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Primary education

Photo: Providing the right support for children in primary education

Find out more about our free resources for teachers and other education professionals on deaf-friendly teaching and support for primary aged deaf children. 

Recognising the signs of hearing loss

If you work in the early years or a primary school, there is a high chance that a child in your care will have an undiagnosed hearing loss.

Find out more about recognising the signs of hearing loss.

Deaf-friendly teaching: For primary schools

This resource is for teachers, those with responsibility for coordinating special needs provision and any other education professional working with deaf children in primary schools. It sets out simple tips for deaf friendly teaching and inclusion in the classroom.

Download Deaf-friendly teaching: For primary school staff

Deaf-friendly online learning

Read our guide to Deaf-friendly online learning to find out about things you may want to consider when thinking about delivering your learning and lessons online.

Read more about Deaf-friendly online learning

Deaf-friendly teaching: Special schools

This resource is for staff working in special schools attended by deaf children with complex needs.

Download Deaf-friendly teaching: For staff in special schools and watch our video below of top tips for staff working in special schools:

https://youtube.com/embed/-_0CoqcXIZo?rel=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.ndcs.org.uk

Supporting the achievement of deaf children in special schools

This video gives staff working in special schools five top tips on supporting a deaf child in their class. 

Assessments of deaf children and young people

Our assessments web pages provide information on the range of different specialist assessments available to professionals working with deaf children in each of the following areas:

  • early communication skills
  • language
  • listening
  • literacy
  • mathematics
  • cognitive development
  • social and emotional development.

You can also learn more of the key principles involved in effective use of assessments.

Bullying and deaf children

We have online guidance on the steps that schools can take to protect deaf children from bullying and how to handle bullying incidents where they arise. 

Go to our page on protecting deaf students from bullying

Creating good listening conditions

We've produced a series of resources to set out the simple steps that can be taken to improve the listening environment in nurseries, schools, and other education settings.

Specialist Deaf Curriculum Framework

The Specialist Deaf Curriculum Framework has been developed to support deaf babies, children and young people make informed decisions about their deafness so they can lead full, independent lives. It provides Teachers of the Deaf, educational audiologists and families with a framework to develop activities or programmes of learning for deaf children and young people at different ages from early years to post-16, linking to a wealth of resources.

Specialist Deaf Curriculum Framework (BATOD)

Education, Health and Care plans (England)

We worked with the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) to produce a range of resources to help practitioners in carrying out EHC needs assessments for deaf children and young people and drawing up EHC plans.

Here to Learn video clips

Our Here to Learn video clips include basic information on the practical steps which school staff can take to be more deaf aware and include deaf children and young people in all aspects of school life.

Mild hearing loss

Our booklet on mild hearing loss is for mainstream teachers and nursery staff. It explains the major impact a mild hearing loss can have on a child, and what you can do to support a child with a mild hearing loss in your class.

Watch the 'Mild hearing loss, major impact' video that accompanies this booklet below:

https://youtube.com/embed/jylb7TDn2Tk?rel=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.ndcs.org.uk

Tips for teaching deaf children with a mild hearing loss

This video explains the major impact a mild hearing loss can have on a child in school, and what professionals can do to support a child with a mild hearing loss in their class. 

Radio aids

Our resources for professionals and families

Case studies

Find examples of policy documents and loan agreement forms shared by specialist support services, as well as some case studies from specialist support services below:

Children who use English as an additional language

This resource provides advice on support to deaf children of all ages who speak English as an additional language (EAL), including children who have yet to start school and their families. The resource is aimed at Teachers of the Deaf and other professionals who work with deaf children who use EAL, including special or additional needs coordinators and EAL coordinators.

Download Supporting the achievement of deaf children who use English as an additional language (EAL)

A short top-tips video on supporting children who use EAL is also available.

We would like to thank the Bell Foundation for their funding, expertise and support in the development of these resources.

Teaching phonics to deaf children

This resource is for anyone who teaches phonics to primary school-aged pupils, such as classroom teachers and teaching assistants.

Download Teaching phonics to deaf children: Guidance for teachers

What are you feeling? A guide to help deaf children understand and identify their emotions

Deaf children can lack the vocabulary to 'label' their feelings. This workbook is for teachers to work through with children to help them expand their emotional vocabulary so that they can understand and identify how they feel.

Download What are you feeling? workbook

Pragmatics and social communication

Knowing how to communicate with other people in socially appropriate ways is known as ‘pragmatics’. Sometimes, deaf children can experience delays in their pragmatic skills.

This booklet explores in depth how children develop pragmatics and includes lots of fun activities to help adults  practise these skills with deaf children.

Download 'Supporting the pragmatics and social communication skills of deaf children'

We have a list of other education resources which have been developed by the Government or other organisations for education professionals that may be helpful for your work with deaf children.

Assess, plan, do, review (England)

Our presentation explains how the 'assess, plan, do, review' cycle can be applied to deaf children to improve outcomes. It is intended for use by Teachers of the Deaf or other specialist staff with mainstream teachers or other education staff.

Download the 'Assess, plan, do, review' presentation

The National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) have also produced guidance on how 'assess, plan, do, review' can be applied to deaf children.

Download the NatSIP guidance

Buddy up! Setting up a peer support scheme for deaf pupils in your school

Our toolkit for teachers explains how they can set up a peer support scheme for deaf pupils.

Download the guide now

There is also a separate guide for teachers in secondary schools

Improving deaf children's literacy skills

This resource is made up of a 10-unit programme of lessons, exercises, games and specially designed books to improve deaf children’s literacy skills by increasing their understanding of English morphology and syntax. It’s aimed at helping deaf children who are aged 7–11 years and is most suitable for deaf children who are not performing at the expected level for their age.

Watch our video with Diana, a Teacher of the Deaf, who gives step-by-step instructions on how to use the resource.

Numeracy programme

Our briefing paper summarises a programme to improve deaf children’s numeracy. It is intended to be used mainly with deaf children aged 5 to 11, according to the individual child's needs.

Download the 'Mathematics' briefing paper

Working memory

This programme aims to support primary school teachers in helping their deaf pupils to develop their working memory.

Research by Oxford University found that deaf pupils using these materials achieved more on working memory measures when compared with a group of children of the same age and intellectual skills who did not use the materials. Working memory is important because it is a skill which supports a child's progress in literacy and numeracy. Our briefing has more information on this research.

Working memory programme