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Starting School Mild/Moderate Loss

Discussion
Posted by annajw23
02/09/20 11:11 PM

Hi,

My son is due to start school in September 2021. He is bilaterally aided with mild/moderate sensorinueral loss.

I wondered if anyone has any experience on their child starting school with this level of loss? What support is in place, whether your child has a support plan/EHCP etc? I am after some advice on what I need to put into place for him to start school and ensure he has the support he needs.

I don't really know where to start with it all.

Thanks 

Discussion
Posted by platespinner
08/09/20 01:26 PM

Hello, My daughter (now 11) started school at 4 newly aided bilaterally with mild/moderate loss. She has a Hearing Support Advisor (or Teacher of the Deaf) provided by the council. This is a person that goes into school, trains staff and ensures the technology is in place that she needs. So she started just using aids, but we were lucky that the council then provided a radio aid. They also make sure that she is happy with school and that extends to supporting her in developing her social interactions. She has had an excellent ToD. She does not have an ECHP and there's no support plan from the schools that I have ever seen. Whether that's normal I don't know. The ToD provides reports to the school and to us and that includes what's in place and what needs improving.

I would start by asking the school what they will be doing to support your child before he starts so you can make sure everything is in place to ease the transition.

Hope that helps. To reassure you, my daughter has managed very well in school and teachers do try their best to ensure she can hear them and to join in with group discussions.

Discussion
Posted by linz
08/09/20 04:55 PM

Hi.  My son has just started secondary school and he has fluctuating hearing loss between mild, moderate and normal. He has an EHCP and has soundfield in all classrooms.  He had soundfield at primary too but just in the 1 classroom (this was before his EHCP).  His ToD has been really supportive as well as the school and the NDCS family support officer.  The soundfield really helps.

Discussion
Posted by jon114
08/09/20 06:32 PM

I have a daughter with profound deafness, but I believe you will still find this very useful. (She is now 20 and at University.)

When she was 9 years of age, I took her for an independent and private full assessment at the Burwood Centre (based on the site of Mary Hare School for deaf children, but otherwise not linked to the school.)

https://burwoodcentre.org/

After a full days assessment tailored for children with hearing loss, the various assessors produced reports that were then examined by a specialist (and highly experienced in field of deaf children) whom then made his own extensive report on my daughters abilities, how she copes in various environments, and ultimately what support would be necessary for her to achieve her potential.

The report was eye opening to say the least, very thorough, and throughtout the process the service was excellent. It was this report that not only enabled my daughter to enter the best schooling for her, but also gave me a far better understanding of how she was coping, the way her brain worked, what she was reliant on, the difficulties she faced, and exactly what suppprt she requires and how to fight her corner.

My Local Authority, previously pushing for my daughter to go into mainstream with some support, simply put their hands up in surrender and accepted that she needed specialist schooling in the face of the report.

It was invaluable, and worth a thousand times more than I paid for the assessment.

Discussion
Posted by jess
08/09/20 07:56 PM

My daughter has the same hearing loss and is also due to start school in September 2021 so this information would be very helpful to me too thanks in advance 

Discussion
Posted by shoregirl
09/09/20 04:00 PM

I echo everything that platespinner said. My daughter was aided at 3 so only just got her aids when she started nursery. Our ToD also prepares a document entitled How to support me well" which is given to all my daughters teachers aa a reminder on what they can do within the classroom to help her  

The only other thing you might need to add in is a speech therapist depending on what her sounds are like.