Support Service for Children who are Deaf and Hearing Impaired
We work with children and young people and their families offering information and support from the point of diagnosis of hearing loss to leaving school or college.
Find out about what we do, plus
- Referrals routes
- Criteria for involvement
- Monitoring and review procedures
- Links with other agencies
- How to contact us
What we do
Early years
We make immediate contact with families either at or directly following diagnosis and provide referral advice, information and support to families from the point of diagnosis of hearing loss.
We have a communication at home programme for the development of sign language in the home. Support for deaf children under the age of five years and their families is available from the multi-agency early years centre for young deaf children and their families.
We also set up workshops and support groups.
School age
We make contact with families and/or schools following referral and give appropriate advice and guidance through all phases and transition between phases for the pupil, school and family.
We provide joint transition planning in last two years of school and input and information from a lecturer for deaf and hearing impaired to help pupils make choices and provide opportunities to find out about after school education from year nine onwards.
We provide monitor and maintain specialist equipment and make assessments of needs and language development where appropriate. We also provide information and in-service training to school staff and jointly plan programmes and activities for school staff, where appropriate, in conjunction with speech and language therapy service.
We work jointly with families, schools and other agencies and services to ensure access to educational environment and access and progress across the curriculum and provide direct teaching programmes with pupils where appropriate.
Post-16
We provide information to students and their families about local provision for deaf students and work jointly with schools, families, and other services from year nine on-wards to prepare for after school.
We attend enrolment, open evenings etc in local colleges to provide information and support to students and their families.
We make pre-entry assessments of support needs for students going on to further education after school and work closely with colleges and other support agencies to ensure student progress and access to courses.
Following a student needs assessment we may provide specialist equipment and in-class support including note takers, lip speakers or communication support workers.
Support is provided for students at all college meetings, reviews and tutorials etc.
A lecturer for the deaf and hearing impaired works as part of the college team to ensure the monitoring and on-going assessment of the student and also to investigate and advise about options after college.
We work with other services such as Connexions (opens in a new window) to ensure advice and support to students when looking at progression from college.
Referrals are accepted from all audiology and Ear, Nose and Throat departments, from concerned parents, from educational establishments, and from other services.
Any of the points below
- Has a bilateral (both ears) hearing loss of 30dB or more in the better ear. (This is an average loss taken over the mid frequencies - according to British Association of Teacher of the Deaf guidelines)
- Has been prescribed with a hearing aid.
- Has a monaural (in one ear) hearing loss of 30dB or more, averaged over the mid frequencies
- Has a high frequency hearing loss of any kind
- Has been diagnosed or suspected to have Auditory Neuropathy.
Monitoring and review procedures
All pupils in schools and colleges undertake the usual statutory and school assessments undertaken by all pupils or students according to their age and needs.
Pupils with a statement of special educational need follow the procedures for annual review and transition planning etc.
Pupils who do not have a statement of special educational need have regular review and planning jointly between family, school and other agencies as appropriate dependant upon need and level of support provided.
Pre-school children have a family held record of their child's development and in particular their development in the area of communication and language.
A variety of assessment tools are available for use dependant upon the needs of the child.
The assessment undertaken of new students on pre-entry to college is based upon the NATED assessment of student need, with local variations.
The work of the service is reviewed regularly by internal development planning and review, Derbyshire County Council quality assurance measures and outside quality assurance measures. A yearly evaluation from families, other services, schools, colleges, pupils and students is undertaken.
The service has developed joint working protocols for early years work with health and social services. Joint working protocols exist between health and the service with respect to referral and care pathways for children. Family support plans are put into place with the families of new young children to facilitate joint working arrangements. The Early Years Centre is a multi-agency initiative and involves education, health, speech and language therapy service, social services, Royal School for the Deaf (opens in a new window) and the voluntary sector support services such as Derby and Derbyshire Deaf Children's Society.
Phil Sutcliffe
Acting Head of Service
Support Service for Deaf and Hearing Impaired
Support Service Centre
Brookside Road
Breadsall
DE21 5LF
Tel: 01332 833958
Minicom: 01332 832687
Fax: 01332 834005
email: philip.sutcliffe@derbyshire.gov.uk
Our Social Services Department offers more services for deaf and hearing impaired people.
Related documents
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