Hearing Support Team

Description

The Hearing Support Team is part of the Specialist Support Team within the Inclusive Curriculum and Teaching team. The Hearing Support Team works with children and young people from birth up to 25 years old (post 18 young people will receive support in an educational setting only with EHC plan).

The Hearing Support Team has members based across  the County and consists of:

• Qualified Teachers of the Deaf
• Educational Audiologist
• Specialist Higher Level Teaching Assistants change to Specialist Support Advisors

We visit children and young people in their homes, preschool settings and schools and work with them to develop their communication, language and independence in managing their hearing loss and assistive equipment.

We provide advice, guidance and bespoke training regarding the management of hearing loss and supporting the development of communication, language and listening skills to staff in all settings.

We provide information and support to parents learning about hearing aids, bone conduction/anchored hearing aids, and cochlear implants as appropriate. Alongside this we provide advice and guidance around communication methods, listening and language development, and additional assistive technology e.g. radio aid transmitters.

We work closely with audiologists, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) consultants, cochlear implant teams, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and voluntary agencies such as National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) to provide direct support/training for school/nursery staff in order to be sure the needs of the child and young person are planned for in all settings.

We provide advice to teachers, teaching assistants and SENCOs about meeting the needs of hearing-impaired children and young people in order that they can fully access the curriculum and learning environment. We support educational settings to implement the Somerset Graduated Response Tool.

We plan together with school/nursery and other settings to meet a child’s needs through an assess, plan, do, review process documented on a short term plan which sets objectives to monitor and evaluate their progress on a regular basis.

Accessing

• hospitals can refer using the Hearing Support referral form
• educational settings can refer using an EHA including clinical audiologist paperwork
• information can be requested by settings through the Inclusion Advice Line
• parents and settings can also find information on the SSE website
• browse training

Type of provision

Targeted - Extra help for some people, usually after someone has made a referral

Contact information

• Website:Hearing Support Team website