Little Auslan Academy

There is a dearth of parent support and Auslan learning opportunities available to parents of young children with hearing loss. Programs that do exist are often: -ineffective (poor quality, not evidence-based, poor learning design, delivered by unqualified instructors) -insufficient (only focus on one aspect such as hearing aids) -unsuitable (unrelated to deafness and focus on all disabilities) -inappropriate (focussed on adult learners so parents cannot learn alongside their children) As a result, parents lack the knowledge, skills and resources they need to support their deaf child, contributing to poor educational, social and economic outcomes for deaf children.

Little Auslan Academy gives parents the knowledge, skills and resources they need to support their deaf child to not just grow but thrive. We understand that raising a deaf child is about so much more than just attending a couple of sign language classes. That’s why we’ve created a holistic program that gives parents what they need to succeed: A connection to Deaf role models, evidence-based instruction taught with good learning design principles, helpful learning resources, regular practice opportunities and a supportive learning community.

Little Auslan Academy gives parents the knowledge, skills and resources they need to confidently raise their Deaf child. As a result, Deaf children grow up with better language and communications skills, strong connected relationships with their families, better mental health and improved outcomes in education and employment. When a flower isn’t growing, we don’t blame the flower, we blame its environment. Little Auslan Academy doesn’t just whack some hearing aids on the child and send them to speech pathology hoping they will learn to talk and assimilate into society… We water their whole environment, starting with their family.

Little Auslan Academy is an early language group for 0-5 year old children and their caregivers. Weekly 90-minute classes facilitated by a qualified speech pathologist and experienced Deaf mentor that focus on: -teaching Auslan -teaching strategies to parents that are proven by research to support them to better communicate with their child, advance their language development and confidently raise their child -bringing families together as a supportive community Welcome packs We provide a welcome pack at the start of the program to kick-start their journey. The pack includes Auslan learning resources, an Auslan dictionary, posters, information booklets and Auslan DVDs. Learning assessments We assess children’s language development at the start and end of each term to track their language development. We also assess parents’ confidence with using the evidence-based strategies and the frequency of use so we can support them to use them at home with their child. -Online learning community We post weekly Auslan videos and fun homework tasks so learners can revise the content learned during class continue practising throughout the week with their child. Learners can also connect with one another, share ideas, ask questions and provide mutual support.