Specialist Teaching Advisory Service - Visual Impairment (VI) and Hearing Impairment (HI)

We are based at Start Point Sholing and cover all areas within Southampton City Council boundaries. We visit both homes and educational settings and also attend audiology appointments when this is appropriate.

We support children and families in Southampton who meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Sensory impaired children aged 0-16 whose disability has a significant impact on their access to education, according to NATSIP criteria.
• Young people aged 0-25 who have an EHCP

We regret that we are not able to support children/young people who do not meet the above criteria, this will include children whose:

• Vision is fully corrected by spectacles
• Hearing loss is treated with grommets alone

Referrals come directly from medical professionals once a sensory impairment is diagnosed. Parents/carers will be asked to provide a consenting signature prior to our initial contact.

We do not charge for this service.

Initial contact will take place as soon as possible after referral and visit frequency will then be established using the NATSIP criteria. Families of newly diagnosed babies with sensory neural hearing impairment will be contacted within 24 hours of diagnosis.

All pupils diagnosed with significant visual or hearing impairment will be referred directly to our service by a medical professional.

Parents/carers who have concerns regarding their child’s vision/hearing should seek medical advice from the school nurse or GP.

We will, wherever possible, provide translators when meeting parents/carers who do not have English as their first language.

Reports for parents/carers of children and young people with a visual impairment can be provided in large print or braille on request.

If requested, users of British Sign Language can be provided with an interpreter (a month’s notice is required due to the short supply of BSL interpreters).

As a service we are committed to enabling all parents/carers to understand the monitoring of their child’s progress.

We use a variety of assessment tools in order to discuss, keep track and monitor a child’s development in all areas.

Our aim is to try to enable academic achievement across the whole curriculum, for all pupils with sensory impairment, ensuring the gap does not widen between the child and his/her peers in attainment, particularly in the core curriculum subjects of Maths, English and Science.

We closely monitor personal, social and emotional development to try and ensure pupils with sensory impairment understand the implications of their needs, and do not feel isolated. Parents/carers are included at all stages of our assessments and results are always shared with them.

Schools will inform parents/carers when we are due to visit, and parents/carers are welcome to attend any appointments to formally or informally discuss their child’s progress.

We welcome feedback from parents/carers about our service via email, phone calls or face to face.

Parents/carers of pupils with sensory impairment will be signposted towards appropriate support/charity organisations and literature is provided by our service.

All of our work takes place in the home or educational settings.

All our Specialist Teacher Advisors are qualified teachers with an additional mandatory qualification in Visual or Hearing Impairment.

Teachers are also trained in Braille or BSL.

Our Specialist VI Technician offers technical support for pupils with visual impairment.

Every member of the Specialist Teaching and Advisory Service has enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service)

Teacher Advisors are not left in sole charge of the children we are working with. All the work is carried out in the presence of families or alongside school staff.

Families are advised to contact either the Specialist Teachers or their Team Manager to discuss any concerns or comments.

You can also go to the compliments, comments and complaints page or writing to:

Customer Relations Team
Legal, HR and Democratic Services
Room 210
Municipal Block
Southampton City Council
Civic Centre
Southampton SO14 7LY  

We ask for annual feedback in writing from both educational settings and parents regarding the service we provide.

If you have concerns regarding your child’s vision or hearing please speak, in the first instance, to their teachers, school nurse or your GP.

Our service’s eligibility criteria depends on referral from the appropriate medical channels. We regret parents are unable to refer their children directly.

However, if your child is diagnosed with a significant visual or hearing impairment, we will receive a referral letter and will contact you as soon as possible to discuss the next steps and how our service may be able to help you and your family.

• British Deaf Association
• National Deaf Children's Society
• The Elizabeth Foundation
• Southampton Sight
• Royal National Institute of Blind People
• Open Sight