Both of our boys, Charlie (7) and Max (4), were born deaf but with early diagnosis, lots of support, hearing aids and radio aids they happily attend a mainstream school and nursery.

The boys' biggest challenge is that hearing and radio aids are no substitute for normal hearing and don't work well with background noise and poor acoustics (e.g. hard floors, high ceilings). For Charlie and Max to hear you, or their friends or their teachers they need you to be close, to speak clearly and with minimum background noise .

It can be difficult for Charlie to hear at school. The amplified sounds of 30 children in a classroom, scraping chairs, tapping pens, talking and moving about means the Charlie can miss as much as he hears - this stops him learning, makes it difficult to follow what is happening next, and can make it difficult to socialise in groups or even follow a joke. It is also exhausting for him. It is like trying to learn in the noisiest pub you have ever been in!

The good news is that Charlie's junior school is making a fantastic effort to become more deaf-friendly - with extra staff training, adding felt to the bottom of pen holders, covering chair feet and getting advice on improving acoustics. We are trying to raise as much money as we can for a number of acoustic aids - including sound absorbing and soundproofing acoustic panels. These can make a huge difference to what Charlie can hear and therefore how much he can enjoy and engage in school. And ALL the kids benefit from better acoustics because they can hear the teacher and each other.

To bring some attention to our fundraising, and because he likes wearing Speedos, Martin is doing a ridiculous 6km open water swim on Saturday 24th June - from the River Avon to the English Channel (current temperature 13 degrees), roughly 2.5 hours in the water!
So anything you can donate would be amazing.

Pic: Classmate (left) uses radio aid to help Charlie (right) hear.