Baby classes

Family support

We believe that one of the most important aspects of our baby classes is the support that parents give to each other. During their time attending our baby nursery, parents and children form relationships and friendships with each other which often last for many years.

We also support parents with information sheets which cover topics such as hearing tests, audiograms and deafness, and listening and language development. In this way, we give parents the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills they need to foster their child’s overall development, and to share with others the feelings, triumphs and obstacles their family is experiencing.

The baby class curriculum

Our teaching team plans the lesson content carefully, ensuring that our Baby curriculum follows the objectives of the Department for Education’s Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) that sets out the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years of age.

Activities during the baby classes

The classes encompass a wide range of activities that aim to engage and help stimulate the children’s residual hearing to help nurture strong listening skills and to foster early communication skills that will equip them in their journey to developing speech and language.

We also aim to help parents know how to keep their baby’s hearing technology working effectively on a day-to-day basis, so their child can access the fullest possible range of sound frequencies.

During the baby classes, members of The Elizabeth Foundation’s teaching staff:

• monitor hearing aids and help parents resolve any difficulties;
• explain and demonstrate the importance of daily audiological management;
• demonstrate and discuss basic strategies and fun-filled ideas for the development of: attention, listening, preverbal, and early language skills.

A typical session includes the following elements:

• ‘hello’ circle time;
• snack time (incorporating listening, language learning and turn-taking opportunities);
• story time;
• free play;
• creative activities;
• music and singing;
• ‘goodbye’ circle time.

Assessing progress and setting targets

With input from the parents, we regularly assess each baby’s early listening skills and their nonverbal and verbal communication skills. These assessments form the basis of regular Individual Education Plans that target specific language and listening skills for development.