About Us

The Hearing Impaired Service is an educational service. We are based in Middlesbrough but provide support to children and families who live in the boroughs Middlesbrough, Stockton & Billingham, Redcar & Cleveland & Hartlepool. Middlesbrough is the lead authority in this arrangement.

Aims of the Service

The Hearing Impaired Service is staffed by Teachers of the Deaf who are specially trained in working with children who have an educationally significant hearing loss or auditory processing disorder, which has been confirmed by a qualified paediatric audiologist or ENT consultant. It provides support for children and young people in Local Authority maintained schools up to the age of 19.

The service aims to:

  • ensure that the audiological requirements of the pupil are met
  • work in collaboration with parents, teachers, support staff and all other relevant agencies to ensure that pupils with a hearing loss are fully included and have full access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
  • promote effective communication
  • ensure acceptance of deaf identity
  • advise on appropriate special arrangements for formal and informal examinations and assessments including SATs and GCSE exams etc
  • work in partnership with parents/carers so they can play an active role in their child's development.
  • Promote a positive attitude towards deafness so that deaf children and young people have the confidence to reach their full potential

Referrals

The Service accepts referrals from ENT consultants and paediatric audiologists. Parents and schools who have concerns about a child's hearing are advised that the child should visit their GP to discuss a referral to ENT/Audiology. The Service is able to provide informal advice to parents and schools at this stage.

ENT consultants and paediatric audiologists refer children to the Service who they consider to have an educationally significant hearing loss. Such children have a

  • confirmed sensorineural hearing loss
  • persistent bilateral conductive hearing loss, which is not being treated surgically.

Children with the following hearing difficulties would not routinely be referred:

  • unilateral conductive losses
  • intermittent conductive losses
  • persistent bilateral losses due to be treated surgically.

Following the initial assessment visit by a Teacher of the Deaf each pupil will be discussed at the H.I. Service Panel Meeting. A decision will be made whether or not it is appropriate for the child to be placed on the Service caseload. At this stage advice/INSET is freely available to schools.