I am a Mother to a little boy who has been diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder. (This means that he cannot hear anything.) His first and only language is British Sign Language. Already at 5 months old i am having to fight to make sure that my little boy has the best chance in life and has his basic rights fulfilled. I also want to make sure that other children have direct access to these resources and support. 

I am beyond disappointed to find out that Playgroups, including story groups and sensory groups don't have a BSL interpreter. With no one having a BSL interpreter this means that my little boy is being excluded from being involved with other children, which is absolutely horrible. 

I have been in contact with multiple early years education services within fife and the only thing they are willing to accommodate is for someone to come in to teach the staff basic BSL which isn't even helpful, because they will still not be able to understand and interact with my son day to day. which then plays apart on his development. With Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) and wellbeing (SHANARRI) in place with every early years education this should be followed and an interpreter should be provided. 

If i were to take my boy to a sensory room which would aid part of his development with all the lights etc this would cost me at east £30 upwards a month (which still doesn't include a BSL interpreter for story and song times) when other playgroups are £2 a go, so other people are paying £10 at the most a month..  For my self and other parents with children who need a BSL interpreter it can be very much expensive as they start off at £40-£60 per hour.

I dread to think as a family how much we are going to have to fight when our boy gets older and starts nursery and school. This is why i want to fight now and make sure other children across the UK receive the correct support and interpreters that are needed to aid their development and give them proper access to education and play. Every child regardless of the disability are entitled to have a good education and a safe, welcoming place to play and make friends. 

Now lets look at the pricing of learning BSL as a family.. the standard introduction courses for BSL start around £1,400 (for up to six parents, carers or family members) which is absolutely shocking just to learn to communicate with a child within your family...

Family who is involved within a child's life who communicates by BSL should be given adequate BSL training. 

We need something put in place across all education boards, early years education etc to make sure that children who use BSL as a primary language have support in place. (most to all children who use BSL only get access to an interpreter a couple hours a week if that.) 

Even though there is a British Sign Language act in Scotland that started in October 2015 to promote the use of BSL in Scotland. There is still very limited to nothing of support for babies and children in use of early years education. There needs to be more of a push to provide basic and individual needs and BSL interpreters to included children who use BSL as their first language within these sectors. 

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