Specialist: Physical and Sensory

• A child or young person who has an audiological diagnosis of permanent:

➢ Moderate to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
➢ Bilateral auditory neuropathy
➢ Late diagnosis

• A high level of intensive support is required from the HI Service.  

• Some CYP who are Deaf or derive very little auditory benefit from the provision of prescribed hearing aids/ cochlear implant systems may communicate using sign communication systems, such as British Sign Language (BSL). 

• They will need access to visual communication. (This may be: speech-reaching, written/ pictorial or signs to support access to communication and to learn about the world around them).  

• They communicate using spoken English as their first language. However, their severe/ profound hearing loss - even when aided or with use of cochlear implants - causes significant functional hearing difficulties to access spoken language and communication. 

• Experience significant difficulties benefitting from incidental learning.  

 

• Requires the provision of a high/ intense level of additional to & different from specialist learning interventions to support auditory, communication, language and literacy development and access to the curriculum (e.g. pre/ post teaching of language/ concepts linked to the curriculum).  

• Require 1:1 provision to support access to communication & learning in the classroom (e.g. note-taking at GCSE & A-Level). 

• Receives support from other professionals with a specialism in HI, such as the NHS’ Speech & Language Therapist & the Auditory Implant Centre’s QToD. 

• Requires exams access arrangements to be made by the school. This could include adjustments such as: the provision of additional time as part of their usual way of working; sitting the exam in a quieter room 1:1/ with a small group; signed support to access the questions; and access to a live speaker (e.g., for a Spanish GCSE exam). 

• The child or young person has a diagnosed visual impairment.  These will typically align to the severe to profound visual loss criterion as provided by NatSIP.
• The child or young person is likely to be registered as Sight Impaired (partially sighted) or Severely Sight Impaired (blind)
• They will have access to a QTVI from the Vision Impairment Service who will provide and support with the appropriate recommendations including access to a specialist Habilitation Officer when required. They will typically visit between six times a year and three times a week.
• They may have a deteriorating visual impairment.
• The child or young person will need exam access support from Vision Impairment Service which should reflect the child or young person’s usual way of working.
• The child or young person will need specialist teaching from the Vision Impairment Service based on the Specialist Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment
• The child or young person may:

➢ be learning and utilising alternative methods to access and record their learning for example, Braille, touch typing, magnification, screen reader.
➢ have mobility and orientation skills are not in line with their age and stage.
➢ learn pre-cane/cane skills and may use a long cane.
➢ have difficulty in expressing their own emotions and will have difficulty in understanding the emotions of others.
➢ have ongoing difficulty linking language to meaning for example, concept development.
➢ take additional time/use specialist support to develop their gross and fine motor skills in line with their age and stage.
➢ have significant difficulties with focusing, tracking, scanning, and vision-motor integration.
➢ suffer from significant vision fatigue.
➢ have a sudden, and permanent, severe loss of vision and has not yet been able to learn appropriate compensatory techniques.

Secondary

• The child or young person may need a substantial package of support for preparation for adulthood, including work experience and employment.
• The child or young person may need specialist support to understand and develop professional and academic interactions (interviews/discussions).

• The child or young person has profound long-term condition(s) that may be progressive/regressive condition(s).
• The child or young person has limited ability to contribute to self-care therefore is highly reliant on adult support for moving, positioning, personal care including drinking/eating.
• The child or young person has medical needs requiring regular intervention within the setting. This impacts on their ability to access daily life safely (medical advice will have been provided). When these conditions are at their most severe, they may be life-threatening.
• The child or young person may be under-responsive to sensory input, leading to muted or delayed responses to sensory events, which impacts on their safety (i.e. high pain threshold).
• The child or young person may have long-term language/communication needs resulting from their physical disability and may access Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC).
• The child or young person may have physical and/or medical difficulties that require specialist equipment (for example hoist/standing frame), adapted resources/toys and position changes for access and requiring a high level of adult support.
• The child or young person may have one or more health domains assessed as ‘severe’ as part of a continuing healthcare assessment.
• The child or young person may have difficulties chewing food or taking food orally.
• The child or young person may require constant monitoring and some complex medical interventions, without which their condition may seriously deteriorate.
• The child or young person may have an awareness of the deteriorating nature of the condition and longer-term outlook which impacts upon mental and emotional health and well-being health and motivation.
• The child or young person may have a severe physical disability resulting in full-time wheelchair user, access to a hoist and changing plinth, standing frame and other highly specialist equipment within the mainstream environment to access learning.
• The child or young person may have very limited fine motor skills and requires specialist equipment to complete simple motor tasks.
• The child or young person will need significantly altered exam access arrangements and/or alternative key stage 4 curriculum, for example ASDAN, Princes Trust or functional skills accredited courses (primary and secondary).
• The child or young person may experience increased levels of mental health difficulties and be unable to inhibit behavioural responses due to neurological impairment, for example, acquired brain injury from removal of tumour(s), road traffic accident, childhood stroke.
• The child or young person will need a personalised and developmentally appropriate curriculum.
• The child or young person requires specialist teaching strategies, for example, Intensive Interaction and sensory-based curriculum, in order to make progress at school and staff need to be trained in these approaches.
• A reduced timetable with rest breaks may be needed but not reduced hours in school (unless specifically recommended as a short-term interim strategy following surgery/rehabilitation).
• The child or young person’s diagnosis may include two or more needs, for example, epilepsy and Cerebral Palsy, which combine to produce additional learning barriers for the young person. For example, physical and neurological including difficulties with memory and retention of learning.
• Attention and concentration may be highly variable and sometimes fleeting.