While a bilingual approach to raising a child means double the work, families raising their kids in both the hearing and Deaf worlds say they're also getting double the joy.
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00:00This might look like any family snack time, but watch closer.
00:12Raspberry.
00:13Lots and lots of fruit.
00:15One-year-old Charlie Walls was born with profound hearing loss.
00:20Now her whole family is learning Auslan.
00:23Biscuit.
00:24Please.
00:25Nana.
00:26Nana.
00:27Nana.
00:28Good job, Els.
00:29Well done.
00:30Charlie also wears cochlear implants to stay connected to the hearing world.
00:36We wanted her to be bilingual and have spoken language as well as sign language.
00:42Being born deaf, I really felt like it was almost like her birthright to have sign language
00:49as part of her life.
00:52It was a big undertaking, but one that was important for Mum Kate.
00:57If we're expecting Charlie to kind of meet us in the hearing world by having to do all
01:02of the learning of spoken language and English, I think it's also important that we meet her
01:07halfway.
01:08Orange.
01:09Yeah.
01:10That ripe red strawberry.
01:11Behind the play is a focus on building the children's cognitive, social and motor skills.
01:28Creating that sense of belonging and also identity, connecting with their peers, seeing others
01:35that use Auslan, seeing others that have cochlear implants or hearing aids.
01:39For the parents, it's about education.
01:41Katie Huntsdale has taught deaf children for 25 years, including 23 at NextSense.
01:49The kids, I watch them grow from being young babies and also supporting the parents very
01:57early on in their journey and watching them grow and achieve language goals.
02:02It just brings me so much joy.
02:05Experts say early intervention programs like these play a critical role for children with
02:10hearing loss in mastering language, whether it's spoken, sign or both.
02:16Children need to be immersed in language rich environments with people who know and use the
02:22languages that they're learning.
02:23For Charlie, the play group is about much more.
02:27Charlie is able to be around other deaf kids and deaf adults and she loves watching the
02:36deaf adults signing.
02:38It's so beautiful to watch and it just shows that there is this connection between deaf people
02:45that hearing people just don't understand.
02:50That connection is known as deaf culture.
02:53It refers to the strong bonds and comfort that deaf people feel with peers who have shared experiences.
03:00All the more important for navigating a world built for those who can hear.
03:06Deaf culture is a huge part of our identity and our identity, it is language, it's our
03:12communication, our visual connection, it's part of the wider community, it's us feeling
03:18safe and comfortable and at home with our community.
03:22Brent Phillips is a proud third generation deaf person.
03:27He says deafness is far more than just hearing impairment.
03:31We do strongly identify as being culturally and linguistically diverse as a group.
03:35Just like our Italian communities, Chinese communities, Greek communities have their space,
03:40their values, their norms, behaviours, cultures, celebrations, so do we with Auslan.
03:47Brent opted to raise his kids bilingual and says there's no one right way to raise a deaf child.
03:54As long as you have all the information that you need and you think about what's best for your child.
03:59We have found it a lot of hard work to learn Auslan but we've also found it really rewarding.
04:07We're kind of getting double the amount of joy because we're putting in double the amount of work.
04:13a lot of work.
04:14a lot of work.