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.
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.
This is usually a temporary hearing loss caused by glue ear. Eight out of ten deaf children will experience glue ear before the age of 10.
It could also be a permanent hearing loss. Over half of deaf children become deaf during childhood. This usually happens in the first three years of life.
Any hearing loss, even if it’s temporary or mild, can have a big impact, particularly in the early years when children are developing their speech and language skills.
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.
This resource is for staff working in special schools attended by deaf children with complex needs.
Download the resource now and watch our video below of top tips for staff working in special schools:
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.
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 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 guidance
Our resource includes examples of a range of assessments commonly used with deaf children and young people of all ages in communication, language, listening, literacy, numeracy, cognitive development and social/emotional development. It also includes guidance on issues to consider when carrying out assessments as well as examples of assessments in practice.
Watch our video below to get step-by-step instructions on how to use the resource with Teacher of the Deaf Tina.
Our toolkit for teachers explains how they can set up a peer support scheme for deaf pupils.
There is also a separate guide for teachers in secondary schools.
Our resource provides guidance on the steps that schools can take to protect deaf children from bullying, and how to handle bullying incidents where they arise.
Resources for parents and young people are also available on our Bullying and deaf children page.
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.
- Factsheet for teachers
- PowerPoint training presentation
- Template survey for seeking pupils' opinions on listening in the classroom
- Template preliminary noise survey
- Advice for head teachers, property managers, academy trusts and local authorities
- Information for parents
- Sound simulations of classroom with poor or good acoustic conditions
- Our Here to Learn video clips including clips on reducing background noise and on good acoustics
This resource was created to help families of deaf children and those that support them observe, monitor and record the progress their child makes.
Success from the start is designed to help you:
- share your observations of your child
- recognise the importance of what they’re doing now
- support you in asking questions and understanding your child’s development
- be clear about what sorts of things your child may do next
- have ideas as to what you and others can do to help.
You can download Success from the start here.
We’ve 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.
- Better Plans, Better Assessments, Better Plans: a multi-disciplinary framework for the assessment of children with a hearing impairment
- Template for assessment and information gathering
- Section by section guide to writing more effective EHC plans for children and young people with sensory impairment
- NatSIP summary checklist to writing more effective EHC plans
- Model Education, Health and Care plan - Ruby (aged 3)
- Model Education, Health and Care plan - Kirsty (aged 4)
- Model Education, Health and Care plan - Robert (aged 11)
- Model Education, Health and Care plan - Daniel (aged 18)
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.
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.
Our booklet for mainstream teachers and nursery staff 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:
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.
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.
This resource is for anyone who teaches phonics to primary school-aged pupils, such as classroom teachers and teaching assistants.
Families interested in phonics may find our factsheet Phonics and the Development of Your Deaf Child’s Reading and Writing Skills useful.
The 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.
A short top-tips video is also available.
We would like to thank The Bell Foundation for their funding, expertise and support in the development of these resources.
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.
This resource aims to support primary school teachers in helping deaf children improve their working memory. It includes a range of games and activities for teachers to use.
Watch our video with Lynda, a Teacher of the Deaf, who gives step-by-step instructions on how to use the resource.
These resources have been developed by the Government or other organisations for education professionals that may be helpful for your work with deaf children.