Deaf Children Australia is celebrating National Week of Deaf People (NWDP) on Monday, September 18, with a free, engaging and inclusive Auslan Story Time at Footscray Library.
Community Engagement manager Tamara Trinder, said this event serves multiple purposes, one of which is linking it to NWDP and to feelings and emotions.
“We have a number of new books that we will be promoting as part of our Platypus Playhouse series, it’s all about access and inclusion for deaf and hard of hearing children,” she said.
“We have a wonderful young lady Precious who is deaf herself, she is fluent in Auslan and is bilingual, so she will be attending Footscray library to present to the kids in Auslan.”
Hearing children can also be involved as Tamara said there will be an English narrator.
“The book is designed for the zero-four age group but anyone can be involved, it’s really important for families, including parents or carers, god parents, aunties, uncles and siblings to learn too,” she said.
“It is not only about the spoken word, it’s about learning things in Auslan because research has proven that bilingualism is actually a lot more beneficial for children.
“Research actually shows that there’s a huge improvement in their learning.”
Tamara said this program began following the completion of a community survey which showed a gap in learning.
“We had 500 respondents from parents, allied health services, and a variety of stakeholders,” she said.
“They said that bilingualism seems to solve a lot of those problems, so we began the platypus series.”
“This event is an opportunity for us to launch new learning through NWDP and to get these books out into the market for people to be able to communicate with their children.”
Details: www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/library/Events/Spring-School-Holiday-Program-2023/Auslan-Story-Time
Jennifer Pittorino
