Welcome to the Home Learning and Support Programme

Our home good listening and spoken language skills learning programme is designed to guide you in helping your deaf child develop. Each lesson focuses on your child as a whole: physical, social, emotional and cognitive development as you will soon witness that a deaf child develops, in most part, in total parallel with their hearing peer group. They need to be given the same structure, boundaries and foundations that a hearing child does in order for them to grow up with an awareness of their environment and those around them.

The Home Learning Programme has:

• A Baby Course
• A Pre School Course
• Special Papers

Your lessons provide ideas to help build a language rich environment with a strong emphasis on:

• How to listen
• How to develop language
• How to establish speech
• Using daily life activities and experiences

You report on how you and your child are doing and our team responds with personal letters offering support, suggestions, answers to your questions and comments on using the lessons. You are welcome to use email for correspondence if that is easier for you.

Our programme is available to families throughout the UK and Ireland. It is free of charge, however there are, of course, administrative costs incurred and donations towards the cost of these would be very gratefully received.

Professionals can purchase a bound edition of our Baby and Pre school courses by mail.

You progress through the lessons entirely at your own pace and will never have to feel alone in the challenges and hurdles that you face. If you feel ready to get started, click on the Home Learning Programme enrollment menu.

For more information or to arrange to preview, please contact the programme co-ordinator at hlp@elizabeth-foundation.org or call 023 9237 2735

Our Home Learning Programme starts with Baby lessons from birth - two and a half years old. It consists of ten separate lessons which include information about family relationships, deafness, child development and communication. It is planned for parents to use with their own babies in their own homes. Depending on the age of the baby when the parent registers, and on the child's abilities, it takes between one and two years to complete.

In order to keep materials coming, parents must report to the Foundation at the end of each lesson. As reports are received, the team send the next lesson. An individual letter offering a family information, encouragement, guidance, and training is sent in response to reports. The Foundation's Home Learning Programme support staff also sends supplemental papers as needed or requested by families.

A child begins to communicate in a variety of ways right from infancy. The lessons in the Baby Course discuss the stages of language development beginning with nonverbal sounds (baby "cooing")through the first attempts at understanding and saying words. Since we want to focus on the whole child, each lesson includes sections on communication, child development, everyday language building activities and extra games.

Everything parents feel, not only about their child, but about each other and the world around them - everything they do in front of their child, with their child, and to their child, contributes to the child's character, personality, feelings and attitudes and to the child's ability to communicate. The Programme, therefore, devotes a great deal of attention to the feelings and emotions of parents and aims to support, guide and encourage you to develop the natural skills you have that best equip you to help your deaf child.

Families may enroll immediately online

The Home Learning Programme for parents of pre school aged deaf children consists of ten separate lessons, which cover family relationships and beginning communication skills. It is planned for parents to use with their own children. Depending on the age and ability of the child and the amount of time parents can devote to the lessons, it takes between two and three years to complete.

Parents are requested to send in a report to our main Family Centre at the end of each lesson. From these reports, the Foundation's team is able to adapt the printed lessons to the special needs of each family. This is done through individual letters which offer each family information, encouragement, guidance, and training, and a series of appropriate supplemental papers are provided. A new lesson is posted when the previous one is completed and the report received.

Communication is a part of living, not a separate, unrelated skill that can be learned - therefore, the growth and development of the whole child is put first. Each lesson includes information on communication, on the physical, emotional, and social development and growth of all children. All activities are planned with the express purpose of helping deaf children take the beginning steps in auditory learning and conversation skills, and all three play a critical role in the development of spoken language and its effective use.

Everything parents feel, not only about their child, but about each other and the world around them - everything they do in front of their child, with their child, and to their child, contributes to his character, personality, his feelings about and attitudes toward the world in which he lives, and to his ability to communicate. The Programme, therefore, devotes a great deal of attention to the feelings and emotions of parents.

Families may enroll immediately through our website.