Irish Sign Language is not a crutch to support people with a disability.  It is a language. Anyone can learn it.  It's linguistic composition is similar in many ways to spoken languages.  5,000 deaf sign language users live in Ireland and as many and more hearing people use ISL.  A global community with an international-global network of sport, cultural and political organisations. Signed poetry, storytelling, & theatre, comedy are available in live performance and on DVD.  Enjoy!

We are particularly interested in assisting families, providing an adult deaf role-model for the deaf child and generally being a liaison contact for the family with the Deaf Community and other families who also have deaf or hard of hearing children.

A child with a hearing loss is first and foremost your child, a member of your family.  If this is your first encounter with hearing loss or deafness, you may be assured that good communication within the family unit will strengthen those family bonds.  Sign language gives the family fluency.  It is a language with no barriers for a person who does not hear well.  It may complement learning speech, English, and generally provide an easy means of discussing all manner of subjects.

Start learning early, give your deaf child every opportunity.

We teach sign language under the Department of Education & Skills ‘Home Tuition Scheme’.  This is a grant given to the family of a deaf child to enable them to have a Deaf Adult visit them in their home and teach the family sign language.

Research now indicates that the use of sign language for children with a hearing loss can accelerate learning.  Learning can be fun!

If you have a child who has been diagnosed as having a hearing loss; mild, moderate or profound, then you may be concerned about their communication abilities and how they can be effective learners at school.  We tend to give our children as many opportunities as possible, and children with hearing loss may address their speech, listening, and English

grammar development needs in addition to learning sign language.

There are many areas of development, often taken for granted, that you will now have questions about; how will your child interact with other children, make friends, use speech?  You may have heard of Lámh (Ireland) or Makathon (England) and wonder if they would be useful.  According to Bolger of Lámh Development Office, Lámh is a hand sign system designed for children and adults with learning disabilities and communication needs in Ireland.  It differs from sign language used by the Deaf community in that speech is used with signs.

We teach ISL, Irish Sign Language used by the Deaf community in Ireland, and by a great number of hearing people who have learned it either to a professional  level to improve a professional service, or as a second language as a hobby.  We recommend ISL for children, their families and friends.  ISL is a full and complete language with its own grammar and structure.  It can convey complex ideas.  Today, it is not unusual for Deaf people to continue their education right up to third level.  There are a significant number of profoundly deaf people who have studied at Universities for diplomas, degrees, masters and PhDs.  They have used sign language interpreters to access their lectures.  Sign Language consists of visual elements and abstract elements.

If a child has learning difficulties the visual elements of ISL can be used to help a child understand an idea, the child can progress to learn the name or words associated with the idea.  Children who learn sign language have a large pool of people both deaf and hearing with whom they will be better enabled to communicate.  A social network is as important as speech development, and educational development in a child’s life.

We can guide you to the research, introduce you to sign language, and to the deaf community should you like to know more.  We can facilitate you if you would you like to meet other parents who have deaf children.

Learning English is important for every child’s independence in the world; learning sign language can facilitate the learning of a wide range of other subjects.  We have a network of experts and we are happy to direct you to the relevant services.  We have some information on DVD, video and booklets produced by organisations within the Deaf community that share the experiences of many families, the medical profession, and language acquisition research.