Research has shown that more than a million children in Britain find it difficult to hear and miss out on vital information in the classroom. In November 2007, the NDCS will launch an Acoustic Toolkit for teachers to ensure children do not fall behind at school unnecessarily. The NDCS urges Local Education Authorities across the UK to make full use of the free toolkit.
According to research, many children find it hard to distinguish speech against background noise in the classroom. The NDCS Acoustic Toolkit will improve the education for these children as well as the 35,000 deaf children in the UK. Eighty percent of deaf children attend mainstream schools and the teaching and learning environment available to them has a significant impact on their ability to achieve at school.
The NDCS Acoustic Toolkit tackles the practical issues of classroom listening conditions. The structured, self-audit toolkit will enable all mainstream schools to identify areas of concern, record basic measurements and undertake straightforward, practical actions to improve listening conditions across the whole school environment. The toolkit will ensure that deaf children are fully able to access learning along with their hearing peers.
The free toolkit can be downloaded from:
Tel: 0808 800 8880
