0468 378 521 Referral

Professional development for Deaf and hearing interpreters

Language Deprivation Syndrome

The training nobody gave us: recognising and working with language-deprived Deaf clients.

Reserve a seat

Co-presented by Deaf & hearing interpreters

Full day

7 hrs instruction

NAATI PD

Category B.2

Live on Zoom

Practical & interactive

Certificate

Issued on completion

Why this matters

You may be the only person in the room who can recognise it.

The client signs HOUSE · FIGHT · MAN and the lawyer wants a plea.

The registrar charts HALLUCINATIONS from an ambiguous sign.

The planner reads a nod as CONSENT.

Auslan interpreters meet language deprivation constantly, and almost none of us were trained for it. This one-day program closes that gap.

~70%

of Deaf children experience some degree of language deprivation.

US National Association of the Deaf

8.7%

of families with a Deaf child use Auslan at home.

Howell et al., 2024, Victoria

Case-based activities with scripts you rehearse aloud.

Susan, James, Kevin, Angela, Daniel and Michelle.

A single full-day course

Recognition in the morning.
Response in the afternoon.

The morning: recognition

What LDS is, the critical period, and the Australian context.
The features, mild to severe: telegraphic signing, echolalia, acquiescence.
Why dysfluency is mistaken for psychiatric disorder, and what to preserve.
The cleanup exercise: what disappears when we tidy a client’s signing.

The afternoon: response

The ASLITA Code under pressure: accuracy, impartiality, competence.
Demand-Control Schema and the four voicing strategies.
The Deaf Interpreter: when and how to advocate.
PSIBP briefing routine, legal and mental-health simulations, exact words.

1. Foundations2. Recognising LDS3. Ways of working4. High-stakes settings5. Self-care & advocacy

Accuracy means preserving the client’s communication, not cleaning it up.

Your trainers

Experience across interpreting, social work and Deaf education.

Phillip Richards

Sign language interpreter with over 30 years’ experience; registered and accredited Social Worker.

Robyn Whitney

Deaf Teacher of the Deaf and practising Deaf Interpreter.

Karina Elliott

Deaf Teacher of the Deaf with a Master’s in Special Education.