Last updated: September 2024
The Vision and Hearing Team (VHT), accept referrals for children and young people with a diagnosed hearing loss from Audiology.
The child’s G.P. should be consulted if any concerns are raised about a child’s hearing. If appropriate the G.P. will refer the child to Audiology. If Audiology consider that the child would benefit from our support, they will discuss this with the child’s parents/guardian and ask for their written consent for information to be shared with our team.
Further information and advice for educational settings can be found on the Portsmouth City Council Local Offer website.
The Advisory Teachers have links with Audiology departments of our local hospital and ensure that the medical professionals are aware of our referral criteria to ensure that children and young people in Portsmouth receive support from the VHT if needed.
Once a referral is received the referral is allocated to an Advisory Teacher and the child is added to the caseload.
The Advisory Teacher will contact parents and will ask for their verbal consent to contact the educational setting and other professionals if appropriate. Parents are asked to sign the Vision and Hearing Team’s consent to share form, which allows the Advisory Teacher to share information with the educational setting, verbally and in writing.
If the referral is for a baby or child not yet at pre-school the Advisory Teacher will visit the home.
Once a child has been referred, an initial assessment will be carried out and a written report produced (in accordance with VHT Reporting and Assessment Policy).
Visit frequency is guided by the NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) eligibility criteria which gives a score and a support pattern. However, the visit criteria is also based on current needs identified and the professional judgement of the QTHI.
Referral Criteria for Hearing Impairment
We will work with all children and young people with a diagnosis of a Hearing Impairment who have been referred by an Audiologist.
We offer support to all children and young people in Further Education 0 to 19 years or 25 years with EHCP) who meet the criteria described above. We support pre-school children and like to be involved as soon as a hearing impairment has been diagnosed or identified. There is no lower age limit.
If a child or young person is on roll at a setting but being educated at home, the VHT will continue to support.
If the child or young person is electively home educated and a referral is made from Audiology, the VHT can only work with the child or young person if the VHT has been commissioned to do so.
- A qualified Teacher of the Hearing Impaired (QTHI) makes an initial visit to the school/home.
- The QHII will carry out the following:
- Observe the child in class/at home
- Gather information from parents/carers and involved professionals
- On the first visit we observed and gather information, will check hearing aids and offer advice about looking after hearing aids, encouraging the child to wear them and good communication strategies and ways to support the child’s language development
- Make an initial assessment of the impact the hearing loss has on access to the curriculum and environment
- Provide a written report on the visit which is copied to the parents/carers and involved professionals
- Use the NatSIP criteria and professional judgement to decide appropriate level of support
