NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) and the BSL Coalition are seeking case study examples of what is working for children and young people using BSL and/or sign systems. The deadline for case studies is 23 July 2014.
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NatSIP and the BSL Coalition seek evidence on use of BSL and sign systems to support deaf children.15/7/2014
NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) and the BSL Coalition are seeking case study examples of what is working for children and young people using BSL and/or sign systems. The deadline for case studies is 23 July 2014.
Professionals from across the South West came together on Tuesday 8 July to discuss how best to support deaf children and young people at an annual conference in Exeter.
The South West Every Deaf Child Matters Conference 2014 - All Ages, All Stages and the Spectrum of Need, focussed on the upcoming Government reforms to special educational needs policies across education, health and social care and how they can positively impact on deaf children. Input from a panel of parents and a panel of young people made it clear that they have often not been listened to in the past, and that they faced inexcusable obstacles to participation and communication and the right to language. Deaf children and young people need a proactive and positive approach to their support to ensure that key barriers to language, communication, learning and overall wellbeing are minimised as far as possible. Anne Porter, Department of Education SEND Advisor, highlighted the shift to a “tell us once” approach with the reforms brought in by the Children and Families Act, so that parents shouldn’t have to repeat their stories over and over to different professionals and services so as to get the support they need. Anne stressed the clear culture shift to direct involvement of children and young people and their parents in decision-making and on much more focus on achieving individual positive outcomes. The young people on the panel talked about the barriers they have faced in education and how they have had to wait or fight for essential support at different stages. Matt recounted that he waited for 8 weeks when he started university for any note-taking support, and that he couldn’t understand why the university hadn’t arranged anything in advance. Another young person, John, was given a Communication Support Worker who only had Level 1 BSL when he was 11; it was only when he had a Level 4 signer to support him that he started to progress educationally and began to catch up with his hearing peers. When young person Will was asked about the one thing he would change, he said “when I get to 16 and starting sixth form, I don’t want my parents to have to fight again for the support that I need.” The young people told of their experiences of bullying which affected their confidence levels in the past. Liz Sayce OBE from Disability Rights UK emphasised that schools and local authorities have a responsibility to address disability-related bullying, and effective action against bullying of deaf children and young people is supported by the UN Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Equality Act 2010 and the new Children and Families Act 2014. She highlighted that schools should have accessibility plans to ensure an active approach to equality rather than wait for examples of inequality to surface, as this puts the responsibility wrongly on the shoulders of the young people and parents. Liz Sayce also stressed that the barriers that young deaf people face in moving from education into careers need to be given much more attention. Many employers lack understanding of how to make it a successful environment for themselves and young deaf employees. Matt from the panel of young people said that he was really pleased to have found a temporary job while back from university for the summer holidays, he managed to overcome his anxieties about communication with customers and other staff, but found that “customers can be rude when I don’t catch what they say. What we need is for everybody to understand what we go through.” Parents on the panel of parents of children with little or no aided hearing stressed the need for flexible, free and easily accessible BSL provision up to a much higher level than ‘family sign’ or Level 1, and they said that this needs to be accessible for the whole family, not just the primary carer, otherwise the child’s right to family life and other rights would be compromised. One parent reported that she had had to spend at least £11,000 to pay for the BSL tuition her family needed to reach the fluency in BSL that they need to communicate with their child and support his language development. The parents on the parent panel also gave positive examples of when deaf role models and inclusion / communication support workers have been able to provide really effective support to the child, and to the family and schools. Jayne Carroll of Virgin Care Devon Integrated Children’s Services shared their vision of choice – prevention and inclusion with “one golden thread of safeguarding”. Questioning from delegates focused on the need to pay special attention to deaf children and young people as a particularly vulnerable group whose needs are often poorly understood, and who have a range of needs that can require very specialist professional support. The lack of children’s social workers with specialist knowledge of deafness and its implications for children and young people was highlighted as a key concern. Adam Beckman, BAA Past President and Head of Audiology Services, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, shared the new national audiology service for children and young people, demonstrating the need to join up and share specialist knowledge through critical peer review across networks linking professionals and commissioners at the regional or sub-regional level, underpinned by national standards frameworks in the key education, health and care sectors involved. Adam presented the aspiration of the new service as challenging but the right aspiration that children with permanent conductive hearing impairment should not have their hearing impairment as a barrier to language and communication. Brian Lamb OBE, Chair of the conference said "This conference has become an important national, as well as regional event. It is at the forefront of bringing together leading speakers to share the latest thinking ... but also blends this with regional knowledge and practical understanding of local implications. The conference is always fizzing with new ideas and approaches and is an essential means of keeping up with latest developments in a constructive and helpful atmosphere." The conference was co-sponsored by GNResound, NHS England, Phonak, Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education, Starkey Laboratories, NDCS, PC Werth, Oticon and Lightspeed Technologies. South West Every Deaf Child Matters Conference 2014: |
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