Child-Guided Pedagogy

23/05/2026

Communication does not always begin with words.

For children and adults who are deafblind, have dual sensory loss, or have severe and multiple disabilities, communication may appear through touch, movement, rhythm, anticipation, body orientation, facial expression, objects, routines, gestures, vocalisation, or small changes in attention.

Deafblind Communication Consulting provides specialist online consultation for families, schools, therapists, counsellors, disability services, NGOs, and professional teams.

Services include:

Video interaction review
Professional case consultation
Family guidance
Staff training
Communication plan review
Programme support

The focus is practical: helping communication partners notice meaningful signals, respond more effectively, and create better opportunities for interaction in everyday life.

Operated by Child Guided Pedagogy “CGP” OÜ, Estonia.

This is a specialist communication consultation service. It is not psychotherapy, medical diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, emergency support, or crisis intervention.

Send a message to request consultation.

26/04/2026

https://open.substack.com/pub/basemabdelghaffar723031/p/mirror-neurones-embodied-social-bonding?r=111wr&utm_medium=ios

Abstract

23/11/2025

Deafblindness: Not Silence, Not Darkness, A Different Way Of Knowing The World When most people hear the word “deafblindness,” they imagine someone who hears nothing and sees nothing, shut away …

23/09/2025

International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) is celebrated annually across the world on 23 September every year along with International Week of the Deaf.

The choice of 23 September is the same date that the World Federation of the Deaf was established in 1951.

07/09/2025

On His Hands, Through His Heart

When I first met Professor Egil Hunstad in 2002, decades of knowledge separated us, yet that gap dissolved instantly. He was not just a mentor, he became a father figure, a quiet and steady presence in my uncertain professional life. On his hands, I entered the world of congenital deafblind education, a world illuminated by his humanity.

His scholarship was pioneering. In 1979, he explored how visually impaired youth, already literate in Braille, could develop rapid word recognition through visual aids such as closed circuit television, sometimes even reading faster visually than by touch. In 1985, he examined how those born blind, yet with residual light perception, could transfer learning across senses, revealing his deep understanding of how human beings learn beyond imposed limitations.

Perhaps most telling is the Egil Hunstad Special School for the Deaf and Deafblind in Bergen, a testament to a legacy that touched both institutions and lives. He did more than teach, he transformed systems.

He has long since passed, yet his voice remains in mine, guiding me to see children for who they are, their being before their impairment. His humanity lives on in every choice I make and every hand I hold. To keep his memory alive is to keep him with us, for a person dies twice, once when the heart stops beating and again when the name is spoken for the last time. May his name never fall silent.

13/08/2025

Same Stages, Different Paths: Understanding Development in Congenital Deafblindness

It’s a common misconception that children who are born deafblind follow a completely different developmental path from typically developing children. In reality, the core stages of human development are the same for all children. What changes is how those stages unfold, how long each stage may take, and what they look like in daily life.

From early emotional attunement and shared rhythms, to turn-taking, exploration, and symbolic communication, children with congenital deafblindness progress through the same milestones. The difference lies in the pace and the form of these milestones. Because vision and hearing are limited or absent, access to the physical and social environment is shaped by touch, proximity, and adapted communication.

A gesture or interaction that comes naturally in a sighted-hearing child may require repeated, carefully tuned experiences in a deafblind child. The developmental building blocks are still there, but they are constructed through different sensory channels and often in more deliberate, partner-supported ways.

Recognizing this helps us shift our perspective: the goal isn’t to replace stages or lower expectations, but to create environments and relationships that allow every child to experience these stages fully, in the way their body and senses can access.

When we understand that the timeline is flexible but the sequence is shared, we can see children with congenital deafblindness not as “different kinds of learners,” but as children with unique access needs traveling the same developmental road.

12/08/2025

Video analysis is not about “checking off skills” or grading a learner’s abilities.
It is about understanding the interaction between the learner and the partner, so we can:

See micro-cues that are invisible in real time.

Notice the partner’s role in enabling or blocking communication.

Identify the highest functioning cues in each Developmental Profile line:
Social Interaction, Proximity, Exploration, Communicative Expressions.

Plan precise next steps in daily routines.

08/08/2025

Today, on August 8th, we celebrate CHARGE Syndrome Awareness Day. We’re joining hands around the world to raise awareness of CHARGE syndrome. The Deafblind International CHARGE Network is a global network of people with CHARGE syndrome, families, professionals, researchers and anyone else who’s willing to join hands on CHARGE syndrome.

Please join us and make sure that no one faces CHARGE syndrome alone!

05/08/2025

Unlock the Power of Personalised Learning with IEP Wizard

Creating an Individualised Educational Plan (IEP) can be time-consuming, stressful, and overwhelming. IEP Wizard changes that.

With our AI-powered support, you can:
• Save time by generating structured, detailed, and personalised IEPs in minutes.
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Whether you are a teacher, special educator, school psychologist, or parent advocate, IEP Wizard helps you create plans that truly meet the unique needs of each learner.

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A conversational AI system that listens, learns, and challenges

04/08/2025

Interventions that creates communication with persons with congenital deafblindness