Support for children with sensory impairments
What support your child can get
A child with a sensory impairment, living or being educated in the borough, can be referred to us for specialist support.
We can provide specialist advice to parents and teaching staff to help children with sensory impairments access their education. We also work with other professionals, including:
therapists
voluntary agencies
governors.
We maintain a register of children with visual impairments and can tell you if you are eligible to register and what the benefits are.
How your child can get the support they need
Make a referral
Parents, health professionals, early years settings and schools can all refer children (aged from babies to teenagers in full-time education) to us for specialist support.
Before you refer a child to us, you need to get:
a diagnosis of sensory impairment from an ophthalmology or audiology health professional
parental consent to the referral.
Screening and assessing referrals
Referrals made to us are screened by a senior teacher, who makes sure we visit and assess children and young people with permanent sensory impairments who are likely to need advice or support.
We will carry out an assessment to decide if we can offer you support.
If you refer a child to us who has a mild sensory impairment, or conditions such as unilateral hearing impairment or monocular vision, we will send you advice sheets.