Facts & Figures

Facts about The Shepherd Centre

  • 2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of The Shepherd Centre which was founded in 1970 by Dr Bruce Shepherd AM and his late wife Annette.
  • The Shepherd Centre provides an Early Intervention Program teaching children who are deaf and hearing-impaired to listen and speak using their residual hearing with the use of an appropriate listening device such as hearing aids and cochlear implants.
  • Its family‐centred approach ensures that parents or caregivers are given the necessary skills to work with their children in developing spoken language.
  • The Shepherd Centre program is for infants and pre‐school aged children with the aim of enabling them to attend their local primary school with their hearing peers and reach their full potential in the hearing world.
  • The Shepherd Centre has a comprehensive Cochlear Implant Program called First Sounds in partnership with The Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.  The program provides the medical and audiological services required to evaluate each child for cochlear implantation and provides the essential ongoing support that is required afterwards.  We also work with children for SCIC. 
  • The Shepherd Centre helps children and families from rural and remote areas of Australia and overseas via a residential workshop program and correspondence program.
  • For some of the families attending The Shepherd Centre, deafness may be one of several special needs of their child. Our teaching staff has a diverse range of specialist skills and is able to confidently work with families to help each child reach their full potential.
  • We have an international reputation as a centre for excellence and this is reflected in the diversity of families enrolled in our correspondence program, both Australia‐wide and internationally.

Number of people helped by The Shepherd Centre

  • The Shepherd Centre has helped over 1,500 children over 40 years.  
  • 70% of children enrol in The Shepherd Centre’s program before they are 12 months old.  The average age of a child starting The Shepherd Centre’s program is currently 8 weeks old.  
  • Each year over 90% of our students graduate to mainstream schooling in a fully integrated environment – however our aim is to teach every child to reach their own personal potential.
  • In the past 10 years, enrolments in our programs have increased by 145% while government funding for the Early Intervention Program has only increased by 37%.
  • The Shepherd Centre began with 5 families on its program.  There are currently over 200 families who access our services in our five centres across NSW and ACT, and through our correspondence program.

How The Shepherd Centre is funded

  • It costs The Shepherd Centre over $10,500 per year to help each child and family via the program (after government funding).
  • The Shepherd Centre receives 30% of its revenue from government sources and has to raise the remaining 70% through fundraising.  We would not exist without the vital support and generosity of the community to continue our work.
  • Facts about hearing loss
  • Approximately 1 in 1,000 children are born with a significant hearing-impairment, this increases to 3 in 1,000 by the time a child reaches school age. (Ref A/Prof Kristine Barlow – Stewart M.S, 2007).
  • Research has demonstrated that emotional adjustment, social development and academic achievements are significantly enhanced for children attending mainstream education compared with children attending special schooling.
  • Over 90% of hearing-impaired infants are born to hearing parents. Most wish for their child to develop fluent spoken communication, attend a regular school and participate fully as an active member of society.