Hearing Support Team
A small number of children and young people may be d/Deaf or have a hearing impairment, which is diagnosed by a medical professional. They may experience barriers to learning, the education environment and access to the curriculum.
We are a specialist team of:
- Advisory Teachers of the d/Deaf and trainee Advisory Teachers of the d/Deaf
- Highly specialised Speech and Language Therapists
- Sensory Support Service Teaching Assistants
All teachers are highly skilled with at least two years of teaching experience. They have a national mandatory qualification, which trainees are working towards. We work collaboratively with schools, children and young people (0-25 years) and their parents and carers. This ensures inclusion, achievement and progression. In order for us to work with children and young people a medical diagnosis is required.
How to access our support
If you have worries or concerns it is important that you speak to your child or young person's lead medical practitioner. Usually, the medical practitioner will make the request for involvement to our team. If you are concerned about your child / young person’s hearing in their educational setting, you should also talk to the SENDCO.
A request for involvement can be made using a Request for Involvement Form.
Complete a Request for Involvement form here
Requests for involvement can be made by:
- the educational setting
- an ophthalmologist or orthoptist
- other professionals working with your child / young person, such as a social worker or portage worker
- the family
As part of the request for involvement you will be asked to complete a referral parent/carer consent form. This gives permission to share your child/young person's details with us. This is essential for the request for involvement to be considered. Not every request for involvement results
Complete a referral parent/carer consent form here
What might this support may look like?
- Watching some learning happen in your child/young person’s education setting.
- Talking with your child/young person about what their educational setting is like for them.
- Looking at some of your child/young person’s schoolwork and we might take photos of this.
- Talking to key staff about how your child/young person is getting on in school.
- Providing training for the people that work with your child/young person.
- Working together with other professionals involved .
- Support children/young people to transition between settings and prepare for adulthood.
- Helping to put in place strategies to make learning and the environment more accessible for your child/young person.
- Providing a report to formalise our findings and recommendations for the educational setting. You will receive a copy of this report.
- Loaning specialist equipment for identified learners
- In some cases, children/young people will receive specialist teaching. This will be with an Advisory Teacher of the d/Deaf or trainee Advisory Teacher of the d/Deaf
- In some cases, children/young people will receive specialist support. This will be from a highly specialised Speech and Language Therapist
If your child/young person has a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) you can find further information on Multi-Sensory Impairment here.