Information for Parents
What is a Multisensory Impairment?
Multisensory impairment, which can also be referred to as deafblindness or dual sensory loss, refers to a combination of vision and hearing impairments which affect communication, access to information and mobility. Although most people with multisensory impairment will have some useful vision and/or hearing the barriers created by the combination of the impairments can lead to more difficulty that could be expected from each impairment separately. Many children and young people with multisensory impairment also have additional medical, physical and cognitive disabilities.
You can find out more about Multisensory Impairment in the Early Support document in this link.
Our Services
Our Qualified Teacher for Multisensory Impairment supports children and young people aged 0-25 years in a range of settings including; at home, in nurseries and in mainstream and specialist schools and colleges. Some children and young people, particularly those accessing the National Curriculum or pre-school learners, are more appropriately supported by a Qualified Teacher for Visual Impairment (QTVI) and a Teacher of the Deaf (TOD) with liaison from a Qualified Teacher for Multisensory Impairment (QTMSI) as and when necessary.
All support is tailored to each child and young person as Multisensory Impairment is such a unique disability but in general support would be offered around;
- carrying out assessments for children and young people in relation to vision, hearing and communication development and supporting educational settings to use the outcomes of these to set appropriate learning targets for the learner
- contributing to Education Health and Care Plans (EHC’s), where needed, and to the regular review of these
- providing advice and support to parents and educational settings regarding strategies to support the learner in the best way
- supporting children and young people to learn independent life skills and to develop their personal, social and emotional skills
- providing specialist teaching to support in overcoming barriers to learning, such as, braille or using alternative and augmentative communication (AAC)
- offering advice in relation to mobility, incorporating support from a habilitation specialist where appropriate
- providing training to teachers and other professionals within educational settings
- liaising with clinical settings, as necessary, in order to ensure the learner is being supported in the best and most appropriate way
- supporting children and families through transitions
- providing information and sources of support to families in order for them to make informed choices around the education and care of the learner.
How are support levels allocated?
The level of support learners receive is based upon a range of factors including how well their education setting is meeting their needs, functional sensory assessments, observations and the Natsip eligibility framework. You can download the eligibility framework on this website;
https://www.natsip.org.uk/eligibility-framework
Accessing our help
Most children and young people are referred to us through medical professionals, such as, Audiologists, Ophthalmologists or Paediatricians. If you are concerned that your child may have a Multisensory Impairment please contact us or visit your GP.