Deafness and Hearing Impairment

SLT: Deafness and hearing impairment

 

 

Communication development starts from the moment a child is born and is a process that never stops. Speech and language therapy aims to help all children to communicate as well as possible.

 

How does speech and language therapy help?

 

It aims to develop communication skills which may include:

• Receptive language (what your child understands)
• Expressive language (what your child signs or says)
• Speech skills (how your child produces sounds)
• Interaction skills (how your child uses language in conversations, for example, by asking questions).

 

For deaf children, speech and language therapy is most effectively provided by parents and school staff working with their child’s therapist to help the child’s communication skills during everyday life. Your child’s speech and language therapist will also work closely with other professionals who may be involved with your family, in particular your child’s teacher of the deaf.

 

Whatever choices you make for your child, speech and language therapy may be able to help them to further develop their communication skills. Speech and language therapists provide a service which takes into account the needs and wishes of both you and your child.

The speech and language therapy service for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children in Birmingham provides a citywide service catering for children of all ages within a range of settings across the community.

 

 

Hearing Resource Bases / Special Schools

The largest proportions of deaf/ hearing impaired children are taught at their local primary school supported by the Specialist Support Service.

 

Children who need a higher level of support or intervention attend Resource Bases attached to a mainstream school. These children will have an Education, Health and Care Plan for a hearing loss with subsequent language difficulties.

 

The aim of these resource bases is to develop children’s language and communication skills. Pupils are encouraged to use their residual hearing, to use clear spoken communication, to follow lip patterns and to make use of finger spelling and sign language both receptively and expressively.

 

Assisted by parents and families, the resource bases provide a team of specialist staff and teaching/equipment that will help pupils to acquire language enabling them to communicate effectively, so they can be successfully included in their mainstream classes and have full access to the national curriculum.

 

 

Within Birmingham there are two primary Hearing Resource Bases (HRB’s),  three secondary HRB’s and 2 Special schools:

• Hawthorn Primary School
• Percy Shurmer Primary Academy – Deaf Learning Base
• Bournville School – Hearing Impaired Resource Base
• Bordesley Green Girls’ School and Sixth Form
• Small Heath Leadership Academy
• Longwill School
• Braidwood School

 

 

Useful links

• Deaf Children's Society - information to support parents, children and professionals.
• Hear Together - charity promoting living well with hearing loss.
• BID Services - charity working in partnership with children, young people and their families and carers to support people who are deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired or have a dual sensory loss.