Family Sign Language

NDCS believes that the family is the most important influence on a deaf child's development. Yet many parents of deaf children have never met another deaf person or know how to communicate effectively with their deaf child. As a result, they struggle to support and educate their child.

It is crucial that parents of deaf children receive the support they need to learn to communicate with their deaf child from day one, using whatever communication method they require.  

The results from a recent UK-wide NDCS survey of parents revealed that:

• 76% of parents with deaf children have attended BSL classes to learn to communicate with their deaf child.
• All respondents felt that the classes available were too focused on communication between adults and not the kind of language and topics parents use with their children. 
•  50% of respondents paid for the classes themselves and only 14% managed to find funding from local authorities.

That is why NDCS Scotland is campaigning for a nationwide family sign language programme that is geared towards families' needs and available to every family that needs it. We will continue to work with the Scottish Government on this key issue.

• Scottish Government Linguistic Access Working Group: This group has been mapping the current provision of BSL tuition and interpreters in Scotland, and assessing whether this provision is meeting the needs of BSL users in Scotland. NDCS Scotland has argued that parents of deaf children who use BSL must also be considered, and have highlighted that 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents. At the moment, these parents have to pay for BSL classes if they want to access this form of communication with their child. 
• Frank Doran MP teams up with NDCS Scotland to visit Aberdeen School for the Deaf to find out more about NDCS’s Family Sign Language Curriculum campaign.
  
• May 2008: The Department for Children, Schools and Families in Westminster has announced it will provide funding to help families with deaf children who use British Sign Language (BSL) learn the skills they need to communicate effectively. The announcement follows a sustained period of lobbying from NDCS in England, which culminated in a meeting between Susan Daniels OBE, NDCS Chief Executive and the Prime Minister in February 2008. The meeting was organised by Malcolm Bruce MP, Honorary Vice President of NDCS.

NDCS Scotland needs you!

• Have you struggled to pay for BSL classes to help you communicate with your deaf child?
  Tell us about it. 
  

Stories like yours help us to make the case to the Scottish Government and local authorities to provide funding for communication support for you.

If you have any comments on this issue or any experiences you would like to share, please get in touch. 

Remember, your stories help us campaign for better support for deaf children throughout Scotland.

Email: campaigns.scotland@ndcs.org.uk