Children with mild and moderate deafness are failing to achieve at school

Children with mild and moderate deafness are failing to achieve in mainstream education.

Research published by The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), finds poor building acoustics, lack of staff awareness and late diagnosis are three things making a significant impact during the school day.

There are around 20,000 children in the UK with a diagnosis of mild or moderate deafness and the NDCS is urging the Government to make sure services and support is provided to make sure these children are not getting left behind.

Chief Executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, Susan Daniels said: “Deafness is not a learning disability so there is no reason why deaf children shouldn’t achieve the same results as their hearing classmates. Over half of children with a mild or moderate hearing loss fail to achieve five good GCSEs, compared to 30% of other children. This attainment gap is simply unacceptable.

“Mild and moderate deafness can often be overlooked because of a perception that it is not a serious condition or that children are ‘coping’ at school. But often these children are nodding their way through life without really understanding what is being said and missing out on vital early development. No child should have to struggle at school because of misconceptions about the impact of mild or moderate deafness.”