Educational support for deaf students

Birth to 4 years

As Specialist Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People we will offer support at home and in your child's early years setting.

We aim to:

  • help your family understand deafness and raise awareness of your child’s needs
  • support your child’s language development and audiology needs
  • provide informed communication choices and a coaching model to families
  • consider next steps for your child
  • monitor your child's journey in partnership with families and other professionals

We will do this by:

  • learning through play
  • providing resources and discussing equipment needs
  • assessing how your child is accessing language either through sign, speech, or both
  • joint visits with other professionals such as Portage, Speech and Language Therapists or Health Visitors
  • teaching early signs from British Sign Language (BSL) and baby signing at home with support from the STA team Communication Support Assistant
  • supporting you when applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
  • visiting pre-school settings with you and supporting the transition
  • signposting links with the Deaf Community

We will also support the early years setting by:

  • working as part of a multi-agency team
  • providing staff training and acoustic surveys with recommendations and resources
  • supporting the transition to school
  • provide access to sign support and training

supporting with requesting an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

Saturday Smilers

Our Saturday Smilers group is an informal opportunity for deaf or visually impaired children and their families to get together once a month. It is open to children from birth to 7 years old. Extended family members and friends are welcome. All eligible children will be sent an invite to attend.

5 to 16 years

We will offer support in your child's school.

Our aims are:

  • help your child access the school curriculum
  • deliver personalised lessons in setting
  • help your child develop awareness of their own deafness and a positive deaf identity
  • develop your child's independence with their equipment

We will do this by:

  • observing your child in the classroom
  • working with other professionals supporting your child
  • providing advice, training and equipment
  • assessing your child's functional hearing (how they are using their hearing, hearing aids or speech processors)
  • Encouraging and promoting positive attitudes towards deafness within the school environment and the local community
  • supporting requests for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and attending annual reviews where appropriate

We will support the school by:

  • supporting staff to meeting the needs of the child
  • discussing the child's needs with the teacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, for example, learning needs, environmental adaptations, changes to the curriculum, access arrangements for exams
  • training on equipment
  • training and awareness for individual staff members or the whole school
  • helping with risk assessments for school trips
  • contributing to annual reviews of a child's Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
  • supporting transitions between schools

16 to 25 years

Support for your child or young person

We aim to:

  • help the young person access their post 16 options
  • continue to develop a positive deaf identity and independence
  • access work experience

We will do this by:

  • visiting post 16 settings with you and supporting the transition further education
  • providing access to additional equipment 
  • helping with Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA) applications
  • discussing rights as a deaf adult

We will support the post 16 setting by:

  • giving advice about the environment and any adaptations required
  • provide equipment and training
  • deaf awareness training for staff

Equipment

We can provide radio aids to deaf children and young people to be used in the education setting and at home. We will provide training in the appropriate use of radio aids and how technology can be used to improve access in a range of environments.

We can assist with all types of hearing technology: hearing aids, BAHA and Cochlear Implants. We can monitor and troubleshoot as necessary.

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