Developing a Parenting Programme for Families with Deaf Children

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Developing a Parenting Programme for Families
with Deaf Children
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NDCS is

• The only national charity that is dedicated to
  the support of the UKs 35,000 deaf children and
  their families.  
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• Set up by parents, for parents, in 1944, NDCS
  believes that the family is the most important
  influence on a deaf childs development. NDCS is
  the only charity that supports both the deaf
  child and their family.

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Background
In June 2003, NDCS Publication Parenting and
Deaf Children Report of the needs assessment
study as part one of the NDCS Parents Toolkit
Development Project Produced by Alys Young
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Needs Assessment Studysome major messages

• Parenting a deaf child is the same as parenting a
  hearing child, AND it is different
• The experience of deaf parents and parents of
  children with additional needs cannot be subsumed
  under general conclusions about parenting a deaf
  child

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Continued

• Information Its not just the what, but the how
• The significance of parents for parents
• Parenting as an experience of growth and change
  for parents themselves
• Parenting a deaf child can be a positive
  experience

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Whos deaf?

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The audit for the parenting a deaf child
project

• Questionnaires to
• Parenting professionals 39 returns
• Parents of deaf children 190 returns
• Parenting programmes 33 evaluated
• Focus groups held 36 participants

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Parents of Deaf Children
Have you attended a parenting programme?
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Most useful

• We asked parents what they found most useful
  about the parenting programme they attended.
• By far the most useful aspect was the opportunity
  to meet other parents of deaf children.
• This supports the argument that specialist
  programmes are necessary, not just for relevance
  of content but also for the highly valued benefit
  of mixing with peers.

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Specialist programme?
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Objectives of parenting a deaf child project

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• To empower parents of deaf children of primary
  school age
• To provide an opportunity for parents of deaf
  children to meet and support each other
• To aid in behaviour management
• To improve quality of family life
• To improve the child-parent relationship
• To reduce parental stress and increase parental
  confidence

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Outcomes of parenting a deaf child project

• A ten-week curriculum plus facilitators guide
• Three seminars
• Reprint parenting CD-rom
• Activity board
• Tips from parents (booklet)
• Tips from parents of deaf children with
  additional needs (booklet)
• Website development

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The curriculum
Introductions Daily communication Self esteem
(two sessions) Dealing with emotions
Play Behaviour management (two sessions) The
wider family Final session a review
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Structure of sessions

• Interactive learning sessions with an emphasis
  on sharing experiences
• Activities including
• Role-plays
• Self reflection tasks
• Pair work
• Group work
• Facilitated group discussions
•  

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Parenting classes by phone

• Offers modified curriculum to parents through
  facilitated telephone conferencing
• Enables hard to reach parents to be involved
• Not accessible to some parents

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Seminars

• Designed to be delivered as one-off sessions
• Behaviour management
• Self-esteem
• Siblings
• How have we delivered them?

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CD-Rom

• 25 parents sharing their experiences via
  multimedia
• Resource for new parents early information
  sharing, at their own pace
• Distance support tool
• Links to resources and services

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Activity board

• A magnetic weekly planner consisting of
• an A3 wipe-clean magnetic board
• Extra magnets for attaching notes and
  pictures
• A disposable camera with free film processing

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Parenting tips

• A collection of helpful, anecdotal advice
  written by parents of deaf children for parents
  of deaf children.
• Now producing a further booklet in same style,
  written by parents of deaf children with
  additional or complex needs.

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Website development

• www.ndcs.org.uk/information/parenting
• To find
• Information about all materials produced by the
  project
• A curriculum taster area Developing parenting
  skills
• Signposting to other relevant areas of NDCS
  activity

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What next?

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• Ideas for future developments?
• Mainstream or specialist?
• Linking with other activities within NDCS
• Evaluate and improve

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Thank you

• Pauline Walker
• Director NDCS N Ireland