The Sensory Inclusion Team aims to provide a comprehensive, holistic approach to supporting children and young people with Sensory Impairment (Vision Impairment, Hearing Loss, Multi Sensory Impairment), with a focus on supporting them to achieve their full potential and lead fulfilling lives.
These may be achieved by:
–Early identification and assessment
-Access to specialist equipment and technology
-Provision of training
-Direct Teaching intervention
-Promotion of Social Inclusion
-Environmental Audit
-Close collaboration with hospitals, clinics, educational settings and other professional services following identification and referral
Sensory Team
Who we are
The Sensory Inclusion Team consists of Specialist teachers (Qualified teachers of VI, Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children & Young People & Educational Audiologist).
What we do
The Sensory Inclusion Team provides support for those with either a Vision Impairment or a Hearing Loss and their families. The Sensory Inclusion Team is an Educational Service which supports children and young people with a permanent hearing loss and visually impaired children and young people aged 0 to 25. This may take the form of direct work with a child or young person, small group work with several children, planning work with a class teacher offering practical support and ideas for getting the best outcomes for a class, help and guidance with planning, adaptive teaching and target setting, or more strategic work with a SENCo or school leadership team. We work in collaboration with the child or young person, Early Years providers; schools and educational settings, parents/caregivers, hospitals, clinics and other professional services following identification and referral using a person-centred approach.
We also issue specialist access equipment including ipads and assistive listening devices to children & young people, provide training for staff with this equipment, troubleshoot faults and monitor the impact this equipment has on access to learning.
Our Team is also able to arrange environmental assessments and provide advice about possible adaptations to improve learning access.
Use the Inspire Referral Form to refer to this team.
For more information please see:
Multi-Sensory Impairment
Who we are
We have a qualified teacher of MSI (QTMSI) working within the Sensory Inclusion Team to provide support, training and advice to children and young people, their families and educational setting.
*A child or young person is considered multi-sensory impaired (MSI) when they have a combination of hearing and vision loss. MSI is considered a unique disability as the challenges of combined loss is greater than the sum of each individual sensory loss. MSI can impact communication, access to information and ability to move around in the environment and may co occur with additional medical or cognitive needs.
For children and young people with combined vision and hearing impairment, neither sense can compensate for the lack of the other. The access to clear and consistent flow of visual and auditory information necessary for learning, communication, interaction and overall development is reduced. Incidental learning may be limited.
What we do
Children and young people with multi-sensory impairment may be supported by a range of professionals from the Sensory Inclusion Team This will depend on their needs and may change over time. Often these teachers will work together. However, the level of support provided by each professional may be different from each other and may vary over time to address specific needs, for example, establishing the use of access technology.
It’s important to work holistically, as a multi-disciplinary team, to improve access to education alongside health and social care. Professionals from the Sensory Inclusion Team will work with families and other professionals involved with the child or young person with multi-sensory impairment.
Use the Inspire Referral Form to refer to this team.
For more information please see:
