What we do
Master of Special Education
The Foundation collaborates with RIDBC Renwick Centre to offer a Master of Special Education to train teachers to become qualified Teachers of the Deaf. For further information regarding the course, please contact Jill Watson / Claire Farrington at the Renwick Centre.
See: Study to become a Teacher of the Deaf in Western Australia in our News section.
Tel / TTY: (02) 9872 0303
Fax: (02) 9873 1614
Email: renwickenq@ridbc.org.au
Visiting Teachers of the Deaf Vehicle Support
The Foundation provides resources for the Visiting Teachers of the Deaf Vehicle Access Program associated with the Western Australian Institute for Deaf Education. The Foundation leases vehicles in the regional centres of Albany, Kununurra, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury, Geraldton and urban fringe (Bullsbrook, Gingin, Moora) to allow for more frequent provision of specialist educational support for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and their classroom teachers in their local communities.
Coulthard Scholarship
In partnership with the Aboriginal Education Directorate and the Department of Education and Training, a scholarship is offered annually to an Aboriginal teacher wishing to undertake specialist qualifications in Deaf education. The scholarship recipient is provided with finances to support their studies.
'Knowing Where to Start' DVD Series
The Foundation, through a grant from the Telstra Foundation, has worked with the Western Australian Institute for Deaf Education and Deafness Studies Unit of the University of Melbourne to produce an educational DVD. ‘Knowing Where to Start’ is a home training program for the parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing infants. The series details sign language and spoken language development and aims to provide parents with a user-friendly format that explains strategies, milestones and examples of communication methods. It gives parents information on choices for their children’s future. The program is based on activities which are everyday parts of home life and follows the natural progression in the acquisition of language. You can see a preview or purchase a copy here.
Soundfield Amplification Systems Loan Library
With the generous support of the Honda Foundation, a loan library has been established comprising of six FM Soundfield Amplification Systems which are available for loan to schools (both public and independent) for one or two semesters on a trial basis. The benefit of providing a FM Soundfield Amplification System within a classroom setting is that children receive speech at a level they can fully discriminate. The teacher is also able to speak at normal conversational level thus saving her/his voice from strain in trying to project to the children’s level of hearing. The purpose of loaning this equipment is to encourage schools to consider purchasing this education tool for the benefit of their Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and any student who experiences difficulties with listening in a classroom. The installation, maintenance of the equipment and the training of the teachers in its use is carried out with the support of the Visiting Teachers of the Deaf from the Western Australian Institute for Deaf Education.
Miscellaneous Activities
The Foundation provides a range of other miscellaneous activities such as provision of professional journals, professional development funding to WAIDE staff to improve education standards of teachers and parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, learning resources for Deaf children and Christmas presents from Santa for the children at the Early Intervention Centre.
