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Resources

Thank you for your interest in the award-winning Deadly Ears Program, which leads Queensland Health’s response to reducing the rates and impact of middle ear disease and conductive hearing loss for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Queensland.

Deadly ears kids

Please find below some web links to valuable ear health resources for families and communities, teachers and educators and health professionals. Simply click on each link to expand it for more information.

We hope you find the resources highly useful in the fight against middle ear disease.




Australian Health Promotion Association - website

Australia’s peak health promotion body, the Australian Health Promotion Association is the only professional association in Australia specifically for people interested or involved in the practice, research and study of health promotion.

Australian Hearing - website

Australian Hearing is an Australian Government agency that provides a range of hearing services for children and young people up to the age of 26, and eligible adults. Their website has a range of frequently asked questions on hearing, hearing loss, hearing aids, etc.

Care For Kids Ears - website

Care for kids earsThe Care for Kids’ Ears campaign has been designed and produced by the Australian Government to increase awareness of ear disease and hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This site provides a number of resources related to ear and hearing health.

‘Children … come and talk’ – A communication assessment for Aboriginal children and students (2000)

Children come and talkView the PDF

Deadly Ears Help Bubba Yarn, Learn and Play - video

Bubba yarn, learn and playThis video was developed in partnership with Woorabinda community and discusses why ears are important, what to look out for and shares some personal reflections from members of the community.

Deadly Ears bookmark - PDF

Deadly Ears bookmark is a resource to support educators to have a discussion with families regarding ear and hearing health concerns.

Deadly Ways to Learn (2000) - website

Ways to learnView website. Resources address language, cultural identity and power in the context of Aboriginal English, and two-way bidialectal education in schools and classrooms.

Deadly Kids Can Listen and Learn - website

Deadly Kids Can Listen and Learn is a training package for teachers developed by the Qld Education Department. The course is intended to help teachers support better learning outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who experience conductive hearing loss as a result of otitis media. However, the package includes information about ear health, middle ear disease and its treatment that may also be useful to families and health professionals.

'Do you hear what I hear' Living and learning with Conductive Hearing Loss - website

Do you hear what I hearA resource kit for teachers working with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander school children.

Early Years Portal - website

The Department of Education has launched an Early Years Health and Development portal to support the learning and development of staff educating and caring for children aged 0-8. The portal is your one-stop access to information, tools and training on a range of early years health and development topics such as:

  • best practice health and hygiene
  • fostering social and emotional wellbeing
  • immunisation
  • ear health

These, and the many more topics available on the portal, help you contribute to a child’s wellbeing, learning and development in the early years and give them a great start in life.

Keep your professional knowledge up-to-date by visiting the portal frequently. The department will regularly update the portal with new content from a broad range of quality health and early childhood sources.

The portal has been developed by the Department of Education in partnership with Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service.

Funding Guidelines for Ear and Hearing Health Screening Programmes - PDF

Do you hear what I hearThese Funding Guidelines for Ear and Hearing Health Screening Programmes provide advice about best practice ear health screening and surveillance services. The Guidelines were prepared to inform CheckUp’s discussions with providers wishing to be funded under the Healthy Ears – Better Hearing, Better Listening programme for ear and hearing health screening services in early childhood and/or school settings.”

HealthInfoNet - website

HealthInfoNetThe Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet is an innovative internet resource that aims to inform practice and policy in Indigenous health by making research and other knowledge readily accessible. In this way, it contributes to ‘closing the gap’ in health between Indigenous and other Australians.

Healthy ears and strong hearing in early childhood - PDF

Healthy ears and strong hearing in early childhood is a description on middle ear disease (including signs and symptoms) for early childhood educators.

HEARnet Learning - conductive hearing loss, behaviour and learning course

The HEARnet Learning Ear Troubles – conductive hearing loss, behaviour and learning course is targeted at teachers, other educators and health professionals working with children and teenagers in Australia’s remote and rural communities. The course focuses on middle-ear disease, providing a greater understanding of conductive hearing loss, its impact on learning abilities and the behaviours exhibited by children in the classroom as a result.

Effective communications with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - PDF

Effective communicatingCommunicating effectively with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples is a guide to understanding and applying appropriate communication techniques when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and their families, clients and colleagues.

Families as First Teachers - website

Families as first teachersThis program assists literacy and numeracy development in extended family groups and promotes relationships between these groups and personnel in learning environments for 0-4 year old children. There are resources/activities available online from FAFT.

Improving the Classroom Learning Environment - videos

In these short videos, the teachers from Mornington Island State School have outlined various strategies to improve the classroom learning environment. they address ifssues such as using their soundfield amplifications systems to amplify their voice, reducing background noise levels and reverberation as well as school-wide positive behaviour approaches.

Improving the Classroom Learning Environment - resources

Classrooms in remote settings can be very noisy spaces to listen and learn. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, with potentially differing language backgrounds and a history of fluctuating hearing loss, listening and learning in these environments can be challenging. Here are some resources that teachers may find helpful if they want to improve the acoustics in their classrooms.

Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) - website

The national peak body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health professionals and students.

Look after kids ears - website

Here you can select from a range of videos about hearing loss and its effect on families. What is it like to have a hearing loss? What is it like to have a child with a hearing loss? In these movies, Indigenous adults share what it is like to have a hearing loss, what it is like to have been a child or have a child who had ear disease and hearing loss. Find out more.

Middle ear disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children - PDF

Middle ear disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is a resource for professionals working in early childhood education sector to gain a better understanding of the impact of middle ear disease for Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander children.

Middle Ear Disease fact sheet - PDF

A fact sheet outlining key information about Middle Ear Disease, also known as otitis media.

Occupational Therapy for Children - PDF

Occupational therapyBrochure outlining what an Occupational Therapist (OT) is, when a child might see an OT, how an OT can help and where an OT might work.

Playgroup resources

Introduction

This package is a joint collaboration of the Inala ‘Lil Jarjums Playgroup (Inala); Families as First Teachers; Playgroup Queensland www.playgroupqld.com.au and the Deadly Ears Program.
It has been developed through consultation with families, playgroup facilitators and playgroup co-ordinators.

This resource package has been compiled to support playgroup facilitators to build ear and hearing health messages into their routines. Suggestions on how to use this resource package can be found here.
Resource package intro

Training

This resource provides training for playgroup facilitators for ear and hearing health. It can be used as a refresher or as a resource for training others.
Facilitator training
Overview staff introduction
Ears, hearing and development
Middle Ear Disease impacts

Yarning with families

Resources to support playgroup facilitators to have discussions with families and parents regarding ear and hearing health concerns.
Yarning overview
Yarning – Middle Ear Disease
Yarning – Middle Ear Disease symptoms
Yarning – Middle Ear Disease impacts
Yarning – Middle Ear Disease prevention
Yarning – Building talking and listening skills

Activities for families

Activities for young children which support playgroup facilitators to have discussions with families and parents regarding ear and hearing health concerns.
Activities overview
Big ears little ears
Healthy ears and face
Making a phone
Making necklaces
Mix an match sound shakers
Munching monsters
Soap bunnies

Links

This resource is a compilation of suggested resources and websites to support playgroup facilitators links to external service providers.
Building links with health services

Podcasts - website

podcastsWant to know more about ear disease and how it affects kids? You can listen to these podcasts featuring members of the Deadly Ears team.

Primary Health Networks in Queensland - website

Primary Health Networks (PHNs) have been established with key objectives of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of medical services for patients, particularly those at risk of poor health outcomes, and improving coordination of care to ensure patients receive the right care in the right place at the right time. Find out more.

Protocol for the Sharing of Population-Level QChild Data on the Ear Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

This Protocol document describes the conditions under which Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service can share population-level newborn hearing screening data with primary healthcare providers to improve the planning and delivery of services for children at higher risk of acquiring hearing loss. The objective is to ensure that primary healthcare providers have accurate and robust population health information to inform their planning of health services for children – especially those Indigenous children identified by newborn hearing screening as having a higher risk of acquiring hearing loss. The Protocol relates solely to the sharing of population-level data at the community level or above, disaggregated geographically to areas no smaller than Statistical Area 2. It does not encompass the sharing of QChild data which are identifiable and relate to specific children and/or their families. Find out more

Screening Guidelines for Principals - document

These guidelines are provided for principals and school teams in determining the best way to identify and manage the ear and hearing health needs of students in their schools.

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) - website

This is the national non government peak body in Australia representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH) - website

SARRAH’s primary objective is advocacy, support and professional development for current and future rural and remote allied health professionals.

Speech Pathology for Children - PDF

Brochure outlining what a Speech Pathologist is, when a child might see a Speech Pathologist, how a Speech Pathologist can help and where a Speech Pathologist might work.

Support strategies for children with fluctuating conductive hearing loss - PDF

Support strategies for children with fluctuating conductive hearing loss is an overview of support strategies for children with fluctuating conductive hearing loss in early childhood education and care services.

Speech Pathology Paediatric Indigenous Network (SPPIN) - website

SPPIN is a national network for Speech Pathologists working in or interested in improving the quality and cultural appropriateness of speech pathology services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Find out more or contact Robyn.Guillesser@health.qld.gov.au.

The Kawa Model - website

Kawa modelA new conceptual model of practice that heralds an important shift in the discourses of theory and culture in occupational therapy. The Kawa (Japanese for river) model uses a familiar metaphor of nature as an effective medium to translate subjective views of self, life, well-being and the meanings of occupations.

Understanding Deadly Ears audiology results - PDF

View the PDF

Understanding Ear and Hearing Screening - PDF

Ear and Hearing screeningIt is important to understand ear and hearing screening: why it is important, what types of equipment are used, and how to understand the results and recommendations. This is explained on a typical screening form, found here.

Understanding the ENT outreach daycare summary sheet - PDF

Understanding the ENT outreach daycare summary sheet is a guide for daycare to understand the results for children who have had a hearing test at the Deadly Ears ENT clinic.

Who has ear troubles - PDF

Who has ear troubles is a resource for educators to use to identify children with ear and hearing troubles in their rooms.

You’re in new Country - book

You're in new countryCompiled by R Farmer and L Fasoli (2012), this resource includes comments from educators, posters, reflective activities and extension information to help address key issues for people who are ‘in new country’ or living and working in a remote Aboriginal community for the first time.

*This website may contain images and voice/video recordings of those who have passed away.

Worried about ears?

See your doctor or child health nurse as soon as possible! Call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for further information

Find out more

For more information about Deadly Ears, including eligibility criteria, catchment area restrictions, location details and referral advice, view the Deadly Ears Program service page.
Download the Otitis Media Guidelines app via the Apple Store or Google Play Store.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander childrens health hub