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Sensory: Hearing and Vision

Hearing Identifying Barriers and Understanding Needs 

Throughout this site we will use the term deaf/deafness to describe all levels of deafness from mild to profound where a medical diagnosis has been made by health professionals; this includes glue ear (temporary deafness).

There are 50,000 deaf children in the UK. All forms of deafness whether temporary, permanent, or fluctuating may affect a child’s ability to learn. Deafness can impact speech and language development, literacy progress, access to the hearing world and the confidence and ability of children to socialise with their peers.

All children want to be accepted and children with a degree of deafness are no different. They have the potential to produce work at the same level as any other child of the same cognitive ability, they just need the right support implemented as soon as possible to help them access the curriculum. Working with the family is essential to decide what will help a child the most.

A child’s hearing will be checked within a few weeks of birth, usually as part of the newborn hearing screening and on starting school. A child’s hearing can be checked at any other time if you have concerns, discuss these with parents to see if they notice the same issues at home. Families can speak to their GP or health visitor if they are worried about a child’s hearing.

There is more information at Hearing tests for children - NHS (www.nhs.uk), it explains that in older children signs of a possible hearing problem can include:

  • inattentiveness and poor concentration
  • not responding when their name is called
  • talking loudly and listening to the television at a high volume
  • difficulty pinpointing where a sound is coming from
  • mispronouncing words
  • a change in their progress at school.

Glue ear - NHS (www.nhs.uk) can cause temporary deafness. The signs are as listed above, but symptoms also include earache or pain, hearing ringing or buzzing and problems with balance. If Glue ear lasts a long time, it can impact speech development and progress at school.

If you have concerns about any of the above, a hearing test is a good way to rule out hearing as a factor so you can ensure the child is getting the right support for their needs.

Create a good listening and learning environment including:

  • Reducing background noise
  • Where the child/young person sits in the class
  • Good acoustics
  • Adapting resources
  • Inclusion in group work
  • Social and emotional development
  • Visual aids

For more information go to Videos for teachers | Good teaching environments for deaf children (ndcs.org.uk) or contact Sensory.SupportTeam0-25@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Additional advice and resources 

Mobile phone apps can convert speech to text, some are free to download.

National Deaf Society and DfE booklet Deaf Friendly Teaching

The National Deaf Society have additional resources for online learning and Deaf Friendly teaching in Special Schools linked from this page Primary education | Information for professionals (ndcs.org.uk)

Information for Secondary schools is linked here Secondary education | Information for professionals (ndcs.org.uk)

National Deaf Society resources for Professional post-14 resources | Information for professionals (ndcs.org.uk)

Advice on assessments that is useful for staff to know Assessments in practice | Key principles and effective practice (ndcs.org.uk)

Find out how to make activities, such as swimming and football deaf friendly

Adaptions and inclusion | Helping deaf young people join in (ndcs.org.uk)

Videos for teachers | Good teaching environments for deaf children (ndcs.org.uk)

Soft furnishings, carpets/mats, curtains and tablecloths can help reduce background noise. Preventing the sound of furniture scraping the floor and echoing in the room is simple to achieve by adding rubber feet to tables and chairs. Reduce background noise, by closing doors and windows, turning off equipment that makes interference noises or buzzes.

Seat students closer to the front of the class to allow them to better hear (and lip read). Think about how seating supports the child to socialise and interact with peers.

National Deaf Society “Here to Learn” videos for mainstream staff with little of no experience working with deaf children Videos for teachers | Good teaching environments for deaf children (ndcs.org.uk)

National Deaf Society videos for mainstream secondary staff: Deaf friendly teaching for secondary school staff.

The sensory Support Team 0-25 Years support any child or young person (CYP) who has been medically diagnosed Deaf (who uses or will use audiological equipment) and/or vision impairment (which cannot be corrected by glasses) can be referred to us. These referrals usually come directly from our colleagues in Health but if the referral is being made by someone else, we can contact Health (with the family’s permission) on their behalf to make sure that we are all working together and have the most up to date medical advice.  More information about the team and how they work is on this page Cambridgeshire Sensory Support Team - Learn Together (contensis.cloud) 

Vision Impairment Identifying Barriers and Understanding Needs

A Vision Impairment is one that has been medically diagnosed and cannot be corrected by glasses. Typically, this includes children/young people who:

  • Cannot read beyond the 4th line on an eye chart with glasses (if worn) - i.e. have measurements of 6/18 Snellen, 0.5 LogMAR or worse with both eyes open.
  • Have significantly reduced fields of vision.
  • Have a deteriorating eye condition.

It is also important to remember that a Vision Impaired child/young person may need additional support with forming and maintaining friendships and social and emotional challenges.

 All children/young people with a Vision Impairment will have access to a team of professionals in Health and Education who work closely with the family.  Each child/young person will have a Qualified Teacher of the Vision Impaired to support them depending on their level of need.  See the Specialist section below.

The majority of support can be delivered through good quality teaching techniques that will benefit all children/young people. Depending on the level of vision impairment, some of the below may be challenging for VI children/young people:

  • Scanning and retrieving information from a textbook.
  • Writing in exercise books or onto squared maths books.
  • Accurate measuring, pouring, or recording.
  • Negotiating busy corridors.
  • Room and layout changes.
  • Recognising facial expressions.
  • Any activity which relies on colour identification
  • It is also important to think about:
  • communication
  • Body position
  • Time
  • Adaptation of environment
  • Lighting
  • Colour contrast.
  • Shape and size.
  • Adaptations for tests and exams

If you have concerns that a child may have issues with their vision

Children should have eye tests within 72 hours of birth, between 6 and 8 weeks old, at 1 year or 2-2 and a half years old and at 4 or 5 to identify issues.

If your child/young person is struggling with any of the below, please contact your GP:

  • Bright lights
  • itchiness
  • squinting
  • headaches
  • holdings object too close.
  • Bumping into things

For more detail see NHS site Eye tests for children - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

School staff will be able to provide support by modifying and adapting learning materials as an important aspect of adjusting the curriculum for learners with vision impairments, but what is good for VI learners will benefit all students, particularly those with SEND.

Difficulties Commonly Faced by VI Learners

  • Reading print in books and on the board
  • Accessing textbooks and worksheets
  • Reading graphs, scales
  • Measuring, using rulers.
  • Reading poor quality print
  • Seeing and understanding diagrams
  • Reading back handwriting

Ways to compensate for lack of vision in learning.

  • Hearing – understanding meaning of sounds/words.
  • Touch – recognising function of an object.
  • Smell – associating certain smells with an activity.
  • Movement – having confidence to explore the environment.
  • Feeling safe - Time to pre-learn or over-learn new concepts and skills.

Adapt lessons so that they consider:

  • Communication
  • Body position
  • Time
  • Adapting the environment
  • Lighting
  • Colour contrast.
  • Shape and size.
  • Make looking part of meaningful activities.
  • Use a quiet, distraction free environment.
  • Encourage learning using all senses.
  • Do not expect a pupil to use more than one sensory mode at a time.
  • Use words or real objects to tell them what is happening next.
  • Allow hands on experiences.
  • Visual information may take several seconds longer to process than auditory information.

Every child/young person with a vision impairment will have access to a Teacher of the Vision Impaired. They will be available to support you with tailored support such as creating a Vision Passport with helpful tips and reminders, delivering training and in some cases direct teaching of specialist skills.

School staff will be able to provide support by modifying and adapting learning materials as an important aspect of adjusting the curriculum for learners with vision impairments, but what is good for VI learners will benefit all students, particularly those with SEND.

Difficulties Commonly Faced by VI Learners

  • Reading print in books and on the board
  • Accessing textbooks and worksheets
  • Reading graphs, scales
  • Measuring, using rulers.
  • Reading poor quality print
  • Seeing and understanding diagrams
  • Reading back handwriting

Ways to compensate for lack of vision in learning.

  • Hearing – understanding meaning of sounds/words.
  • Touch – recognising function of an object.
  • Smell – associating certain smells with an activity.
  • Movement – having confidence to explore the environment.
  • Feeling safe - Time to pre-learn or over-learn new concepts and skills.

Adapt lessons so that they consider:

  • Communication
  • Body position
  • Time
  • Adapting the environment
  • Lighting
  • Colour contrast.
  • Shape and size.
  • Make looking part of meaningful activities.
  • Use a quiet, distraction free environment.
  • Encourage learning using all senses.
  • Do not expect a pupil to use more than one sensory mode at a time.
  • Use words or real objects to tell them what is happening next.
  • Allow hands on experiences.
  • Visual information may take several seconds longer to process than auditory information.

Each child/young person with a Vision Impairment will have support from a Qualified Teacher of the Vision Impaired.  They will be able to provide advice and training on creating resources to meet the specific needs of children.  Adapting resources may include but will not be limited to, enlarging text, colour contrasts, tactile drawings, braille resources and assistive technology.  The Sensory Support Team is available to provide training and support for all levels of need.  

It is important to keep environments tidy and to ensure walkways are free from clutter such as bags in classrooms.  The Sensory Support Team’s Habilitation Specialist can support with an environmental audit to advise on signage and contrast painting.  It may benefit some students if they are allowed additional time to travel between lessons. 

The Sensory Support Team aim to support every child/young person medically diagnosed D/deaf and/or vision impaired to achieve their full academic and emotional potential in preparation for adulthood.

We are a team of:

  • Qualified Teachers of D/deaf children and young people
  • Qualified Teachers of the Vision Impaired
  • Habilitation Specialist
  • Touch Typing Tutor
  • Deaf Support Workers
  • Specialist Teaching Assistants

What we do

We work across the whole county, meeting the needs of individual children and their families.

We visit children at home, early years settings, school, and colleges to provide advice, training and/or teaching for children/young people aged 0-25 years if they are medically diagnosed D/deaf or vision impaired. prior to and during their educational life. We support in Further Education but not Higher Education.

Thresholds for involvement

Children/young people medically diagnosed D/deaf and/or vision impaired who:

Cannot read beyond the fourth line on an eye chart with glasses (if worn) - i.e. have measurements of 6/18 Snellen, 0.5 LogMAR or worse with both eyes open.

Have significantly reduced fields of vision.

Have a deteriorating eye condition.

Use technology, for example hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Our team roles

Qualified Teachers of the Vision Impaired and Qualified Teachers of D/deaf children and young people will contact you once a referral from Health is received within 48 working hours.

We will:

  • Use Think Family principles to support and advise families/carers and children/young people.
  • Support with technology.
  • Deliver Awareness sessions around a child’s/young person’s needs.
  • Advise and train teachers and teaching assistants.

Our team roles

Qualified Teachers of the Vision Impaired and Qualified Teachers of D/deaf children and young people will contact you once a referral from Health is received within 48 working hours.

We will:

  • Use Think Family principles to support and advise families/carers and children/young people.
  • Support with technology.
  • Deliver Awareness sessions around a child’s/young person’s needs.
  • Advise and train teachers and teaching assistants.
  • Advise on Education Health and Care Plans
  • Liaise with other involved professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists and Audiologists
  • Support with technology and teach specialist skills.
  • British Sign Language Tutor can:
  • Provide in person or virtual sessions to families and school staff to develop British Sign Language skills.

Habilitation Specialist can:

  • Assess pupils’ abilities and identify any current training needs.
  • Devise individualised training programmes suitable for the pupil’s age and ability.
  • Advise and train school/setting staff to implement programmes.
  • Prepare pupils for a new setting.
  • Teach specific routes.
  • Teach pre-cane and cane skills.
  • Prepare students for work experience placements.
  • Provide advice and support in school to promote independent daily living skills.

Touch Typing Tutor will:

  • Support children/young people to develop the skills required to be able to touch type.

Specialist equipment

We support and monitor a child/young person’s optimum use of all hearing technology provided by audiology clinics. When appropriate, we provide auxiliary equipment such as personal wireless systems, deliver training in their use and maintain them.

Provision and upkeep of canes.

We will provide the first cane for a child or young person when the need has been identified through an assessment by the Habilitation Specialist. Following this, parents will be required to replace and maintain the cane.

Environmental assessments

We are happy to offer environmental assessments to schools and settings for a child/young person who is D/deaf and/or with a profound, severe, or moderate vision impairment (0.6 LogMAR or worse).

Recommendations for adaptations are made in conjunction with a member of staff preferably a member of the school/setting’s site team.

Depending on the individual needs of children/young people Sensory Support Team staff may work jointly with school staff to deliver specialist curriculums such as Braille, Touch Typing and the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment. We may also support the school with access arrangements for exams and adapting the mainstream curriculum.

Liaise with other involved professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists and Audiologists

Support with technology and teach specialist skills.

British Sign Language Tutor can provide in person or virtual sessions to families and school staff to develop British Sign Language skills.

Sensory Support Team leaflet1.35MB–pdf
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