A child or young person with both a vision impairment and deafness has a multi-sensory impairment (MSI). This must have been diagnosed by a medical professional.They will experience barriers to learning, the education environment and access to the curriculum.
Professionals from both the Hearing and Vision Support Teams can support those with MSI.
How to access our support
If you have any concerns, it is important that you speak to your child'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 MSI needs in their educational setting, you should also talk to the SENDCO.
A request for involvement can be made using the Request for Involvement form.
Complete a Request for Involvement form here
Requests for Involvement can be made by:
- the educational setting
- a medical professional
- 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 will give 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 in support.Complete a referral parent/carer consent form here
What may this support 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.
- Supporting 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 the report.
- Loaning specialist equipment for identified learners.
- In some cases, children/young people will receive specialist teaching. This will be from staff within the Sensory Support Service.
- In some cases, children/young people will receive specialist support. This will be from staff within the Sensory Support Service