Some hearing children are bullied at school. Some hearing teenagers make their parents’ lives a misery, blaming them for everything that seems wrong with their world. Few couples expect their parenting years to be without its trials and tribulations

And it’s the same for some deaf toddlers, children and teenagers. And for some parents of deaf children. The difference is that everyone, including the deaf child, tends to focus on the deafness as the cause of the tantrums, the bullying, the teenage ‘angst’. And sometimes ‘it is but mostly it isn’t. Most parents’ dreams for their children’s future are around happiness, fulfilment, a good life, making the best of whatever talents they were born with. This is possible when your deaf child listens and talks.

Young deaf people educated through the Natural Aural Approach are like any other group of young people. Some are hard-working and well-motivated, others are disenchanted with the world. Some are confident, others are diffident. Some are good at sports or crafts. Others are academically successful. These young deaf people are individuals; no single statement is true about all of them. They, like their hearing peers, have access to all the opportunities that the hearing world offers.

They make their choices and speak for themselves.

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