Archive for the ‘Hearing Matters’ Category

National Audiology Review Seeks Service Feedback

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Ireland’s audiology service raises serious concerns, according to reports in the national press - and forum members on the irishdeafkids.ie website. March 19th is the deadline for having your say on this essential issue. The National Audiology Review is looking for parents, carers and service users to inform the HSE of their ...

Summary Of Deaf Education Conference 4/3/2010

Friday, March 5th, 2010

On March 4th, 2010, deaf education in Ireland took a step toward the future with the launch of a new joint policy document by the Catholic Institute of Deaf People, Trinity College Dublin, the Irish Deaf Society and DeafHear. This document is historic in being the first agreed approach to education ...

‘Disability Law News’ Blog Cites IDK’s Advocacy

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

A ‘Disability Law News’ blog post, Deaf Children and Inclusive Education, cites IDK on how live captioning benefits a deaf student at Trinity College. Trinity College’s Deaf Support in Third-Level (DS3) programme, offers multiple supports to deaf students, of which captioning is just one option. Education supports help unlock deaf students’ ...

Inclusive Education Is ‘All-Encompassing’ Learning

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Inclusive education gives all children mutual learning experiences - while also benefiting teachers’ preparation skills and professional development. Fundamentally, inclusive education teaches children about diversity, and leads teachers to diversify within their own professions, for social benefit. This academic blog post, “Inclusion Is Needed In Classrooms“, makes a solid case for inclusive ...

Including Deaf Children At Preschool - Part Two

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

This post continues the piece, Including Deaf Children At Preschool (Part One). A key question was put to the mum & creche manager: How did you identify the potential challenges you (mum & creche) might meet during Charlie’s early days there? (The Mum) Once Charlie’s deafness was confirmed, we understood that communication methods ...

IDK Wins At Ireland’s eGovernment Awards 2010

Friday, February 19th, 2010

At the eighth annual Ireland’s eGovernment Awards ceremony today in Dublin, IDK beat off stiff competition to win the Education category. Other websites short-listed in the same category include Bluebrick.ie, ArtLinks, the Irish Maritime Development Office and the Online Maths Programme developed by Meath County Council and NUI Maynooth. IDK is delighted ...

The Value Of SMS Texting To Deaf Youngsters

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

At Griffith College, Cork, SMS texts are used to advise students of cancelled classes. Texting is a simple and often free method of communication that is available to anyone with a mobile phone. And these users range from young kids given phones by parents just in case of an emergency, ...

Including Deaf Children At Preschool - Part One

Monday, February 15th, 2010

This spring, the Irish government rolls out its free preschool year for all children born between February 2, 2005 to June 30, 2006 (with exemptions for children with special needs). The Early Child Care & Education (ECCE) initiative, which is open to all preschools in Ireland, is profiled on ...

Teacher Question: Obtaining A Soundfield System

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

A teacher recently asked IDK how to obtain a soundfield system for a child at their school. The system needed to be movable between classrooms. Our first response was to ask if the school has any contact with the Visiting Teacher service for deaf students at the Department of Education (DES). ...

European Award for Languages 2010 (Leargas)

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Leargas, the national agency in Ireland for co-operation programmes in education, youth and community work, vocational education and training, is managing the European Award for Languages 2010 on behalf of the EU. Schools, colleges, businesses and language institutions can apply for these awards. The aim in 2010 is to find organizations ...