Welcome to the NatSIP Website
This website offers access to a wealth of SI resources, most of which are freely available. We encourage you to register on the site for full access to everything we have to offer. Registration is free, and open to anyone. A walkthrough/howto on the registration process is here.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
| Event: |
5-Day Course for Intervenors |
| Mode: | In-person attendance |
| Date: | 16th, 17th, 18th, 25th & 26th March 2026 |
| Venue: | Stephen Hawking School Brunton Place London E14 7LL |
| Trainers: | Jenny Fletcher, Trainer and Consultant in MSI and HI with MSI colleagues from Sense |
| Cost: | £500 |
This 5-day course is specifically designed for Teaching Assistants, Health Care Workers, Learning Support Workers, Social Care Workers and those employed to work on a 1:1 basis with children, young people and adults who are congenitally Multi-Sensory impaired / deafblind or have a single sensory impairment with additional complex needs.
This is the original Intervenor Course, developed and delivered by Jenny Fletcher and colleagues from Sense, and meets the requirements of the Intervenor Standards issued by NatSIP.
For more information please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To book your place, email a purchase order to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Written by: Jane Sharp
This webinar will present the findings of the Access to Learning-Learning to Access study, which has investigated the inclusion of children and young people with vision impairment in schools. We explored this from the perspective of the child, parents and non-specialist and specialist professionals through a series of case studies. The study looks at the importance of collaboration and the enablers and barriers which impact on the overall outcomes of children and young people with vision impairment. There will be an opportunity at the end of the webinar to ask further questions.
Date and Time: 2nd March 5-6pm
Online webinar
Registration via University of Birmingham
- Written by: Ian Noon
The National Deaf Children's Society has published a briefing which summarises data published by the Department for Education in England on the attainment of deaf children. This includes figures from the 2025 academic year.
The document can be accessed from this link or by going to this webpage and scrolling down to the 4th block.
By way of reminder, this is data for children who have formally been identified by schools as having a special educational need and where "hearing impairment" (the term used by the Government) is the primary need. It does not include all deaf children but appear to the best figures readily available to us at a national level.
- Written by: Caireen Sutherland
NatSIP, Seashell, and Manchester Sensory Support Service are pleased to offer a new presentation of the MSI RCE CourseL
| Event: |
Multi-Sensory Impairment - Regional Centre of Expertise Course |
| Mode: | In-person attendance |
| Dates: | Monday 1 June 2026 Monday 8 June 2026 Monday 15 June 2026 Monday 22 June 2026 Monday 29 June 20206 |
| Venue: | Manchester Children's Sensory Support Service 463 Stretford Road, Manchester M16 9AB |
For more information, costs, and a booking form, please see here.
- Written by: Ian Noon
The National Deaf Children’s Society has partnered with Hasbro and Peppa Pig on a major storyline about childhood deafness. Hasbro will announce that George, Peppa’s brother, is moderately deaf in one ear. He will wear a hearing aid, and a series of TV and online episodes will follow his hearing loss journey.
The National Deaf Children’s Society has advised on the storyline and is providing ongoing advice, insight and resources. We believe this storyline will help raise awareness of the signs of childhood deafness, as well as the importance of positive and authentic deaf representation.
For the charity, this partnership is a significant opportunity to reach families of deaf children, raise awareness of childhood deafness among the wider public. We also hope it will be an opportunity to highlight the National Deaf Children’s Society as a source of support for all deaf children with any level of hearing loss.
We understand that two key Peppa Pig episodes will air on TV in March.
We know that many families will be avid viewers of Peppa Pig and will welcome this opportunity to see their own lived experiences represented on this programme.
- Written by: Ian Noon
NDCS is launching a new National Deaf Children’s Society Family Fund
Families with a deaf child aged 0 to 11 (or still in primary school) living in the UK may be eligible to receive funding to help pay for equipment and technology that can make a real difference to daily life – at home, in education and beyond.
This funding can support:
- assistive technology specifically related to deafness or hearing loss
- standard technology, such as iPads or similar devices
- support for learning British Sign Language (BSL), including course fees or related costs
As funding is limited, applications will close once all funds have been allocated. We would really appreciate your help in sharing this opportunity with families you work with who may benefit and encouraging them to apply as soon as possible.
Full eligibility criteria and details are available on our website.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Details of BATOD events and activities within the wider deaf education community can be found on the Events page on BATOD https://www.batod.org.uk/events/
For a flavour of events coming up:
- BATOD 50th Conference: 24/25 April
- BATOD Deaf studies pilot programme: 18 March
- Date for PHSI webinar: 16 April
For more information and booking links please read on
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Calling all MSI practitioners and sensory specialists!
Booking is now open for the second learning and networking event, focused on practical applications for inclusive education, for specialists working with deafblind/multi sensory impaired children and young people.MSI Conference: Raising the profile of multi-sensory impairment
In-person on Tuesday 16 June 2026 09:30 - 16:15 at University College London Centre for Inclusive Education.
For details of costs and booking please see here. Early bird offer until 30 March.
With a keynote address, renowned speakers, sector stallholders, a knowledge exchange session with Seashell and UCL and practical workshops, this event is for all MSI specialists.
We will be presenting and discussing some of the most pertinent areas in MSI/deafblind provision and support and there will be opportunities to network and browse sponsor stalls and research posters during the day.
Speakers will include:
- Marguerite Tibaudo M.Ed TVI: Cerebral Vision Impairment and Communication Strategies. Education Director, Deafblind School, Perkins School for the Blind.
- Dr Peter Simcock: Deafblind Guidance Assessment. Associate Professor of Social Work, Centre Lead, Deafblind UK Education and Research Centre.
- Dr Margaret Woodhouse: Down Syndrome and Functional Vision Assessment. Professor, recently retired from Cardiff University School of Optometry and Vision Sciences.
Further speakers and topics to be covered will be confirmed.
- Written by: Sian Lickess
The National Deaf Children's Society commissioned research to explore parents’ experiences of supporting their children (0-4 years) with mild or unilateral deafness, and to learn what advice they would give to other parents.
Led by researchers at the University College London (UCL) and Aston University in Birmingham, the research showed that parents experience significant uncertainty around what mild or unilateral deafness means, what actions are best for their child, and, if they take those actions, whether they’ll be effective.
Findings from these parent interviews informed the development of podcasts and videos.
The Little Ears, Big Challenges podcast series, produced by UCL, features conversations with parents, young people and adults who have lived experience of mild or unilateral deafness.
The National Deaf Children’s Society created a series of videos of families sharing their personal stories and experiences of unilateral deafness.
To find out more about the research, you can read our plain language summary as well as the full report and pre-print publication.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Ewing Foundation has news to share with the launch of a new resource: Bookshelf. https://ewing-foundation.org.uk/a-festive-gift/
We hope that this will become the go-to place to find key documents that impact your practice in work with children and young people with sensory impairment (especially deafness) and that you will bookmark the link for quick and easy access whenever you need it.
The link to go straight to Bookshelf is here: https://ewing-foundation.org.uk/resources/bookshelf/
This is a starting point! New shelves will be added to the library over time and we are currently working on a directory which will have lots more useful links for your work.
Your ideas for books and shelves to be added would be greatly appreciated too.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
NatSIP, BATOD and NDCS were delighted to welcome over 100 participants at this online event on Microsoft Teams.
The opportunity to explore partnership working between NDCS and specialist services in the context and development of the 2023 NDCS strategy, Every Moment Counts was very welcome. We learned some detail about the roles of the new Community Connectors and the Early Intervention Advice and Guidance Officers (EIAGOs) and their interface with local education professionals and families.
The slides from NDCS Platform Leads Jemma South and Alison Worsley's presentation are now available in the NatSIP Document Library.
Available document:
Some follow up questions and answers following the webinar from NDCS
Thanks to everyone who joined us last week for our presentation on the role of Community Connectors and Early Intervention Advice and Guidance Officers (EIAGOs) and for your questions. Thanks to Teresa's excellent moderating, we got through most of the questions but there were a few questions that we didn't have time to cover. As promised, please find our answers to these further below.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Sense website has information which includes details about deafblind assessments
What to expect from your council if you're deafblind - Sense
- Written by: Ian Noon
Alison Worsley and Jemma South, Platform Leads at National Deaf Children’s Society, have given an update about changes and developments in the way that NDCS is supporting children and their families to help set them up for life.
You can read the briefing below and if you would like more information abouthe NDCS strategy and the new roles, please contact Alison and Jemma via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The National Deaf Children's Society, BATOD and NatSIP have worked together to develop a briefing on the specialist needs of deaf children and the role of Teachers of the Deaf. This seeks to summarise the role of Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs) in meeting the unique and specialist needs of deaf children and young people. It also provides evidence, statutory context, and key considerations for anyone involved in reviewing or commissioning specialist education services for deaf children.
- Written by: Brian Lamb
The British Deaf Association has funded and published three new reports.
They are availble through their website: https://bda.org.uk/early-bsl-matters/
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Kingdon Report on children's hearing services has been published today, 10 November2025. It can be downloaded here
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