The UK’s first Live Chat Helpline on childhood deafness, www.ndcs.co.uk/livechat, is a secure and confidential service, providing clear and balanced information and advice on matters including audiology, pre-school support, education, local services, welfare and technology. Over 90% of deaf children are from families with no first-hand experience of deafness and the free NDCS Live Chat has been designed to give families more opportunities to access the information and services they need to help their children throughout the milestones of their lives. Robert Johnson, NDCS Helpline Manager said: “NDCS has designed the Live Chat service to offer families and deaf young people a choice so that they can reach our Helpline in their preferred method of communication. “Over the years, the NDCS Helpline has been a lifeline to thousands of deaf children and their parents, earning the status of the UK’s leading source of information on childhood deafness. “The family is the most important influence on a deaf child’s ability to achieve. We are asking professionals working with deaf children and young people to recommend the new Live Chat service to the families they support.” Live Chat works like most online chat systems and provides an easy and efficient method of contacting the NDCS Helpline. After clicking on a live chat button, a parent is taken to a new window where they can send a question to a dedicated NDCS Helpline worker and start a private online chat. The NDCS Helpline was set up in 1997 through a grant from the National Lotteries Charities Board Big Lottery. In the last financial year the Helpline handled 12,636 enquiries– a 19% increase on the previous year, offering a telephone service in over 150 languages. For information on childhood deafness parents professionals working with deaf children can contact the NDCS Live Chat on www.ndcs.co.uk/livechat or call the Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 8880 (voice and text), or email helpline@ndcs.org.uk, Monday to Friday, 9.30am-5pm.
NDCS CHAT HELPLINE
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