How we communicate
Families often come to us having heard many different opinions from doctors, audiologists and other parents. Here is ours, plainly.
In Indian Sign Language
Watch this page in ISL
Everything on this page, signed by our team. The full transcript is under the video.
Demo video. The ISL version, signed by Alok Ranjan, is being recorded.
Show transcript
Ishara Kids is visual-first and bilingual.
Indian Sign Language is the language every child can fully access from the first day, and we teach it alongside Hindi and English: pictures, print, reading and, for children who use it, speech.
Children with hearing aids or cochlear implants get daily listening and speech support. Children without devices are just as much at home.
We respect every family’s choices, and we will always tell you honestly what we see.
Visual-first and bilingual
Indian Sign Language is the language every child can fully access from the first day, and we teach it alongside Hindi and English: pictures, print, reading and, for children who use it, speech.
Children with hearing aids or cochlear implants get daily listening and speech support. Children without devices are just as much at home. We respect every family’s choices, and we will always tell you honestly what we see.
Our Visual-First Deaf Pedagogy Framework follows NEP 2020 and the ISLRTC guidelines. See the curriculum framework.
What this looks like, day to day
- ISL is the language of the classroom from the first day.
- Hindi and English grow alongside it, through pictures, print, stories and, for children who use it, speech.
- Children who use hearing aids or implants get daily listening and speech practice with our therapists.
- We use every tool that helps: signing, speech-reading (lip-reading), pictures, touch and vibration.
Every child is equally at home here
With hearing aids or implants
Your child’s device is welcome here. We check devices each morning, keep them secure during play, and build listening into the day, while ISL makes sure learning never waits.
Without devices
Your child learns fully through sight. Our visual-first teaching means nothing important depends on hearing.
What we are, and what we are not
We are
An early years education programme, with qualified special educators and therapists on our team, and a family learning programme.
We are not
A medical clinic or a cure. We don’t sell hearing aids, implants or any other device, and we have no ties to any device company.
We will never promise that a child will hear or speak. We focus on what we can honestly help with: language, thinking, confidence, friendships and readiness for school.
“We don’t look at your child through a clinical lens of something to be fixed. We see a whole, uniquely gifted visual learner. By weaving together sign language, rich visual environments and play, we build a bridge of understanding between you and your child long before a language delay can set in.”
Learning from Deaf adults
Our co-founder Alok is Deaf, and Deaf educators are part of our teaching team. Every educator signs at a native or advanced level.
Children see adults who share their language, and families see what is possible.
The thinking behind our teaching
Our Visual-First Pedagogy Framework is our own. It draws on the early-years goals of the National Education Policy 2020 and on Indian Sign Language resources from ISLRTC and NCERT, including the ISL materials on DIKSHA.