With Hope Dennis, Deaf 14-year-old.
Intro from Matt Keer:
Language deprivation is usually the most deep-rooted issue that deaf pupils face when starting school. Giving deaf babies and toddlers access to rich, meaningful language at the earliest possible stage is absolutely vital – whether that’s through signed language, spoken language, or a mix of both.
The new government hasn’t said much yet about its plans to improve the SEND system, but we’re told SEND is high on the agenda at the Department for Education it has said that it recognises the importance of early intervention. This week, deaf teenager Hope Dennis met Stephen Morgan, Minister for early Years, to tell him her story and to highlight what early intervention has done for her.
Hope has written for us about her experience of being deaf in a hearing world and what she wants for other children with similar disabilities…
How I asked Stephen Morgan, Early Years Minister to boost education for young deaf children by Hope Dennis
When I met Government Minister, Stephen Morgan this week, I was a bit nervous but really excited to tell him all about my hearing journey. Bearing in mind that when I was born in 2010 the doctor who gave me my diagnosis said to my parents: “A jumbo jet could land next to her and she wouldn’t even flinch”, it was a big achievement.
When I was diagnosed as deaf as a baby it was a huge shock to my parents who are themselves both hearing. With no history of deafness or hearing loss in our family, they found themselves in a scary and unfamiliar place.
I explained to Minister Morgan that my life was changed thanks to the kindness of strangers. My parents were introduced to another family, whose daughter Ava is three years older than me, and has exactly the same cause of deafness. We both have a faulty gene, known as Connexin 26, which means the tiny hairs in our ears don’t vibrate and transmit sound to our brains like hearing people’s do.
My mum told me that meeting this family and hearing their daughter chat away to her parents gave her so much… well I suppose the word is… Hope! They shared their experience, their contacts, and, hugely significantly, they were the ones who brought Auditory Verbal therapy into our lives.
Early access to help for my deafness made a huge difference
As a family, we had our first Auditory Verbal therapy appointment at charity Auditory Verbal UK when I was just two months old. Obviously, I have no memory of this, but my mum often speaks very emotionally of that initial session with the late Jacqueline Stokes, a certified Auditory Verbal Therapist and the charity’s founder. My mum has said many times that after facing so many ‘no’s’ and being told to dial down and manage her expectations for my future, the positivity of AVUK was a breath of fresh air and empowerment. Jacqueline asked what my parents hoped for me, and my mum said, ‘To have choices, to have opportunities and freedom. To not be… pigeonholed by her deafness, starting with going to a mainstream school.’ Our therapist’s response? ‘Yes! Absolutely she can.’
For the next seven months, I wore hearing aids and my Auditory Verbal therapy sessions helped me to understand sound. After months of testing, I was finally given the go-ahead for surgery to receive bilateral cochlear implants at Great Ormond Street Hospital. My deafness is so profound that I only have a tiny bit of hearing on my right side and this wouldn’t allow me to access speech—possibly only the sound of the jet engine I mentioned before. With my cochlear implants, I could now technically hear quieter, more subtle and important everyday essential sounds – including speech. But cochlear implants are only part of the process – I had to learn how to listen with them and develop my talking skills. My Auditory Verbal Therapist coached my parents on how to use strategies at home during our everyday routines.
Learning that sound has meaning
During his visit this week, Minister Morgan got involved in an Auditory Verbal therapy session at AVUK with a little boy named Reece. He saw how, by supporting and coaching parents to stimulate the auditory pathways in our brains, implanted children can develop listening and spoken language through play and via everyday routines.
The Auditory Verbal therapy programme taught me that sound had meaning. It quite literally helped me find my voice. By the time I was one, just two-and-a-half months after the cochlear implant surgery, I had an age-appropriate understanding and development of spoken language.
I was so proud to speak to the Minister about how the programme has transformed my life, giving me just as many opportunities and options as any other naturally-hearing child. It was great to speak to him alongside eight-year-old Rafi who is also deaf and speaks English and French.
I am now at a mainstream school, located in the Barbican in London. I am proud to be their first student who wears cochlear implants and hope I can be a pioneer for other students in the future.
Don’t write us off – support us!
And that really is the most important message that I wanted to share with the Minister and the government. Deaf children should never be written off because of their disability, or reduced by it. We live in an amazing time of technological advancement and I am living proof of what can happen when this is paired with Auditory Verbal therapy.
I am very grateful for the help and support I received from AVUK. They have helped me to fulfil my potential as a person, rather than be limited and pigeonholed by a disability. Only this week I proudly received two awards at my school’s annual Prize Day. It means everything to me that I have the same opportunities as my naturally-hearing peers.
The thought of anyone being held back because of deafness when there is so much that can, and should, be done to help them realise their hopes and ambitions, makes me even more determined to help raise awareness and challenge stereotypes. For example, my mum was told that I would probably never enjoy music as it would be too overwhelming, but I LOVE music. I sing in the choir, as well as playing the guitar and the piano. I’m also a huge Swiftie and was lucky enough to go and see Taylor Swift this summer when she was touring in the UK.
Of course there are challenges, but I believe in rising to them. I play netball for my school and in fast-paced games my coils can often become dislodged leaving me in silence, but I have learned there are things that I can do and strategies I can put in place that mean I don’t miss out on the things I love.
More must be done—and now
I am acutely aware of how lucky I am.
Sadly, only 10% of children with hearing loss have access to Auditory Verbal therapy in the UK right now. The fact that over 90% of children do not have that opportunity is heart-breaking. Put simply, I wouldn’t be the girl I am today without Auditory Verbal therapy and I hope that having met me and the other AV families, Minister Morgan understands just how vital it is for the government to provide early support for deaf babies and children. The sooner they can be helped and have access to AV therapy, the greater their chance of reaching their full potential and not just living, but thriving, as I am doing
Hope Dennis (14)
Also read
- The urgent need for early and effective support for deaf children – my appeal as a deaf parent with two deaf daughters
- Parents call on SEND Minister to invest in deaf children missing vital support in schools
- The SEND “Emergency” debate: scrap safety valve, write-off high needs debt and stop piling trauma on to families
- Savage cuts to support staff leave deaf children in England fighting for their futures
- Nine out of 10 parents fear for their deaf child’s education amid the SEND crisis
- Tackling the lack of diversity in books for deaf children
- The invisible condition that can scramble sound and speech: all about Auditory Processing Disorder
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