The Hearing Support Team (HST) is only able to take referrals of children and young people who have a diagnosis of a hearing loss (under an audiology department) and who have been prescribed with hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Please access the following documentation to assist with any referral to HST;

Parent/Carer Consent Form

Referral Form for Hearing Support Team

Fully Qualified teachers with additional mandatory qualification in teaching deaf children and young people alongside specialist teaching assistants, technicians and educational audiologists support in a range of settings offering:

• Specialist teaching; assessments and advice
• Provision of equipment, technical and environmental support
• Bespoke training programmes
• Support for successful transition
• Multi-agency working
• Direct links with Health Service
• Key working

Please click on the information below for more details:

EARLY YEARS

When a baby or pre-school child is diagnosed with a hearing loss and has been prescribed hearing aids, The Hearing Support Team (HST) will contact the family to offer advice and to explain the level of support.

Bespoke, specialist support is offered to each child and family.

Communicate and Play sessions

HST provide weekly ‘stay and play’ sessions so that parents and their children can meet together. Staff advise on language, communication and listening development and model activities.

Communicate and Play Leaflet

PRIMARY

The Hearing Support Team (HST) work City Wide to support the needs of children with an identified hearing loss who have been referred to the service (see referral section for pupils visited by HST). The team work collaboratively with SENCos, teachers and parents/carers to minimise the impact of a child’s hearing loss on their access to learning, social and emotional development whilst developing independence.

Additionally, HST supports all maintained schools, academies and free schools around Phonics Screening Checks for pupils at KS1 who have a hearing loss.

There is also support for staff with access arrangements for pupils with a hearing loss, participating in the Key Stage 2 national curriculum tests.

HST provides a range of specialist teaching and support services to primary aged pupils including:-

• Provision of a Hearing Support Management Plan
• Peer Awareness Sessions
• Supporting Social and Emotional Needs
• INSET training
• Educational Audiology Support
• Statutory Reports and Documentation
• Supporting Communication Approaches
• HLTA/TA involvement

SECONDARY

The Hearing Support Team (HST) work City Wide to support the needs of young people with an identified hearing loss who have been referred to the service (see referral section for pupils visited by HST). The team work collaboratively with SENCos, teachers and parents/carers to minimise the impact of a student’s hearing loss on their access to learning, social and emotional development whilst encouraging greater independence.

Additionally, HST supports all maintained schools, academies and free schools around preparing young adults with a hearing loss for adulthood.  There is also a greater emphasis on students understanding their hearing loss.

HST support staff with access arrangements for students with a hearing loss, participating in Key Stage 4 examinations.

HST provides a range of specialist teaching and support services to secondary aged pupils including:-

• Provision of a Hearing Support Management Plan
• Peer Awareness Sessions
• Supporting Social and Emotional Needs
• INSET training
• Educational Audiology Support
• Statutory Reports and Documentation
• Advice around work experience placements and career guidance
• Eliciting pupil voice
• HLTA/TA involvement

POST 16

Preparation for Adulthood Guidance can be found here.

The Hearing Support Team (HST) are a team of specialist teachers and teaching assistants working City Wide to support the needs of students with an identified hearing loss in Post 16 settings.

Support for post 16 students is provided through HST Traded Services.

On entering a post 16 provision, an initial assessment of a student’s needs is carried out by a Qualified Teacher of the Deaf (QToD), following which a package of support for the student will be set up in liaison with the college.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS

Birmingham Hearing Support Team (HST) is committed to supporting children and young people with hearing losses in special school settings. We offer bespoke training to staff and provide detailed management plans to ensure that all auditory needs are met.

Visits to school are based upon the child’s needs. We work closely with a link worker within the school so that any concerns raised are addressed promptly. We liaise with a range of professionals to meet the needs of complex children.

Please note that children and young people who attend special schools for the Deaf are supported by the Teachers of the Deaf within the setting and not the Sensory Support Service, Hearing Support Team.

TRANSITION

The Hearing Support Team (HST) works with children and young people as they move through each phase of education. We understand the challenges which a change in setting may bring and aim to facilitate a smooth, positive transition for the pupil, family and settings.

• We support the family to make informed choices about appropriate educational provision for their child
• We provide a range of information to professionals in the new educational setting, so that they are fully informed about the pupil’s individual needs and views.
• We lead and attend transition meetings with the pupil, family, current staff and staff from the new setting as well as their new Sensory Support teacher where applicable, to ensure continuity and a successful individualised transition for the pupil.
• We organise a transition event for pupils in the Summer Term of Year 6, to prepare for a smooth transition into the next phase of school life and to help them make links with other pupils with hearing loss
• We collect pupil and parent views via questionnaires after transition to new settings and use this information to inform future transition events as well as evaluate the support which we offer.

HLTA/TA INVOLVEMENT

Hearing Support Team (HST) HLTAs and TAs work in partnership with Teachers of the Deaf, SENCOs, Teachers and TAs in schools to provide additional specialised support for children and young people with a hearing loss.

Through liaison with our Teachers of the Deaf from HST and the staff at school, we would identify the pupil’s individual needs and create bespoke packages to support the specific needs of this pupil. The HST HLTAs and TAs will model, empower and share good practice with staff in a setting.

For further information, please download What our HLTAs and TAs can offer to your setting 

 

Educational audiologist plays an instrumental role in ensuring the best outcomes for the children with hearing losses and their families by enhancing joint working between Education and Health departments.

As a qualified Teacher of the Deaf with additional specialist training and post graduate diploma, the Educational Audiologist works closely with Teachers of the Deaf, clinical audiologists, early years and school staff as well as families and the children themselves. The major focus is on assessment, monitoring and fostering of the development of auditory skills (listening) and ensuring that the children and young people gain the maximum benefit from their hearing technology.  Educational audiologist also provides counselling to families and delivers bespoke training to Teachers of the Deaf and other professionals covering a wide range of topics.

If there are any issues with radio aids for pupils in school, please contact the technician team via HearingSupportTechnicians@birmingham.gov.uk

Auditory Oral Approaches

Hearing children learn language through listening, and their language develops naturally. However, there are barriers for deaf children learning language in this way.

Hearing technology such as hearing aids and cochlear implants are vital for deaf children to learn language by listening alone. The technology must work optimally, and the environment must be quiet.  In addition, some children will benefit from other assistive listening equipment e.g. radio aids

Deaf children will also use lip-reading to some extent.

Teachers of the Deaf and Specialist HLTAs and TAs from the Hearing Support Team (HST) can model, provide resources and advise on supporting language development.

Signs and Symbols

When Auditory Oral approaches are not appropriate, or they need to be supported through the visual channel, there are a number of options which vary depending on the needs of the individual.

Symbols:  Widgit

Signing systems:

1. Total Communication (TC): uses a range of approaches to create a system of communication that works for an individual.
2. British Sign Language (BSL)
3. Makaton – when the young person has a learning difficulty.

The Hearing Support Team can support with Total Communication and BSL, but not Makaton. HST have a qualified Sign Language Tutor who can offer introductory courses in different settings.

As a result of a child’s age and stage of language development, their preferred communication methods may change over time.

The Hearing Support Team (HST) offer a unique service to promote the wellbeing, engagement and inclusion of deaf children and young people.

• Pupils are motivated with high expectations
• Pupils are independent and confident
• The whole school is aware of hearing needs
• Social isolation is reduced

HST aim to develop the confidence of all pupils with hearing losses to give them aspirations and achievements commensurate with their ability. HST offer the following:

• Social interaction groups organised to promote inclusion and understanding of communication with peers. Please see more information below.
• Teenage reference groups enable pupils with hearing losses to have a voice.
• Use of annual questionnaires with school age pupils to elicit the pupil voice on the support the pupil receives, explore the pupils understanding of his/her hearing loss and contribute to their own learning.
• Develop and nurture pupils’ self-advocacy so as to be active participants in each transition phase.
• Continuity of advice, support and expertise for pupils is assured as they move into different stages of education.
• Referrals to other agencies for additional support for pupils with social and emotional difficulties.
• Peer awareness for whole school, year group and class groups so that all pupils understand the impact of deafness on social interaction. Please see more information below.
• Teaching very basic British Sign Language (BSL) to groups of peers is offered.

The Preparation for Adulthood Guidance can be found here.

The Hearing Support Team (HST) is committed to ensuring that pupils with a hearing loss are prepared for adulthood.

HST are developing policies to ensure that the work carried out with visited pupils covers the 8 Gatsby benchmarks. The SEND Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

For students in mainstream settings, your specialist visiting teacher will help advise you on careers options, but please refer to the Birmingham Careers Service to explore your Post 16 options, including links to local Further Education colleges.

For students that have an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) please see our Local Offer website for more information on what you need to do.

For students who need wider support including the transition from children’s to adult services and long term support, please click on this link for more information on our team who can help with this.

Please use the following training video, ‘Unlocking Our Deaf World’ (inspired by Birmingham students), for all teaching and non-teaching staff working with children and young people with hearing losses:

The following video is useful when you are working with pre-school children to support their language development:

Please direct parents to the Local Offer website with the use of the following video:

Link to the Local Offer Website

To ensure the child or young person with a hearing loss receives the best support possible, Sensory Support staff work in partnership with Health and Social Care services plus a wide range of other agencies. The Qualified Teacher of the Deaf is often in the key working role; co-coordinating support and ensuring this support is child and family centred.  This sharing of information with all relevant agencies improves safeguarding and leads to more efficient working and better outcomes for d/Deaf children and young people.

Sensory Support work in partnership with:

• Schools and Settings (Teachers, Teaching Assistants, Managers etc.)
• SENCOs
• Pre-School Groups
• Educational Psychology Service
• SENAR (Local Authority, Special Educational Needs Assessment and Review Team)
• Communication Autism Team (CAT)
• Pupil and School Support (PSS)
• Early Support Service (EYIS)
• Physical Difficulties Support Service (PDSS)
• SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)
• Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
• Children’s Advice and Support Service (CASS)
• Sensory Support Services in other Local Authorities
• MSI Teacher (Multi-Sensory Impairment)
• Disabled Children’s Social Care (DCSC)
• Children In Care Services (Birmingham Virtual School)
• Area SENCO team

Sensory Support work closely with the following services and other educational professionals:

• Resource Bases for pupils with a hearing loss

• Special Schools located in Birmingham

We are often asked at the Hearing Support Team – how do we know we have had an impact? Here we have included the feedback we have received from some of our courses.

SENSORY SUPPORT AND PHYSICAL DIFFICULTIES SUPPORT SERVICE

FEEDBACK FROM SCHOOL AND SETTINGS MAY 2021

• 93.3% of SENDCos stated that the support they had received from Sensory Support/PDSS had enabled them as a SENDCo to do their job and to meet their statutory duties to include the pupils in all aspects of school life
• 97.8% of schools and settings stated that the quality of the Service received from SS/PDSS was of ‘excellent high quality’ and the remaining 2.2% stated that it was ‘good’.

“I feel the Hearing Team provides the link for school between health and education. They provide reports from health and liaise if the pupil has a problem with their hearing aid.”

• 100% of parents said that they felt that their voice was heard.
• 100% of pre-school parents stated that the support that they had received had made a difference.

“Yes, you understand what my son needs to access his lessons. My sons Teacher of the deaf has shared this with the teachers at school and explained to the school staff what he needs.”

“You helped in so many ways, I felt like I could ask them anything. I was never made to feel uncomfortable, always reassuring me.”

“Without your support it would have been really hard. Managed to get ear-moulds, phone-calls were reassuring – our teacher of the deaf is always a phone call away – working between school and family, having TOD as consistent makes a real difference- already knows about support required”

“All the support was very good and helpful. Communicate & Play group is great too!”

 “Seeing other kids who are deaf made a difference as it was all new to us, good that they could engage with other kids.  It helped to know we are not the only ones going through this.”

“We’d be lost without the support.”