Multi-modal but only for hearing kids? Make it make sense.

We all nod along when someone says, "Kids learn best when it's hands-on." We praise multi-sensory, multi-modal approaches. We fill classrooms with colour, movement, music, textures. We know this is how brains grow. How learning sticks. How kids thrive.

So here's the truth: I can’t make sense of what happens when we shift the conversation to deaf children.

Suddenly, that whole philosophy disappears.

We take kids who need a visual language to make sense of the world, and we push them down speech-only pathways. We strip away their access to a full, rich language in favour of sound alone.

No signing. No visual anchors. Just one sense, often unreliable at best.

And yet, we still call that "best practice"?

It doesn’t stack up.

Yes, spoken language includes some visual cues—lip movement, facial expressions, body language. But let’s not confuse tools with language. They support communication, sure. But they’re not a complete system.

Auslan is. It’s a full visual language. It’s not an add-on or a fallback. It’s a lifeline. It’s brain development. It’s connection. It’s culture. It’s identity.

We would never dream of telling hearing kids, "Don’t look. Don’t touch. Just listen."

But that’s exactly what’s still happening to deaf kids in so many spaces.

If we’re genuinely committed to inclusive, accessible education, then we need to stop treating bilingual, multi-modal communication like a luxury. It’s not a plan B. It’s the only plan that truly honours the whole child.

Deaf kids don’t need less. They don’t need simplified. They need full, rich, expansive access to the world around them.

Let’s give it to them.

Starting now.