Devio Early Childhood Institute

Millions of deaf and hearing children with language development issues struggle with early language acquisition and development. It is also estimated that about 7% of hearing children have language, speech and communications disorders. In Canada and in other parts of the world, including Ghana which is also part of one of the regions that we work in, millions of deaf and hard of hearing children do not have equal access to learning opportunities and education, and are therefore left behind due to the existing language and communication barriers.

Devio Early Childhood Institute, is proposing the use of sign languages in all preschools in Canada, not only as a way to bridge the serious language and communication gaps that currently exists for the children who need it but also to maximize the language needs and communications skills of all children, considering that the early years is when speech and language skills are nurtured.

Our solution:

1. Allocate Deaf sign language experts to preschools in Canada who would teach young children sign language.(This is the main project we would be engaging fellows in the Leap Project in)

2. Advocate for a national bill where all preschools in Canada would teach sign language to children between ages 0-8years due to the benefits learning and using the language offers all children.

2. Run a research project to document and gather information that would help us lobby the Government of Canada and the ministry of Education to support our initiative and pass the sign language bill by 2025.

Our solution would enable equal access to inclusive and quality early childhood education for all young children, whether hearing or deaf, children with autism who are struggling to communicate and even those with physical and intellectual disabilities would be able to learn and use sign language so they can own and use their own voices. Our solution also seeks to create a tremendous shift in bringing hope to all children who are left behind due to the language and communication barriers in our communities, schools and even homes. Our goal is to impact the learning outcomes of at least 5million children by 2030, because knowledge cannot be imparted when the communication channel is poor, there are thousands of young children being labeled as dumb and unintelligent when in fact the issue is only a communication barrier.

Our innovation to bring sign languages into all preschools started from our engagement with deaf children in the regions where we work. We realized that deaf children can achieve the same learning outcomes as their hearing counterparts once the language and communication barriers are bridged.

We also have deaf and hearing volunteer advisors who have great experience in sign language, early childhood education, speech and language disorders in children, who offer guidance and support in helping shape our proposed solution.

The Goal of our Theory of Change: Improved access of deaf and hearing children to equal and quality early childhood education and practices of sign languages in all early childhood education programs in Canada by 2030 to improve the learning outcome and future potential of young learners with or without disabilities.

The Inclusive Education theory of change (ToC) asserts that young boys and girls will increase their learning and life options when they are capacitated as their own protagonists of change when parents and communities include and value educated deaf and hearing children and are aware of and able to address the challenges arising from socio-cultural practice.  When schools provide safe conducive environments for learning and teachers have sufficient skills and knowledge to support learners when deaf and hearing boys and girls who wish to leave school for work are economically empowered to secure a safe, sustainable livelihood. In ongoing Inclusive Early Childhood Education programs, Devio built a holistic and integrated web of support around the mentoring unit. Building on this, Devio’s education approaches address the socio-cultural barriers deaf and hearing children face as they transition.

Central to the program’s ToC is Devio’s proven children-centered approach. At the core of most Inclusive Early Childhood Education activities are relationships built on trust and understanding which are key to catalyzing and sustaining change. Through Family Engagement, Inclusive use of national sign languages, and Learning Through Play mentoring techniques, special boys and girls are emotionally and academically supported through their schooling while older boys and girls learn to be positive role models and advocates for special children’ education. Creative arts help to stimulate constructive learning and critical thinking in children. It also helps children tap into their creative sides, explore and engage with their imagination, culture and even their immediate environment. Our trainees are engaged in art activities that help them practice a variety of creative skills they will need in their classroom. Trained education instructors embedded in target communities’ work directly with deaf & hearing girls and boys, encouraged to support children's communication skills. We also distribute creative sign language resources to educators and preschools that need them. These relationships illustrate a non-linear process that has proven effective for tackling attitudinal and behavioral change in Canada. The relational overlap at every level and the engagement integral to those relationships is where the change occurs – between teachers and students, parents and children, boys and girls, schools and teachers and policy and practice. By addressing change in this multifaceted way a different life story for deaf & hearing boys and girls becomes possible. 

Demand for special children’s inclusive education in Canada begins to start by age 0-8 years as children grow up and there is increasing demand for their education. Parents are dis-incentivized to support their special children’s advancement if they lack awareness about the value of education or the ability of deaf & hearing children to expand beyond limited resources and skills. By working with communities and parents to raise awareness of these issues, challenge barriers in access and provide inclusive sign education for special children, teachers, parents and the community, Devio aims to increase community engagement and perception and improve deaf and hearing children self-esteem so they see they have choices for their mind, education, work and future.   

On the supply side, sign education is characterized by a lack of digital education for deaf and hearing boys and girls in Canada. Leveraging Devio’s proven approaches and inclusive tech education system strengthening expertise, the program engages stakeholders at school, community and central levels to address these deficiencies. We believe that children should have access to tools and technologies that spark their curiosity and have a positive influence on their future careers. The use of technology, games and robotics can shape the future of early childhood education (ECE) for all children. Further, acknowledging that change pathways are not linear, the project plans multiple feedback and learning assessment loops to check engagement and make adjustments to interventions in order to deepen impact while generating evidence and education data for reflection, adaptive programming, and sharing.

Based on the levels described in Nesta's Standard of Evidence, we would say that we are currently at level 2 : You are gathering data that shows some change amongst those receiving or using your intervention.

However, we are working to improve on this, with more support and opportunities to scale and improve on this, we would be able to improve on our evidence based approach.

In measuring the results from our work:
1. We compare the number of sign language resources that have been sold to date, along with the number of books donated to organizations, care-givers and schools, while comparing returning or number of sales from beneficiaries who recommended our resources.

2. We collect feedback from parents and users : Most of them have indicated that they enjoy the books have seen some improvement in their children's communication skills. For example, some children who used to cry because they haven’t developed or can’t develop speaking skills to convey the message they want to communicate with simple words and phrases, are now able to sign what they want to communicate.

3. We sometimes collect surveys, compare school reports, asks the children questions about how they feel when using sign language materials, conduct a survey on school performances, and ask for anecdotal experiences from educators and parents. 

Children without disabilities benefit from learning with their peers with disabilities.

1. One of our goals in the next 1-3 years is to advocate for a sign language bill in Canada where all preschools would teach and use sign language to bridge the current communication crisis that exists in our early years programs. In other to get the Government and Ministry of Education to support our campaign,we need a strong evidence that we can present to policymakers, the government and all stakeholders on the need to promote what we are pushing for.

2. There are schools who are interested in our initiative but also need an evidence based research report that we have done in order to present the proposal to their board of directors and parents to get a pass to introduce sign language in their programs.

3. Not only will integrating evidence into our theory of change help us achieve the goals listed above but also it will help us in scaling and expanding our innovation across other countries to maximize our impact, reach more children and enable millions of children reach their full potential, whiles promoting the Sustainable Development Goals 4, for equal, inclusive and quality education for all.