Nursery World - Inclusion: Create a deaf-friendly learning environment

A new early years toolkit from the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) contains a host of advice on creating an environment that supports deaf children to achieve their learning potential. Emma Fraser reports

Deaf babies and children do not have a learning disability. They have the same potential to develop and learn as any other child, given the right support from the start. Despite this, only 36 per cent ofdeaf children achieved five GCSEs at grades A* to C in 2014, compared with 65 per cent of other children.

Three babies are born deaf in the UK every day. Half will be identified as deaf at just a few weeks old and most of them will be educated alongside their hearing classmates. Many deaf children lose their hearing in the first few years or experience temporary deafness such as glue ear. This comes at a time when they are learning all about life, how to communicate and forming key attachments and relationships.

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