Educational support for children with a hearing impairment

The hearing support team provides specialist teaching and support for children and young people who have a significant hearing impairment (HI). All our teachers have wide experience of mainstream, special schools and early years settings, and all have the mandatory specialist teaching qualification for children with hearing impairment.

How to access the service

Children are usually referred to us by the Children's Hearing Centre, Hereford. Occasionally schools or other professionals may need to make a referral. Download our referral form or contact us for an initial discussion:

Please note: if a hearing impairment is suspected, assessment or information should be sought initially from the child's GP at the appropriate NHS Trust.

Who we work with

We aim to promote inclusion and educational achievement by working with:

  • Families of newly diagnosed babies and children (including close liaison with professionals and appropriate outside agencies)
  • Early years settings
  • Mainstream schools
  • Special schools
  • Selected colleges

Whether we charge for the service

All our core and statutory work is provided free of charge to early years settings, state-funded schools and colleges of further education.

The services we provide

The services we provide include specialist services relating to:

  • Early intervention, such as hearing screening for new born babies
  • Specialist support, advice and teaching to pupils in early years settings, schools and colleges to promote inclusion and educational achievements
  • Specialist teaching in additional curriculum areas such as British Sign Language (BSL) and Sign Supported English
  • Checking and monitoring of all specialist equipment
  • Relevant training to individuals, schools and other agencies working with children and young people to ensure understanding and implications of their special need
  • Training and advice on the adaptation of curriculum materials
  • Advice on adaptations to buildings
  • Professional liaison and multi-agency working to provide co-ordinated support
  • Advice on special arrangements for internal and external examinations and assessments
  • Contribution to statutory assessment, annual reviews and individual programs of work
  • We can help promote family and peer contact and signpost families to relevant support agencies

Specialist equipment

We can assess, advise on and provide specialist equipment for short-term loan, or long-term loan in the case of specialist equipment and resources. These include:

  • FM systems for pupils using hearing aids or speech processors
  • Soundfield systems for primary school classrooms