provision. There has been a huge drive to cut specialist provisions and make one size fit all. It doesn’t. Inclusivity has to be balanced with appropriate care.

I’d like to see more specialist provisions with much stronger and better links with mainstream where there is a dual setting placement between the 2.

Such a shame Curly. Do you have a teacher of the deaf who can go in and train the staff?

I tried but as he went to school in different borough than where we live, we couldn't get any help.
He's now in secondary school and the awareness there is just as poor.

Have you been in touch with the NDCS, curly?

@Curlygirly I’m sorry to hear the school isn’t doing more to support your son. The lack of deaf awareness really doesn’t make such a big impact. I hope the school make a plan to help your ds access the information he needs x

@Atalune yes, I agree. Some children thrive in specialist SEN provisions and finding that balance within mainstream education is incredibly difficult. There should absolutely be better relationships between the two provisions and more in-depth training. Really excellent points, thank you!

@Curlygirly I agree, get in touch with NDCS and have a meeting with the headteacher, SENCO and teacher to discuss the plan of action they have in place, the strategies their using and how they will assess his progress. Then review it in three months. They should have done this with you already if you’ve had concerns. I hope it gets sorted for you xx

Also speak to your audiologist and see if they can refer to a ToD. That's where all our referrals come from. School in a different borough shouldn't matter. We live close to a couple of county borders and children are seen by the ToDs in the county they go to school.