We are Vicci Ackroyd and Marije Davidson, co-founders of BSLKids.
British Sign Language is fully accessible to deaf children and is a language which is used in families with a deaf person. Yet nationally there are no formal courses for children to learn BSL and gain a qualification other than those who are fortunate enough to receive the opportunity in their educational setting (there are a handful of schools across the country that provide this).
BSLKids wants to change this by providing opportunities for children to learn British Sign Language (BSL), primarily children who are deaf or who have a deaf person in their family.
In 2014 we started a course for deaf children and their siblings who came to York one Saturday afternoon a month. Because we wanted to know the impact of learning BSL on the families, we asked the Northern Arm of the National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to carry out an evaluation.
We will be presenting initial findings at the 2016 Conference of the British Society of Mental Health and Deafness in Manchester.
BSLKids 