The Strategic Partnership "Promoting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children's Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding" (ProToM) sets two goals. Firstly, a comprehensive evidence-based support programme is to be both developed and scientifically tested. This programme will enhance Theory of Mind competences (ToM) and emotional understanding (EU), as well as the associated sign language and spoken/written language skills of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children. Secondly, the innovative practice is going to be implemented at schools and in other educational institutions by raising awareness and by carrying out training of teachers in various European countries (incl. Germany, Greece, Cyprus). The ProToM partnership is, thus, directly linked to those involved in the education of DHH children in Europe: - Throughout Europe, there is an increased risk for DHH children to fall behind their hearing peers at the development of ToM and EU. As a result, they experience restrictions in social interactions, as well as limited participation in the educational system. This may be interpreted by the fact that access to both spoken/written language and sign language is hindered. As a result the participation of DHH children in age-appropriate and diverse social interactions is limited. Thus, the acquisition of language skills, which are closely related to the development of ToM/EU, are slowly developed within the DHH population. - There is a great need, throughout Europe, for teaching /learning materials that meet the requirements of both national spoken and sign languages. ProToM addresses horizontal and sectoral priorities of Erasmus+: It supports the social inclusion of DHH people by strengthening systematically the acquisition of social-cognitive and emotional core competences of DHH children. In addition, the professional profiles of the participating hearing and DHH teachers will be improved and schools will be strengthened when dealing with diversity and disability. Furthermore, the university partners will contribute to the development of the innovative practice, as well as to its scientific testing and transfer into various fields of practice. The partnership will jointly develop an innovative educational programme with great potential for further use: - It is strictly theory-driven and focuses on the different stages of development of ToM and the nine components of EW, as well as on spoken and/or sign language preceding abilities. - It will have a modular design, that will be, therefore, used in different educational settings, taking into account the heterogeneity of DHH children. - It will be scientifically tested at special schools as well as at inclusive mainstream schools where hearing and DHH children are taught together, so that evidence-based practice can be implemented in various educational environments. - All material as well as information will be available in different oral/sign languages, taking into account the multilingualism of DHH children. - A "practice box" will be created, that will contain additional information and support aids for implementation. The objectives will be jointly realised in a cross-sector partnership of 5 special schools, inclusive mainstream schools, advisory and coordination centres, as well as 3 universities/research institutions from Germany, Greece and Cyprus. In order to create the greatest possible synergy effects, the partners were selected in such a way that a wide range of experience and knowledge in the field of deaf education, bilingual education with oral and sign language, psychology and educational science is brought together. Three Swiss partners are involved as associated partners, who will translate the material into other languages and, thus, will support the dissemination of the results in the Swiss-German, French and Italian-speaking regions. Transnational cooperation will allow us to test scientifically the innovative practice with a large group of subjects and to sustainably disseminate the results in Western and Eastern Europe. A stable implementation/distribution of the results at regional, national and European level is possible: - The support programme will be available in various oral/ sign languages, as well as in English, so that other countries can apply it or easily translate it into their own languages. - The support programme with all exercises/material and the practice box will be available with no charge in a publically accessible website, in order to enable teachers and other professional groups (e.g. early interventionists, educators and social workers) to have access and to use it. - The participating universities/coordination centres will integrate them directly into their teaching degree programmes and in the in-service training for teachers. - The participating special schools as centers cooperate broadly with mainstream schools in their region. - The results will be presented to the broad public at a Europe-wide multiplier event.
The Strategic Partnership "Promoting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children's Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding" (ProToM) has developed the educational training program THE MIND READERS to promote Theory of Mind skills and Emotion Understanding as well as the related sign and spoken language skills in deaf, hard of hearing and hearing children and young people. The training program was tested twice in seven schools in Germany, Greece, Cyprus and Switzerland and was evaluated scientifically. In addition, training approaches and materials were developed to raise awareness among teachers and other professional groups (including early interventionists, educators, social workers, psychologists). Various implementation strategies were suggested on the basis of the evaluation results. The training program and all information (toolbox) were posted on a website and are, thus, easily accessible (www.protom-education.com). The training program is available free of charge in German - German Sign Language / German-Swiss Sign Language, Greek - Greek Sign Language, English - British Sign Language, Italian - Italian Sign Language and French - French Sign Language. The ProToM partnership thus, directly, addresses needs in the education of deaf and hard of hearing children: - Research, including the ProToM study, has proven, that throughout Europe there is an increased risk for deaf and hard of hearing children to lag behind in the development of Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding and thus to experience limitations in social participation. The reasons for this are difficulty in accessing both spoken and sign language, and the inability of deaf and hard of hearing children to participate in a variety of social interactions in an age-appropriate manner and to acquire the language skills that are closely linked to the development of these social-cognitive skills. - There is an acute need throughout Europe for teaching materials and approaches that take into account both national spoken and sign languages. The educational program THE MIND READERS and the teacher training facilitate/support the social inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing people by enhancing the acquisition of social-cognitive, emotional and linguistic key competences. In addition, the professional capacities of the participating hearing, deaf and hard of hearing teachers were strenghthened and schools were supported in dealing with diversity and disadvantages. In addition, the university partners contributed to the development of innovative multilingual school-based practice with spoken and sign languages, tested it scientifically evaluated it and transferred it to different fields of practice. The goals were jointly achieved in an interdisciplinary partnership of seven special and mainstream schools / guidance centres and four universities or research institutions in Germany, Greece, Cyprus and Switzerland. The transnational cooperation made it possible to test the innovative practice scientifically with a large group of participants: A total of 127 deaf and hard of hearing children and over 30 teachers participated in the two trial phases. The results were disseminated sustainably in Western and Eastern Europe using various dissemination strategies and presented to a broad, European and global audience without barriers at a virtual final conference in June 2021. THE MIND READERS has a great prospective to be used because the program - is strictly theory-based and addresses various developmental stages of the Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding, as well as the precursor skills of spoken and sign language, - is designed in a modular and culturally diverse way and thus enables differentiated use, taking into account the heterogeneity of deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents, and can also be used with children without or with other disabilities and special needs, - was developed in a participatory manner by deaf and hearing researchers and was tested in both special schools and inclusive mainstream schools where hearing and deaf and hard of hearing children are educated, - all materials and information are freely available in many different spoken and signed languages, - the training program is designed in such a way that it can be edited by users themselves at any time and can therefore be easily translated into other languages, - a toolbox has been created which contains comprehensive information and support for implementation as well as barrier-free instructions for families, and - the participating research institutions have integrated it directly into their teacher training programs and disseminated the results at conferences and in publications.