Key features
Let’s Listen and Talk isn’t your typical online programme. Yes — we use
the web and digital tools to make things easy for you — but the real magic
is in the personal support we give you. Your course leader will provide
guidance tailored to your needs.
For families, we will use the information you provide about your child,
your real-life routines, and what matters most to you. For professionals,
we can offer practical advice to help you meet the needs of the children
and families you support.
Let’s Listen and Talk is flexible, modern, and built around you.
What are the key features of Let’s Listen and Talk?
We know from our many years working with children and families that babies and young children learn best from the people they love, feel secure and spend the most time with.
Let’s Listen and Talk recognises that families are the best educators of their children, but that these families need specialist, friendly advice and support, especially when their children are very young.
We know that it’s all about teamwork – and we are here to help:
- Let’s Listen and Talk provides families with information, advice and practical activities so they are able to help their young deaf child learn to communicate effectively.
- Let’s Listen and Talk also works alongside professionals to enable them to provide the most effective support to deaf children and their families.
Key features for families
Our Let’s Listen and Talk programme has the following key features for families.
With Let’s Listen and Talk, learning fits naturally into your day. Our online home lesson plans are designed to help you build your child’s listening, understanding (receptive language) and speaking (expressive language) skills through the things you already do — playtime, mealtimes, bath time, getting dressed and all those little moments in between.
You won’t need specialist equipment. Each lesson plan uses simple, everyday toys and household items you already have at home. You’ll find practical activity ideas to support your child’s listening and talking, plus short video clips that show you exactly how to do them.
We have based everything in our lesson plans on the same effective techniques we use in our baby, toddler and preschool classrooms. It is a tried and tested approach, now made even easier for busy families to weave into real life.
Let’s Listen and Talk home lesson plans help you use natural play and everyday routines to support your child’s listening, understanding (receptive language), and spoken communication (expressive language) skills. We have designed them to be simple, practical and rooted in proven teaching methods.
Key features include:
- Easy-to-use activities that fit naturally into your daily routines at home.
- Common household items and familiar toys so you can get started without special equipment.
- Clear examples of listening and speaking activities to support your child’s language development.
- Helpful video demonstrations showing how to carry out each activity effectively.
- Techniques developed by our Teachers of the Deaf, reflecting approaches used successfully in our classrooms.
- A strong foundation in our long‑running Home Learning Programme, supporting families since 1986.
You’re not on this journey alone — your course leader is with you every step of the way.
As you work through Let’s Listen and Talk, you can contact your course leader so they can provide extra ideas, keep track of your child’s progress and offer regular, personalised feedback. This isn’t a one size fits all programme; the more we talk, the better we can tailor the support to your child’s unique needs, strengths, and pace of learning.
By sharing what you’re seeing at home — the moments of progress, the challenges, the questions — your course leader can guide you with clear next steps, practical suggestions, and reassurance whenever you need it. Together, you can shape an approach that truly fits your child and supports your family’s everyday routines and goals.
Think of it as a partnership: your insights + our expertise = the very best support for your child.
Your voice matters — a lot!
At Let’s Listen and Talk, we want every lesson, activity and idea to genuinely support you and your child in everyday life. That’s why your feedback is so important. By telling us what’s working well, how your child is responding, and where you’d like more help, you’re helping us shape the programme for families just like yours.
Whether it’s a big breakthrough, a small challenge, or a concern you’re unsure about, we’d really love to hear it. Your insights help us keep the content fresh, relevant, and fully aligned with the needs of children with hearing loss and the families who care for them.
Together, we can keep improving Let’s Listen and Talk — making sure it grows with you, your child, and the times.
When you join Let’s Listen and Talk, you’re not just signing up for a programme — you’re becoming part of The Elizabeth Foundation family. From day one, through your course leader you have access to a supportive network experienced professionals, along with a wide range of resources designed to help you feel informed, connected, and empowered.
You’re warmly invited to join our events, explore our extensive materials, and make the most of everything we offer. Whether you want to dive in and get fully involved, or simply access what you need when it suits your family best — the choice is entirely yours.
We’re here to welcome you, support you, and give you as much (or as little) connection as feels right for your family.
Practical advice based on years of experience
The Let’s Listen and Talk programme provides expert and up-to-date information on issues relating to deafness, including easy-to-access guidance papers and video clips. The advice you will receive covers topics including:
- emotional issues related to receiving the diagnosis of deafness
- technical concerns relating to audiology and commonly-used terms and jargon
- advice around speech and language development for children with all degrees of deafness
- suggestions on how to address problems experienced by parents bringing up a deaf child
- practical activities to promote all aspects of your child’s listening and communication skills
A message from other parents
You are not alone! Other parents have stood where you are standing now. In this short video, you can hear a poem written by other parents of deaf children, sharing a little of their experience with the benefit of some hindsight. If you choose to enrol in the Let’s Listen and Talk programme you will also be able to watch videos of parents discussing their experiences in more detail.
A poem to parents – from other parents
Hear from our
community
The Let’s Listen and Talk programme is helping families and professionals from all across the UK (and around the world) to help preschool deaf children in learning to communicate effectively.
Read what people enrolled on the programme have to say about the impact Let’s Listen and Talk is having on the children they are supporting.
"As a working parent … the ability to have all the information at hand to digest in my own time at home has been invaluable. Each module is clearly written and presented both through text and video. It is so much easier to read, understand and then try out the activities at home … I would recommend Let's Listen and Talk to any parent."
"I particularly like the videos you've created to demonstrate the activities and techniques for the goals … The entire website offers so much. I know this will be a very valuable resource."
“I found the course really useful, thank you. The videos were brilliant, and it is good to see things in action and to hear how other parents dealt with the emotional side of the babies being deaf. Your resource and information made me feel much better about things."
“This resource provides a systematic and clear developmental journey to share with parents. Congratulations on creating such a useful resource."
“I’m not feeling lonely or overwhelmed anymore. I’m opening my laptop and I’m feeling support from professionals who understand how it is be the parent of a deaf child. With every lesson, they provide encouragement and have tips and ideas for how to help me to support my baby."
