A Cornwall mum is campaigning to make sign language college courses free for parents with deaf children. Katie Littlejohns, from Illogan, found out her son, Alvie, was moderately deaf when he was just seven weeks old.
She explained that although finding out was “hard to take on board” at first, the support the family has since received from teachers of the deaf at Cornwall Council and the audiology department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro has been “incredible.”
“We found out he was deaf whilst we were in lockdown and it was really difficult because as an NHS worker, I wasn’t with my family at the time and I found out when I was on my own”, she said. “Covid also meant that I couldn’t take my husband with me to Alvie’s MRI scans or other appointments but the hospital and council’s teachers of the deaf department were so incredible and compassionate throughout.”
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Alvie is now 18 months old and has had hearing aids fitted. But Katie and her husband decided to learn British Sign Language (BSL) so that they are able to communicate with him when he is unable to wear them or in situations where they do not work effectively.
“He quite often just pulls out his hearing aids, so, while he does have moderate hearing, he misses a lot of what people are saying to him”, Katie explained. I’ve seen it when he plays with his cousins sometimes and they’re speaking to him but he can’t hear what they’re saying because he’s taken them out.”
“There are also times that he’ll be isolated if he can’t use his hearing aids or he’s in an environment where they won’t work as effectively. For example, he can’t wear them when he’s swimming and if we’re in a restaurant and there are lots of people talking at once, they don’t work as well and he can’t hear what everyone is saying. It makes me really sad to think that he could feel isolated in these situations so we want to learn sign language to be able to communicate with him.”
Alvie and his brother
(Image: Katie Littlejohns)
The family has been taking a free BSL course through the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and while Katie says it is a “fantastic” course where children are also able to take part, she finds that they are not entirely suitable for her.
She explained: “I’m not trying to knock the charity at all because I think it is a fantastic and wonderful thing that they are able to run these courses to help families learn sign language. But we personally find it quite challenging to focus on the lessons …….
Source: https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/mums-plea-make-sign-language-7495119