Deafness is not being able to hear well. If there is a child in your school who is deaf, it means they may not be able to hear some of the sounds around them. They may, for example, be unable to hear teachers talking or friends laughing, or the sound of the bell ringing at the end of playtime.

Some children are born deaf, and others become deaf through illness or some other cause when they are older. There are many different kinds of deafness and many different levels. Young people who are partly deaf may simply have trouble following what people say if there is a lot of noise in the background. A few people are profoundly deaf, which means they hear very little.

Ways of communicating

Being deaf does not mean you cannot do your schoolwork perfectly well. It’s just that some people may need extra support.

We all need to be able to communicate – to tell other people what we think and how we feel, and to understand what they think and feel. From the moment we are born we start to learn about other people and the world around us by communicating. Of all our five senses – sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste – most of us think of hearing as the most important for keeping in touch with other people.