A new set of Family-Centred Early Intervention (FCEI) principles for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) was published in February in a special edition of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. There is free access to this at: https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/issue/29/SI
This is an expanded version of an international consensus statement on evidence-based practice, that was first published in 2013 by a consensus team of international experts in early intervention. The revised/expanded Principles have been refreshed with the latest evidence. There has also been a stronger focus on coproduction with family leaders and DHH leaders in the expanded version.
As before, there are ten Principles where there has been found to be strong consensus – these are summarised in this slide.
There are 8 articles in the journal, summarised below:
- Introduction: Provides an overview of the rationale, purposes, and main content areas
- Guiding Values: Describes five foundational values that guide FCEI-DHH development and implementation
- Cultural & Global Implications: Discusses cultural considerations in the provision of FCEI-DHH and highlights global challenges and opportunities in implementing FCEI-DHH
- Methods: Describes the methodology and methods undertaken to revise the 2013 International Consensus
- Foundation Principles (Principles 1–2): Describes Principles that ensure that children who are DHH and their families can access early intervention supports and that the support provided is family-centered
- Support Principles (Principles 3–6): Provides guidance for family-centered early intervention and supports for children who are DHH and their families
- Structure Principles (Principles 7–10): Emphasises the importance of having trained Early Intervention (EI) Providers, collaborative teamwork, and tracking children’s progress through developmental assessment, as well as the essential role of progress monitoring to continuously improve systems
- Call to Action: Summarises international perspectives regarding research and implementation gaps and other pressing needs in FCEI-DHH
Given the importance of family-centred early intervention practice, the National Deaf Children’s Society has been strongly supportive of the expanded FCEI principles and we hope that colleagues will find them to be useful and interesting, as well as helpful in reflecting on their own practice.
National Deaf Children’s Society Quality Standards in Early Years
NDCS have a set of early years quality standards that were last updated in 2016. We plan to update these over the coming year, drawing from the new FCEI evidence-based principles. We intend to do so in an open and collaborative way, working with UK experts and practitioners, and coproducing/consulting widely with heads of services over the next year. We will keep colleagues on the HOSS forum and BATOD updated with our progress.
If you have any questions or feedback on the quality standards and our proposed plans, please contact Emma Fraser at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..