Children who are deaf or who have hearing impairment are not a homogeneous group either in terms of their hearing loss or of a wide range of other key factors. Therefore, no single response is appropriate or adequate when addressing the communication needs of this particular category of children. Educational provision is made for individual children, in consultation with their parents on the basis of the assessed needs of each child.
In this context, and in relation to the choice of communications systems, the fundamental decision is whether the most appropriate first language for the child is Irish sign language or spoken English.
If the option is for spoken English, which it will be in a significant number of cases, then a predominantly oral method of teaching is employed. In this oral approach signed English is sometimes also used as a teaching device.