Working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

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• Working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
• in the Communities of Herefordshire
  Worcestershire

Philip Gerrard Chief Executive
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Personnel Experience

• Father to three children
• Eldest 9, deaf boy
• Second 7, hearing girl
• Third 2, deaf boy
• Focus on eldest and his route in Education so far

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Background information

• Born Deaf
• Deaf Family
• Monolingual BSL 0 - 4
• Did not wear hearing aids consistently until 4
• Attended Mainstream Nursery from 3 months until
  school

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Education

• Meetings with Education started when he was two,
  to obtain statement of SEN
• Parents wanted him to go to local mainstream
  school with full time Communication support
• Education decided to send him to a school with
  Partially Hearing Unit
• Parents appealed successfully

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Professional View

• ENT Consultant (3 mths old)
• Must wear hearing aids now otherwise he will
  never speak
• SEN IEP Review notes (Aged 2 ½)
• He is developing very well in all respects,
  apart from his listening and spoken skills which
  are very delayed

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Professional View

• SEN Stage 4 Review notes (Aged 3)
• ..if he does not wear his aids it is going to be
  difficult for him to acquire spoken language
• SEN IEP Review notes (Aged 3 ½)
• There was a long discussion about this and the
  importance of developing the auditory function of
  the brain as early as possible in childhood

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Birth to 4 - BSL
4 years 9 months Some single words Symbolic
noises Vowel sounds
7 years old Equivalent to 6 years old
Spoken Language Progress
8 years 10 months Reading Accuracy Range 9y 8m
10y 9m Comprehension Range 10y 0m 11y 8m
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Education

• Progressed well with Communication Support
• Communication support at level 2 initially
• BSL level 3 training provided
• Aged 8 Focused on radio aids but he lost
  confidence
• Concerns with CS skills appropriate to his age
• Aged 9 Agreed pilot use of freelance MRSLI
  interpreter

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What he said

• Hot Signer
• Will not help me!
• Leaves me alone to mix with my friends great!

• I have made good progress in
• good description history, literacy and RE.
• I have enjoyed
• Interpreter stood front to sign and leave me
  alone with my work

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Review notes (April 2006)

• The narrative nature of the session means more
  interpretation is required and BSL is at its
  richest.. They were concentrating on the use of
  descriptive text to captivate the reader.. He
  was enthralled by the interpretation and was very
  enthused by the independent writing task that
  followed .

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Review notes (May 2006)

• during an early session when, because he had
  not been paying full attention, he asked the
  interpreter for some support. He was surprised
  when she told him to ask the teacher and she
  would interpret if necessary however he paid
  full attention from then on!

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Review notes (May 2006)

• Use of his first language has enabled his
  imagination to be fired and he has used this base
  to extend the depth and complexity of his written
  work.

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So to summarise

• Recent SATs results reflect performance at Year 6
  when he is only in Year 4
• He does not need any additional support other
  than a high level of BSL interpretation. He then
  has full access to all information, as do his
  peers