British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan consultation

Children In Their Early Years

Our goal for early years

Families and carers with a D/deaf or Deafblind child will be given information about BSL and Deaf culture and will be offered support to learn to sign with their child.

By 2023 Scottish Ministers will take these steps:

8. Develop information about BSL and Deaf culture for parents whose baby is diagnosed as deaf through the newborn hearing screening.

9. Commit to continuing the support for families and carers with D/deaf and Deafblind children to learn BSL appropriate for communicating with 0-5 year olds.

10. Support families of D/deaf and Deafblind children by ensuring that they have access to BSL resources as early as possible in their child's life. This will include providing information on BSL resources on our online Family Information Service website.

11. Develop key materials about play in BSL so that parents who use BSL have access to this information at a critical time in their child's life, so that all children can benefit from positive experiences of play.

12. Improve information and access to early years services for parents who use BSL.

13. Explore the best ways of bringing together children who use BSL as part of the early learning and childcare provision.