The Sensory Support Service support children and young people who are deaf or have visual impairment and their families from age 0 – 19 years.
thThe service is staffed by qualified teachers of the deaf, qualified teachers of the visually impaired, specialist teaching assistants, audiologists, a mobility and orientation officer and a resources technician. Staff are in the main peripatetic, they work in the home, in early years settings including private and voluntary providers. Staff work in schools, maintained and non-maintained, mainstream and special across all key stages and in further education settings. The service provides resource base provision for deaf children in close partnership with Thorn Grove Primary School and Cheadle Hulme High School. Service staff also work in hospital settings in partnership doing clinical work.
We work in collaboration with other agencies including The Portage Service, Therapy Services, Inclusion Services and a range of health professionals including Audiology, Ophthalmology, The Child Development Unit staff, paediatricians, health visitors, also Parent Partnership, Educational Psychology and social care staff.
The service offers support to pupils, families and settings providing specialist assessment, direct teaching, communication support, advice, resourcing and modification of materials and provision of specialist equipment. Also on offer are a range of extra curricular events, youth club activities, residential trips and parents’ groups.
An important focus of service work is capacity building throughout the borough supporting the creation of Deaf Friendly Schools and Vision Friendly Schools. We support schools and early years settings in implementing the Disability Discrimination Act. We look at classroom acoustics the auditory and visual environment in relation to setting’s access plans. We offer a range of professional development opportunities related to deafness and visual impairment.