Pre-School Education
Primary Education
Auslan as a L.O.T.E
(Language Other Than English)
The Language Experience Group and Playgroup
The (ETA) English Through Auslan Group
Pre-School Education
This stage involves children from the age of diagnosis until around the age of five. The aim at this stage of the program is to establish communicative and linguistic competence in Auslan so that the children enter formal schooling with language skills comparable to those of their hearing peers.
The following principles determine how the services to this age group and their parents are delivered:
*Learning Auslan for these young children is a language acquisition process.
*Formal instruction in language is not appropriate at this age.
*Parents are the child's principal communicator but do not have to be the linguistic model.
*Deaf adults and deaf peers are the primary linguistic models for deaf children.
*It is crucial that parents are empowered to continue in the parental role rather than becoming instructors or remediators.
*Parents and the extended family require support and information relating to the impact of deafness on their child and their family.
*The earlier parents are exposed to Deaf people the more likely they are to develop positive attitudes towards their child's deafness.
*The opportunity to play with speech is important in these early years.
*Formal intervention in all areas, including non-language areas, is not appropriate unless a child is not attaining normal milestones.
Service is delivered in a variety of ways. Shortly after diagnosis parents visit The Claremont Project and meet Deaf adults and children. Parents then choose some or all of the services according to their needs and those of their child. Their choices will invariably change throughout their time in the program. The services offered include:
*Home based programs by a teacher of the deaf and/or Deaf instructor.
*A centre based program which runs once a week staffed by two Deaf instructors and a teacher of the deaf. This is an Auslan immersion, language experience program.
*A weekly Auslan immersion playgroup for deaf children and their young siblings.
*Weekly Auslan classes for parents staffed by Deaf and hearing teachers of the deaf.
*Consultant speech pathology.
*Parent workshops/seminars on various issues determined by the parents.
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