STA assessments for deaf students

Our team assess the support your child or young person needs to access learning. We monitor and assess their communication and language development.

We carry out a speech discrimination test on all children on our caseload where appropriate. We use the Ewing Foundation Speech in Noise Test Kit to deliver specific speech discrimination assessments. The Test Kit will present recorded words via a speaker while also introducing background noise at different levels.

We may also carry out language and communication assessments. These are standardised assessments and help to support our interventions and direct teaching, in addition to providing specific information on a deaf child or young persons’ development.

Observations and visits

We visit the children on our caseload regularly. If they are pre-school age, we visit at home and in early years settings. School-age children are visited at school.

The frequency of visits will depend on the needs of the individual child. We will observe and speak with the class teacher or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator at school for our monitored children and a report is provided annually following these visits. For our directly taught children and young people, an annual report is provided.

Sharing your assessment information

We write a report for your child which will include the results of our assessments. Reports are sent directly to the parents and to the school and a copy is sent to your child's audiologist or implant centre. We also share relevant reports and assessment information with the NHS Speech and Language team.

The audiology department will test your child’s hearing. They will write a report and send it to families and the STA team. We will include this information in our report.