Hearing Difficulties
Special stories publishing in conjunction with Irish deaf kids are delighted to make “A birthday for Ben” a childrens picture book available to you. Children with hearing issues may often feel different to their peers due to wearing hearing-aids. Or feel left behind in games or group situations that involve auditory exchanges. This story helps all children to see the difficulties that a child in this situation might face and how certain everyday situations might upset them.
Through the main character, children who are deaf/hard of hearing also learn that it’s OK to mention the specific frustrations and issues they experience. People around the children also become more aware of possible workarounds to communication issues or situations. The story helps to reinforce how important it is that no child is ever excluded or left out. Ben’s story offers a broad introduction to the various challenges a child with hearing difficulties may face. As with any story however, this is only one interpretation of mainstream school and the experience of all deaf or hard of hearing children will differ depending on their environment, family background or personality.
Hearing Difficulties
Information A child’s hearing ability can be affected by congenital or genetic issues, head injuries, loud noise, infections or brain damage. Hearing loss can occur anywhere in the auditory (hearing) system. Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. The two main types of hearing loss are: 1) Conductive Hearing Loss: This may be temporary and occurs when sound vibrations from the outer or middle ear are blocked from reaching the inner ear. Causes: fluid in the middle ear middle-ear infections, a perforated eardrum, earwax in the ear canal, unusual bone growth (otosclerosis), or head injury. 2) Sensorineural Hearing Loss: This is permanent and occurs in the pathway from the inner ear (including the cochlea) to the nerve fibres that link the inner ear to the brain for hearing. Causes: head injury, mumps, meningitis, congenital issues, acoustic trauma (loud noise), stroke, Meniere’s disease, brain or auditory nerve tumour or multiple sclerosis.Irish Deaf Kids Irish Deaf Kids is a "for-impact" venture aimed at supporting inclusive education for deaf children in Ireland while empowering parents to develop their child's full potential. For parents, educators / teachers, deaf people and others, IDK provides an interactive website and online forum for discussion and guidance on best practice for education. Over 2,000 deaf children currently attend mainstream schools in Ireland. Parents and teachers need to network and share ideas to ensure consistent educational standards. Early intervention and language acquisition are necessary for deaf children to have a mainstream education but parents and teachers in Ireland lack key reference points. This is where IDK comes in.
www.irishdeafkids.ie- Irish Deaf Kids.
Special Stories in conjunction with ITV signed stories have also released an aminated version of "A Birthday for Ben". Please follow the URL to see the video animation.
http://www.signedstories.com/story-world/families-friendships/birthday-ben
Caroline Carswell, the founder of Irish Deaf Kids
A Birthday for Ben is a very welcome resource for parents and teachers as it introduces the whole concept of hearing and deafness to young children.
Amazon.com Reviewer
Recently purchased this book for my granddaughter who just began kindergarten. She herself has a hearing loss and has always been the only one who wears hearing aids. This book let’s children know some of us wear glasses and some may wear hearing aids but in reality we are all the same. She loved the book…have read it to her over and over..and over!
Amazon.com Reviewer
This book is a really lovely read and a bonus that it was in fact illustrated by a deaf artist meaning the sign language that children use in the illustrations are true to life! The story is a really lovely way to introduce all children to the difficulties and experiences deaf children face.
Thank you