'Uncategorised' articles
- Written by: Steve J
These tips are intended to support colleagues from the frontline workforce who are new to working with a pupil with sensory impairment (or require a short refresher!)
They provide a quick introductory guide to useful resources for those who may be short of time and need a starting point.
Sensory impairment (‘SI’) includes: hearing impairment or deafness (‘HI’), multisensory impairment or deafblindness (‘MSI’) and vision impairment (‘VI’).
For clarification, Sensory Impairment is not the same as Sensory Integration, or Sensory Processing Disorder.
See this short video looking at the difference.
- Every local authority provides support for pupils with sensory impairment through a sensory impairment support service. Your local SEN office should be able to signpost you to your main contact. You can always check your local offer to find out about services in your area.
• To find details of your local offer, see your Local Authority's website. - Find out about the implications of sensory impairment. There are three main sensory impairments, hearing, vision and multi-sensory (a combination of both). Each has distinct implications on accessing information. Check out the following links for starter guides:
Hearing Impairment
• See the NDCS pages for educational professionals working with deaf children in the early years.
Vision Impairment
• See the RNIB’s information guide for parents on the RNIB website.
Multi-Sensory Impairment
• See the RNIB materials on multi-sensory impairment on its website.
• The CDC’s development journal for children with multiple needs is also useful. - Get the support the child needs. Many children with sensory Impairment will need additional support. This may be provided through assess-plan-do-review or an EHC plan.
If an assessment for an EHC plan is undertaken, this must include the advice from a specialist qualified teacher in the relevant sensory impairment (HI/deaf, VI or MSI). Learners might need support with communication, mobility, classroom access, independence, equipment, reading, concept development and social skills and may benefit from services such as specialist teaching support, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or physiotherapy. Also consider if there are any local leisure services or voluntary organisations who can help provide out of school activities or family support. Some national organisations are listed below, but don’t forget to check your local offer to see what local support is available.
• See the NatSIP guidance on applying Assess-Plan-Do-Review to children with Sensory Impairments.
• See the NatSIP guidance on Better (EHC Plan) Assessments.
See also the websites of relevant national organisations:
• National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS)
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
• Sense, a national charity that supports people with complex disabilities including people who are deafblind. - Get some classroom advice. Your local sensory support service will have a key role in supporting you. There are also some published materials to help you develop strategies to support your pupil:
Hearing Impairment
• Resources from the NDCS website.
• See folder NatSIP's What Good Looks Like Checklist for things that should be in place in an educational setting.
Vision Impairment
• Resources from the RNIB website.
• See folder NatSIP's What Good Looks Like Checklist for things that should be in place in an educational setting.
Multi-Sensory Impairment
• Resources from the RNIB website.
• See folder NatSIP's What Good Looks Like Checklist for things that should be in place in an educational setting. - Be clear about support roles. Learners with sensory impairment often have identified or targeted support provided by teaching assistants (TAs). Sometimes these can be specialist roles called communication support workers (for HI/deaf), note takers (for HI/deaf, VI or MSI) or intervenors (for MSI). See the guides to the role of the teaching assistants working with children with SI below:
Hearing Impairment
• See the NatSIP teaching assistant guidance for HI.
Vision Impairment
• See the NatSIP teaching assistant guidance for VI.
Multi-Sensory Impairment
• See the NatSIP teaching assistant guidance for MSI. - Get some training. Many local authorities provide introductory training locally. Also check out the NatSIP Calendar for training events.
- If you are looking for specific resources always discuss the appropriateness of resources for your pupils with your local sensory support service.
Consider if the learner has access to all the technology support he or she needs. If your pupil already has technology (for example, hearing aids, radio aids, video magnifier, screen reader, braille notetaker, VOCA, etc.) do you know how to use it? Can you trouble shoot if things go wrong? Do you know how to create a good listening environment for learning in education? Your local sensory support service will provide assessment for, advice on and training to support you with technology, which can improve young people’s access to school and learning.
Whilst there is much good information on the web, remember that it does not replace the advice of your local sensory support service, and might not be appropriate for every child.
Hearing Impairment or deafness
• The NDCS has a series of resources on Deaf-friendly teaching for primary, secondary schools and FE and also Supporting the achievement of deaf children in the early years nd FE and also Supporting the achievement of deaf children in the early years nd FE to be found on the NDCS website.
• The National Deaf Children’s Society guidance on quality standards for the use of personal radio aids available on its website.
• The University College London Hospital (UCLH) document Cochlear Implants – FM Training Tool available on its website.
• The British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BAToD) website.
• NDCS advice on creating good listening conditions for learning in education.
• The NDCS website information about British Sign Language.
Vision Impairment
• Technology guidance is available on the RNIB website https://www.rnib.org.uk
• The VIEW (Vision Impairment Education Workforce) website (Registration and membership required)
Multi-Sensory Impairment or deaf-blindness
• The Sense technology pages.
• See also the NatSIP technology briefings.
- Plan for transition early. Transitions between phases are just as important as those transitions towards the end of the school career. Involve the learner in decisions and make time for transitions to be effective. There are some great resources available to support transitions to adulthood:
Hearing Impairment
• National Deaf Children’s Society guidance on transition meetings
Vision Impairment
• The RNIB document Transition guide – Bridging the Gap and workshop pack Moving on. and workshop pack Moving on.
Multi-Sensory Impairment
• The RNIB document series Information on everyday living. - Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Most children and young people with sensory impairment are included in mainstream schools and often, sensory impairment may be unrecognised in special schools. There is a wealth of specialists whose role it is to help you to support these children to get the best out of their education. Evidence shows that sensory impairment is not a barrier to educational attainments if children are given the right support.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Multi-sensory Impairment
The term multi-sensory impairment applies where a child or young person has combined vision and hearing impairments, which may include a functional loss in one or both of these senses, that create difficulty in accessing the curriculum and engaging in daily life experiences.
The Policy Statement Pupil Level Annual School Census Definitions (PLASC) published by the DfES (2005), states that:
[Pupils with multi-sensory impairment] have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties. They are sometimes referred to as deafblind but may have some residual sight and or hearing. Many also have additional disabilities but their complex needs mean that it may be difficult to ascertain their intellectual abilities
A unilateral (or one sided) loss has significant implications for CYP with MSI (i.e. they are unable to rely on the other distance sense to compensate for/support access to information as would be the case for a child with a single sensory impairment).
Mild multi-sensory impairment: Dual impairment with a mild loss in both modalities.
Moderate multi-sensory impairment: Dual impairment with a moderate loss in both or the most affected modality.
Severe multi-sensory impairment: Dual impairment with a severe loss in both or the most affected modality.
Profound multi-sensory impairment: Dual impairment with a profound loss in one modality and a mild/moderate loss in the other / Educationally blind and severe/profound hearing loss
In functional terms deafblind/multi-sensory impaired children and young people may include those with:
Mild to profound auditory impairment and vision impairment
Mild to profound auditory and vision impairments and other significant disabilities
Central processing problems of vision and hearing
Progressive sensory impairments
Vision impairments and a possible loss of auditory processing mechanisms - associated with a physical disability or cognitive disability and communication delay
In November 2024 The Nordic Leadership forum updated the definition of deafblindness to:
"Deafblindness is a combined vision and hearing impairment of such severity that it is hard for the impaired senses to compensate for each other. Thus, deafblindness is a distinct disability." New update of landmark definition on deafblindness | NVCLinks to an external site. “
“The Nordic Leadership forum updated the definition of deafblindness in November 2024 to:
"Deafblindness is a combined vision and hearing impairment of such severity that it is hard for the impaired senses to compensate for each other. Thus, deafblindness is a distinct disability." New update of landmark definition on deafblindness | NVCLinks to an external site. “
Key facts:
Deafblindness is a unique disability in its own right. The two impairments of vision and hearing loss together increase the effects of each Deafblind CYP will experience difficulty in;
Finding out information
Communicating with others
Moving around the environment Independently
About 80% of children and young people with MSI have additional complex and physical needs.
They need specialist support and approaches to teaching, learning and developing independence.
There are over 4,000 Deafblind/MSI children and young people aged 0‐19 years (Emerson & Robertson 2010), expected to rise to 5,000 by the year 2030
The prevalence is 0.04 per 1000 population (4 per 100,000)
In 2010, Sense commissioned Lancaster University to produce a report estimating the prevalence of deafblind people in the UK. As part of the report, the researchers developed a tool whereby population projections from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) can be combined with the estimated prevalence of deafblindness to give the projected number of deafblind people in the UK.
In 2017, these figures were updated with the most recent census results. The following estimates are for 2020;
Cumulative for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland
|
Age |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
0-19 Years |
18,102 |
5,076 |
23,178 |
|
0-69 Years |
77,479 |
45,369 |
121,847 |
England Only
|
Age |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
0-19 Years |
15,519 |
4,353 |
19,872 |
|
20-69 Years |
64,611 |
37,922 |
102,533 |
Your local Sensory Service should be able to provide accurate numbers of CYP with sensory loss including level of need, level of loss and placement in your area.
Other websites to visit:
Sense:MSI teachers shortage in England - Sense
Deafblind UK are undertaking research: https://deafblind.org.uk/about-us/research/
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Hearing impairment (deafness)
Hearing impairment (also described as hearing loss or deafness) is measured in terms of the sound level (in decibels or dB) that someone can hear at a given frequency (pitch). Hearing impairment is tested across the range of speech frequencies, usually between 250 Hz and 8kHz. If a person has good hearing across all these frequencies they are considered to have normal hearing.
Levels of hearing impairment are often assessed as follows, through it is dangerous to assume that because a hearing impairment is labelled as 'mild' the consequences are barriers for the individual will be negligible.
Mild hearing impairment threshold 21-40 dBHL
Moderate hearing impairment threshold 41-70 dBHL
Severe hearing impairment threshold 71-95 dBHL
Profound hearing impairment threshold in excess of 95 dBHL
What this may mean in real life situations is illustrated in the following table:
| Better ear average hearing level in decibels of hearing loss (db HL) | Hearing in a quiet environment | Hearing in a noisy environment |
| 20-34 dbHL | Does not have problems hearing what is said | May have real difficulty in following/taking part in a conversation |
| 35-49 dbHL | May have difficulty hearing a normal voice | Has difficulty hearing and taking part in conversation |
| 50-64 dbHL | Can hear loud speech | Has great difficulty hearing and taking part in a conversation |
| 65-79 dbHL | Can hear loud speech directly in one's ear | Has very great difficulty hearing and taking part in a conversation |
| 80-94 dbHL | Has great difficulty hearing | Cannot hear any speech |
| Unilateral hearing loss: Up to 20 dbHL in the better ear; at least 35 dbHL in the worse ear | Does not have problems unless sound is near the poorer hearing ear | May have real difficulty following/taking part in a conversation |
Source: NHS England Comissioning Guidance 2016
Key Facts:
- There are at least 46,933 deaf children in England. This figure of 46,933 is a reported increase of 1,262 (3%) from 45,6718 in the previous year. CRIDE 2024.
- There are a reported 220 resource provisions, a decrease from 227 in 2023. Looking at the spread of resource provisions across England, on average, there is one resource provision for every 213 deaf children in 2024.
- 4,201 deaf children (9%) were reported to have at least one cochlear implant. This is increase from 2021 when 3,907 children (9%) were reported to have a cochlear implant. CRIDE 2023.
- It is estimated that 49% of children with severe or profound deafness had at least one cochlear implant. If one were to make an assumption that nearly all children with cochlear implants were those with a profound deafness, this percentage would rise to 84%. CRIDE 2023.
- 3,831 deaf children (8%) had a bone conduction device. The proportion has increased from 7% in 2021. CRIDE 2023.
- 89% of deaf children use Spoken English (34,500) 2% British Sign Language (792) 2% Spoken English together with signed supported English (2,238) and 6% another combination (1,381). CRIDE 2023.
- There are a reported 220 resource provisions, a decrease from 227 in 2023. Looking at the spread of resource provisions across England, on average, there is one resource provision for every 213 deaf children. CRIDE 2024.
- There was a total of 8,809 deaf children with an EHC plan (of whom 6,320 are children where deafness is a primary need and 2,489 a secondary need) according to DfE census figures. Comparing this figure with the number of children identified by the CRIDE survey, this would indicate that around 19% of deaf children have an EHC plan. CRIDE 2024.
The School Census records a total of 28,600 children where deafness is a primary or secondary need. The 28,600 deaf children identified by the School Census amount to 61% of the 46,799 deaf children identified by local authorities through CRIDE 2024.
Source: Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE)
Your local Sensory Service should be able to provide accurate numbers of CYP with sensory loss including level of need, level of loss and placement in youir area.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Vision Impairment (VI)
From a functional standpoint, a child or young person can be considered to have a vision impairment if this interferes with optimal development, learning and achievements unless adaptations are made in the methods of presenting learning experiences, the nature of the materials used and/or the learning environment (ref. Barragan's definition cited in Flanagan et al, 2003, p 497). This definition includes children and young people with other disabilities/impairments in addition to vision, including those with profound and complex needs.
The term 'learning' includes not just academic learning but the acquisition of mobility, life, independence and social skills that, in the case of a child or young person with a vision impairment, would be provided through specialist input from a habilitation officer or QTVI.
The following classification applies to corrected vision with both eyes open. Acuity criteria are for guidance purposes only. The professional judgement of a Qualified Teacher of the Vision Impaired (QTVI) should be applied as necessary to decide on the classification. For example, a child or young person may have a mild reduction in visual acuity but be functioning within a different visual category due to an additional ophthalmic condition, e.g. an oculomotor disorder such as nystagmus, visual field reduction, cerebral vision impairment, and/or additional learning difficulties).
In the case of a child or young person undergoing a patching programme, the framework can be applied whilst the child or young person is patched, with further vision assessment carried out following the programme.
Distance vision:
Mild vision loss Within the range 6/12 - 6/18 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.3 – 0.48)
Moderate vision loss Less than 6/19 - 6/36 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.5 – 0.78)
Severe vision loss Less than 6/36 - 6/120 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.8 – 1.3)
Profound vision loss Less than 6/120 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 1.32+)
Near vision:
Refer to standardized tests such as Kays, BUST, Maclure at 33 cms.
Mild vision loss N14-18
Moderate vision loss N18-24
Severe vision loss N24-36
Profound vision loss Educationally blind/Braille user/can access small quantities of print larger than N36
Key facts:
- Total number of children and young people on active vision impairment service caseloads, or known to services, is 31,165 across 137 LAs in England. (RNIB 2023 FOI)
- This caseload represents an increase of 2 per cent on the previous year. Caseloads have also increased year on year since 2020. (RNIB 2023 FOI)
- The total number of CYP that use braille (of those authorities who answered) as their sole or main literacy medium across England is 773. It is these CYP that will require the highest levels of support. (RNIB 2023 FOI).
- DfE figures identify 9,766 pupils with vision impairment as their primary need at SEN support and 3,835 with EHCPs (DfE 2024). In contrast, more than 30,000 children and young people were on VI service caseloads, or known to services.
- Children and young people with severe vision impairment/blindness may have particular difficulties in their use of language for social communication.
- Around half of children with vision impairment have additional special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
Vision impairment in UK children with learning disabilities very high. The prevalence rate for this cohort aged 0 ‐ 19 is 5.6%.
The population of children with vision impairment falls into two distinct sub‐populations:
those without additional impairments/disorders
those with additional impairments/disorders.
There is a marked difference in need and outcome measures for both these groups.
Your local Sensory Service should be able to provide accurate numbers of CYP with sensory loss including level of need, level of loss and placement in your area.
RNIB FOI Report 2023 https://www.rnib.org.uk/living-with-sight-loss/supporting-others/left-out-of-learning/freedom-of-information-reports/
DFE Special Educational Needs England. 2024 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england
- Written by: Steve J
The most likely causes of the problem are:
-
You have followed a link from somewhere else on the world wide web, but are trying to access something only available to registered users of the NatSIP website, who have logged in.
-
If you typed in a web address yourself, may have miss-spelled what you put in the address box of your browser
What to do next:
-
If you are registered on the NatSIP Web Site but have not logged in, click here and complete the login box on the RH of the page.
-
If you don't have a username and password for the NatSIP Web Site, you will need to register. Registration is free, and open to anyone. Click here and then look for the red 'register' link on the RH of the page.
-
If you typed in a web address yourself, carefully check what you have typed into the address box of your browser.
-
If none of the above resolve your problem, you can contact the NatSIP Web Admin.