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TOPIC: Support at school?

Hi, My boy has suffered with glue ear since he was two (he's heading for six now), goes for a check up at audiology every six months but it's always improved each summer and plummeted each winter. This year however hes became really deaf on one side, thanks to an infection & perforated eardrum. Two weeks later the previously 'good ear' followed the same path. He's returned to school but must only be hearing a tiny percentage of what's said, even in the quiet of home he doesn't hear me. Thankfully it's half term so maybe the drums will have a chance to heal now but my question.... is there any help available for children with glue ear at school, even on a temporary basis? I've tried and tried to get how deaf he truly is across to his school & teacher but the answer every time "he seems ok". He's not, far from it but they see him following his friends and think that's enough. Where do we stand on insisting he gets assistance? or is it how I suspect, that only SEN children are funded? Thanks.



anon
26 May 17
8:20pm


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Hi, still no replies:0(

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Pardon
01 Jun 17
1:56pm



Hi, sorry to hear your son is having such an awful time. My boy is 4 and has had ear infections since 4 months which caused chronic persistent glue ear.
It's probably a slightly different situation in that his speech was severely affected, so the SLT team referred him for a special unit for nursery.

He made such progress there we were told he could go mainstream. But, his hearing loss ranges from mild to profound. So, what we did was get a private Audioligical assessment with speech recognition for both ears. This proved his reliance on lip-reading and need for little background noise. The audiologist and Speech Therapist gave us reports about how he struggles/would struggle with background noise and without lip-reading.

Then I asked my three nearest primaries if I could conduct an acoustic survey. I did the NDCS survey and borrowed a sound meter from an engineer (got a crash course on how to use it), and took meter readings in the classrooms at various points and times.

I got an acoustician friend to analyse the results, highlighted green, amber and red what was good about each school eg. Red drum kit next to classroom, green toilets outside classroom. I submitted all this to the council schools board and they agreed to prioritise our son for entry to our preferred school which is carpeted and uses Soundfield systems.

So, in your position, I would recommend a private assessment and conducting an acoustic survey. You can apply to hearing services yourself for a visit from a ToD. My son has one. You have to got to be very proactive proving his difficulties. If your son goes on the SEN register, then the school gets 15k pa for him. My son's funding comes from the disability access fund. It runs each tax year.

I hope this makes sense and I hope you get somewhere with getting him help.
Best of luck!

vc
15 Jun 17
6:14pm



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