Early years education

View our range of resources for all education professionals working in the early years on deaf friendly teaching and supporting deaf children in the early years.

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 early education and childcare

This resource is for anyone working with deaf children in an early years setting, including nursery, playgroup, parent and toddler group, crèche, pre-school, or at home if you are a childminder.

Download 'Deaf-friendly early education and childcare'

Success from the start

This resource was created to help families of deaf children and those that support them observe, monitor and record the progress their child makes.

Download Success from the start: a developmental resource for families of children aged 0-3

Deafness and me: A toolkit for early years practitioners to support the mental health and wellbeing of deaf children

This resource was produced in collaboration with the Anna Freud Centre and is available to download from their website (Anna Freud). The toolkit aims to build understanding of the barriers that deaf children may experience. It includes information and activities that can build positive mental health.

Find out more about Deafness and me.

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.

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.

• Creating good listening conditions: For education settings
• Tips on how schools can improve listening conditions
• Managing listening conditions checklist
• Preliminary noise survey
• Pupil survey
• Presentation for Teachers of the Deaf
• Information for parents

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.

• 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 - Robert (aged 11)
• Model Education, Health and Care plan - Daniel (aged 18)

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:

Radio aids in the early years

Take a look at our resources on the use of radio aids in the early years.

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.

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'. 

Other education resources

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.