Deaf Family Literacy Academy
The Deaf Family Literacy Academy serves families with a deaf or hard of hearing child or parent in Broward, Miami-Dade, Pinellas and Hillsborough
Counties in order to facilitate language, literacy, and fully accessible communication. Program services include home-visits, child literacy instruction, parent education, and parent literacy instruction in American Sign Language, parent support groups and Parent and Child Together Activities.
• Are you a parent who has a child with a hearing loss?
• Do you want to learn how to communicate and read to your child?
• Do you want your child to improve his or her language and/or literacy skills?
We can help. The Deaf Family Literacy Academy, serves families in six counties, at no charge.
Who We Are:
The Deaf Family Literacy Academy's (DFLA) serves families with children ages birth to 12 years old, We provide a variety of programs to help ensure every deaf and hard of hearing child enjoys success in life, by empowering families with resources, services and support.
Our goals are simple. We work with families to:
• Improve parents skills in communicating and reading to their child
• Improve deaf and hard of hearing children's language and literacy skills
How the program works:
A mentor will visit a family's home one time a week for two hours. The mentor works with both, the child and the parent(s) on language and literacy activities to promote communication within the family.
Our Programs:
Adult Education --- Raising the education level of parents helps them gain motivation, skills and knowledge needed to become employed or pursue further education or training. Note: In most family literacy programs Adult Education focuses on improving the parents’ English skills. In our program, Adult Education focuses on improving the parent’s American Sign Language skills.
Parent education --- Focus is on training parents to be their child’s primary teacher and full partner in their education. Parents acquire knowledge and skills that empower parents to be actively involved in their child’s learning.
Child Education --- Increasing the language and literacy skills of children that better prepares them for academic and social success in school.
Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time --- Providing the role models and structured situations for positive Parent and Child Together time empowers parents in their role as the primary teacher of their own children. This also strengthens the learning relationship between parent and child and helps parents feel more comfortable in school settings.
Please click here to check out some our upcoming Signing Saturdays scheduled events.
Our Achievements:
Family members who participate in the Deaf Family Literacy Program experience a great increase in the time they spend communicating and learning together:
· 94% of the families read to their child several times a week, a 24% increase from the beginning of the program.
· 88% of parents/caretakers increased their knowledge of literacy strategies. Only 26% of parents knew any strategies before participating in the program.
· 100% of the parents/caretakers improved their American Sign Language skills.
· 83% of the children increased their visual and listening comprehension skills.
· 80% of the children showed and increased interest in sharing books with their family members.
Contact Us:
For more information about the Family Literacy Program please contact Jennifer Jones at jennifer.Jones@volunteerusafund.org or call 954-370-1145 (voice/TTY).