Welcome to the NatSIP Website

This website offers access to a wealth of SI resources, most of which are now 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.

Event:
The Equality Act 2010 and Educational Settings - Disability Discrimination and reasonable Adjustments - The role of the Tribunal
Date:
Thursday 19 October 2023  -  13:30 - 16:00
Platform: Online via Microsoft Teams

 

We are pleased to announce that the presentations from this training event are now available, along with a a fact sheet bringing together the links for all the resources mentioned in the presentations.

Available documents

What is the role of visual language inputs in reading development in deaf children?

An important UCL research project aims to address this question in all deaf children – regardless of whether they use BSL, English or both languages. The UCL team have already recruited 58 children who started Reception in 2022 and 2023!

The team are now recruiting deaf children who:

  •  started Reception in 2023 (approx. 4yrs old)
  • or will start Reception in 2024
  • were diagnosed as severely or profoundly deaf before 3yrs old
  • have lived in the UK for at least 6 months
  • are able to complete 10-15mins of tasks on a computer

For further information about the project & how to sign up please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/icn/research/research-groups/visual-communication/visual-communication-reading-development-project.  Information is available in English and BSL. Or email at - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A Hearing to Succeed and Achieve booklet has gone live today on the Ewing Foundation website as a fully functional Flipbook with internal links and QR codes. You can find it here.

This resource links with the new NICE Guidance on Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) in Under 12’s which was published on 30 August 2023.

Katy Michell, the author and Ewing Foundation Education advisor, has written this booklet to assist those working with pre-school children with fluctuating hearing loss.

Young children can have a mild to moderate hearing loss throughout their pre-school years, which has a significant impact on their language and ultimately impacts their behaviour and wellbeing.

Services will be able to use this resource to signpost to families and to early years settings to provide information and advice that will be really beneficial for the children they are supporting. It provides clear strategies to promote speaking and listening as well as information about improving the listening environment.

In June 2016, NatSIP published the Quality Standards for Sensory Support Services document.

The document drew from the Ofsted framework for inspecting education establishmentsm and, in particular, the Ofsted/CQC framework for consultation, for inspecting local area arrangements for identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND.

In 2022, the RNIB published the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI).  For more detail on the CFVI, please see the RNIB website here.

In response to the CFVI, in August 2023, Appendix 2 was added to the Quality Standards document, showing how the Quality Standards map on to the CFVI and vice versa.

The updated document can be found in the document library.

Available document:

Last June NatSIP partners joined See Ability eye care champions in signing a letter to NHS England and government on improving eye care for people with learning disabilities.

Yesterday there was good news in that there has been a new commitment to rollout sight testing in all special schools from next year 2024/25! Where there is the existing NHS service in special schools this will continue too.

It’s such a great bit of news and SeeAbility wanted to thank everyone for all their incredible support!

If you would like to read more the government statement is in full here

NDCS has today publicly launched Every Moment Counts, their new 2023-2028 strategy.

It’s based on these charitable objectives:

  • To deliver outstanding support in the early years;
  • To provide life-changing information and advice;
  • To build communities that unite families;
  • (in respect of our international work) to be the leading global authority on childhood deafness

The strategy is available at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/every-moment-counts-our-2023-to-2028-strategy/ and there is a media landing page at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/every-moment-counts

Event: Promoting Independence - and how resources can help
Date:
Wednesday 10 May 2023  09:30 - 12:30

 

We are pleased to announce that, following the NatSIP event on 10th May the additional resources list from the discussion is now available in the NatSIP Document Library.

NatSIP would like to thank the trainers who led the event; Caireen Sutherland (RNIB), Steph Halder (BATOD) and Michelle Jones (Seashell Trust), their colleagues who contributed and to the delegates who made this a very successful morning.

Available Document:

Find your FAQ answers here!

The RNIB education team, together with VIEW, have got together to make information on some of the most popular topics raised on VI forum available on demand. Find answers to the most frequently asked questions here: Your education questions answered - VIEW (viewweb.org.uk)

Please find below a link to a briefing about 2022 national government attainment data on deaf children in England.

This was updated on 24th May 2023: https://www.ndcs.org.uk/media/8720/ndcs-note-on-attainment-data-2022.pdf

This is DfE data for children where deafness has been identified as the primary special educational need. It will not include deaf children who have not been formally identified as having a special educational need or where deafness is a secondary need (for example, deaf children with complex learning difficulties). The figures should therefore be used and interpreted with caution as they will not include all deaf children. As far as we know though, they remain the best data available in this area and for any benchmarking or comparisons over time.

 

Children’s hearing services in England (2022)

This report sets out the findings from a national survey of children’s hearing or paediatric audiology services in England in spring 2022. Responses highlight that paediatric audiology services are facing some difficult challenges as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The main themes reported were; long waiting lists, staffing issues, increasing demands on services, barriers to gaining Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPs) accreditation and other resource or funding issues. However, responses from services provided evidence that many are working hard to tackle these challenges and maintain quality. Some are even managing to innovate and commit to service improvement in a difficult environment.

Report: Children’s hearing services in England (2022)
Briefing: Children’s hearing services in England (2022)

Event:
NatSIP National Online Working Day:
The SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan
Date:
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:00 - 16:00

 We were delighted to welcome 90 delegates to a full programme for the NatSIP Online Working Day today, 19 April 2023.

There was some excellent reflection and discussion on the SEND and AP Improvement Plan and where the strategy for success for SI learners might fit in the wider plans for SEND locally, regionall and nationally.

We heard from André Imich at DfE about the plan. Brian Lamb talked about the implications for SI provision. Karen Flanagan looked at the opportunities the Improvement Plan might offer to a Local Authority.

Specialist training is an important part of workforce development and Jackie Salter, Rory McDonnell and Tina Wakefield brought us up to date with the new learning outcomes for the SI Mandatory Qualifications for teachers and the proposal for a QTSI Apprenticeship.

The VIEW conference took place in March and John Rous Milligan gave feedback from discussions there about National Standards.

We are pleased to make the speaker presentations available below.

Available Documents:

Event:
Hybrid Training Event
Body-Tactile Communication and Tactile Sign Language
Dates:

Monday 12 June 2023 10:00-16:00 - Online via Zoom
Tuesday 13 June 2023  10:00-16:00 - Face to Face

Day 1
Online Platform:
Online via Zoom
Day 2
Face-to-Face

Thomas Pocklington Trust: Pocklington Hub - 3 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR

Pocklington Hub - Thomas Pocklington Trust (pocklington-trust.org.uk)

Cost £200/delegate, reduced to £100/delegate for NatSIP-member organisations
Booking: Open now

 

Who is this 2-day hybrid workshop for?

This two‐day workshop is aimed at specialist teachers, speech and language therapists, intervenors, teaching assistants and family members who are exploring, using and assessing tactile communication with children who are deafblind or would benefit from using tactile sign strategies in mainstream and specialist settings.

Workshop content:

  • An understanding of bodily tactile communication and tactile sign language – theoretical frameworks and how these come together in emerging tactile language users
  • Practical aspects of supporting learners who communicate in a bodily tactile way and supporting the emergence of tactile language
  • Principles of tactile sign language and adapting sign language to the tactile mode
  • Supporting assessment and goal setting for learners using bodily tactile communication and tactile sign language

For more information and a booking form, see here

RNIB has launched a new report What we know about Education which is available for download here (MS Word format).

The report summarises the experiences of children and young people with a vision impairment who are in education.

In the UK, we estimate that there are around 41,000 children and young people who live with a vision impairment and they are not always having the same education experiences as their sighted peers.

We know that 70% attend mainstream schools where they may be the only child with a vision impairment. They need a range of specialist support, but this isn’t always or consistently happening.

This lack of support is leading to educational attainment for children with vision impairment being lower than their fully sighted classmates.

The Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment has been developed by RNIB and partners to support parents, carers, and education professionals to ensure children and young people with a vision impairment receive an appropriate and equitable education. You can access the Framework at: http://www.rnib.org.uk/cfvi

In preparation for the Westminster Hall Debate on the specialist workforce for children and young people with special educational needs and disability on Wednesday 22nd March 2023, and in response to proposals in the Government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, NatSIP has written a briefing paper which can be downloaded below.

Available Document:

NatSIP and Linden Lodge were pleased to welcome over 60 delegates to the Family engagement and partnership for children and young people with vision impairment and multi-sensory impairment event at Linden Lodge School on Friday 10 March 2023.

This was a learning and networking event for therapists, educational professionals and parents supported by staff from the Wandsworth Sensory Support Service as well as Linden staff and two ex pupils.

Running alongside the conference was the WSSS Annual Technology Event, an exhibition of resources available to support VI and MSI learners.

The following presentations are available:

During the day delegates were also able to follow a presentation on Online Family Partnership: a collaboration focused on tactile communication from Steve Rose.

An executive summary of a project on the early auditory experiences of deaf toddlers can be found online at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/baby-soundscapes/results/

This is a project led by Dr Hannah Cooper at UCL Ear Institute, and funded by NDCS. It sought to explore the early auditory experiences of deaf toddlers and identify if/when radio aids might be helpful, whilst still being mindful of other environmental sounds that might be important for deaf children to access.