BATOD Association Magazine 2024
You can download the magazine here
SPOTLIGHT
Paul Simpson – a leader in deaf education 02
Sue Archbold, Leo De Raeve and Brian Lamb share some recollections of a great man, who contributed so much and left the world a better place, from early work with children with cochlear implants, a member of the council of FEAPDA, on the BATOD Committee from the 1990s then as secretary as well as Magazine Editor and it is thanks to Paul that BATOD was able to be influential in policy matters at a time of great change.
The benefits of a specialist setting whilst learning to listen 05
Julie Hughes, Chief Executive, describes the offer available from The Elizabeth Foundation who provide a specialist programme that to prepare young deaf children for school entry and empower parents to make informed decisions on behalf of their deaf child.
A broad and balanced curriculum 8
Leanne Chorekdjian-Jojaghaian describes teaching deaf awareness and British Sign Language (BSL) lessons to key stage 1 (KS1) mainstream classes as an afterschool enrichment club to staff, pupils, and parents and now in a weekly slot on the timetable that explores deaf awareness further and on a deeper level.
Staff self-confidence survey 10
Jo Rutkowska, QToD, summaries a resource used within her setting to gauge the confidence levels of mainstream staff to inform priorities for further training, and to upskill them in supporting our deaf pupils.
Wireless Group Aid Listening Technology 12
Lynn Gambles, Head of Audiology at Mary Hare School, discusses the new wireless Group Aid and its impact on the learning environment for both students and staff within the classroom as it students to hear the teacher and each other and gives greater access to peer-to-peer learning and an inclusive learning environment.
The mental health of deaf children: ‘Inclusion’ or ‘equality of experience’? 15
Sharon Blunsum, QToD, poses a question to the QToD profession as to whether it is time to re-think the term ‘inclusion’ and replace this with ‘equality of experience’?
Outstanding grading 16
Sue McQueenie provides an overview of Rolle House’s achievement which provides specialist residential care for young Deaf people who have learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, and/or additional needs such as behavioural, emotional, or social challenges in a warm, homely, and caring environment at Rolle House in the Devon seaside town of Exmouth.
Developing specialists in a specialist setting 18
Caireen Sutherland and Michelle Jones describe a new course offer heavily focused on the practical application of the MQ standards. The course will be a distance-learning course, with the theory reinforced by very practical application of the learning, relevant to the day-to-day role of QTMSIs.
COURSE PROVIDERS
Responding to the needs of busy practitioners 19
Dr Emmanouela Terlektsi and Angie Wootten provide an overview of the PGDip/MA University of Birmingham course which is delivered using a blended learning approach and also offers training to qualified teachers who would like to further qualify to teach deaf learners in England from 0–25 (Mandatory Qualification Award).
What is happening at the University of Leeds 22
Helen Niemiec, Lecturer in Deaf Education on the PGDip/MA in Deaf Education (QToD) course provides an insight to a fresh look that promotes students’ continued involvement with research and professional development and aim to facilitate the growth of a community of practice in deaf education.
Manchester Deaf Education 2023 25
Dr Helen Chilton and Dr Lindsey Jones provide an overview of the offer from The University of Manchester which involves learners in a wide and varied curriculum, applying the latest research to practice, students can study on campus or on a fully e-blended distance route to fit with work and life commitments.
Study at Mary Hare to help ‘secure the future for deaf children and young people’ 28
The Courses team members outline their offer and the new opportunities on the horizon with a wide range of courses from MA/MSc, ToD, EdAud and BTEC for Teaching Assistants Working with Sensory Impaired Children and Young People.
Studying to become a Qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People 30
Rachel O’Neill, at the University of Edinburgh, provides an overview of the only mandatory qualification course in Scotland called the Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive Education (Deaf learners pathway).
GENERAL
Preparing for the world of work 32
Jasper, a deaf young person, shares his journey on preparation for employment including exploring placements and work experience and a week with AVUK working with their different teams – from information technology (IT) and communications to the clinical and training teams.
An item I cannot live without 33
A deaf young person shares an honest and beautiful personal writing piece for the Unit 4 GCSE English exam in which she describes what her hearing aids mean to her.
What supports hearing parents raising children who are deaf? 34
Dr Julia Terry shares an overview of her research study based on deaf children in Wales which analysed interviews with parents and people who work with deaf children and looks at the two main themes that affects hearing parents with deaf children – enablers and barriers – and how those either support or hinder the families involved.
A.R.R.O.W. programme
Colin Lane, QToD, describes a self-voice teaching system, which is a leading strategy for rapidly improving literacy skills, including phonological awareness, word recognition, comprehension, and spelling and shares an overview of a recent case study example which produced outstanding improvements in literacy and speech as well as considerable user satisfaction.
Young deaf children receiving cochlear implants: quality standards for their rehabilitation 40
Leo De Raeve, Director of ONafhankelijk Informatiecentrum over Cochleaire Implantatie (ONICI/Independent Information Centre for Cochlear Implantation), explains the process involved with creating the quality standards. This article was first published in the Cochlear Implanted Children’s Support Group (CICS) Bits and pieces September 2023 edition.
Advice for professionals 43
The National Deaf Children’s Society’s Helpline team provide an overview of their service offering advice which spans a wide variety of issues, including disability benefits, SEN, technology and equipment and disability discrimination issues for parents and deaf young people but also supports professionals as well who are working with a deaf child or young person.
Supporting deaf multilingual children 44
Beth Kilmartin, Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Deafness), outlines an ‘Audit of Teachers of the Deaf and Speech and Language Therapists’ with specific focus on deaf multilingual children who are learning more than one spoken language and how this impacts not only their language skills but also their mental health.
BAEA 2023 47
British Association of Educational Audiology (BAEA) summarise the webinar event for their 2023 annual general meeting.
INTERNATIONAL
Duncan’s journey 50
Alison Lindberg, after an unplanned visit to a school for the deaf in Rwanda, reflects on her own son’s experiences in America which included home play and learning strategies, cochlear implants, schooling options (oral versus deaf/American Sign Language (ASL) versus public school), therapies and results, growing up in a hearing world, mobile devices and current technology.
Sign language storybooks collaboration 56
Dr Patrick Graham, Rochester Institute of Technology National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT/NTID) and Erin Anderson Williams provide an overview of the recently published standards for sign language storybook production and the World Around You (WAY) platform.
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Is there a role for the Manchester Junior word list? 59
Peter Keen, Educational Audiologist, and member of the British Association of Educational Audiologists (BAEA), offered this response to the following questions: “With the use of nonsense words in primary education, is there a role for the Manchester Junior Word Lists in the Educational Audiology Toolkit?”
REGULARS
Representing you 60
BATOD membership 61
You can download the magazine here
June 2024 issue
You can download the magazine here
Working together for a strong and stable future IFC
Sue Denny references a range of roles, the importance of connecting and resource ideas for the professional toolkit
SPOTLIGHT
The Specialist Deaf Curriculum Framework is now live! 2
Tina Wakefield, former Chair of the Specialist Deaf Curriculum Framework (SDCF) reference group provides an overview of the free resource now live and accessible to all on the BATOD website and which had 1,816 hits on the SDCF BATOD website and many emails and texts of support.
CAREERS IN DEAF EDUCATION
Career Aspirations Literacy Skills for Deaf Children of Colour 4
Dani Sive, Headteacher, and Catherine Drew, Deputy Headteacher, provide an overview of their recent project which took place in 2023, co-ordinated between the British Deaf Association (BDA) and Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children, funded by Huawei and the European Union of the Deaf (EUD), and it focused on Deaf children of colour and developing their literacy skills by discussing career aspirations.
Doncaster School for the Deaf’s specialist education offering 8
Shauna Flannigan, a newly Qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People at Doncaster School for the Deaf, gives an insight into the school and her role there and the journey she has taken to gain her recent qualifications at the University of Edinburgh, which is the only university in the UK to include a Deaf Studies module which has supported her to better teach the children she works with and which had deaf lecturers – and as a deaf BSL user herself, it was wonderful to be able to attend a lecture that was delivered in her first language.
Deaf Care Worker 10
The Deaf Academy shares details of the work of their award winning Deaf care worker, Alex Scarlatt, who is profoundly Deaf, and who recently won a coveted National Care Award in recognition of her commitment to supporting young people at Exmouth’s Deaf Academy.
Training in Auditory Verbal practice 12
Estelle Gerret, Senior Auditory Verbal Therapist, describes her career role supporting deaf children to learn to listen and talk, using Auditory Verbal therapy which is an approach that is consistently delivering excellent outcomes around the world.
Raymond Antrobus: Author of, Can Bears Ski? 15
Anna Park, Signature, interviews Raymond Antrobus, a poet and educator who, in 2019, became the first poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre. Recently, Antrobus released his first picture book, Can Bears Ski?, which follows the journey of a father-and-son who are managing deafness.
Empowering inclusivity 17
Courtney Laudat shares an overview of reaching and engaging D/deaf people in music-making activities which help in providing a pathway from primary to secondary school and using the voice to create a musical effect.
Careers in deaf education 18
The QToD team at the Royal National Ear Nose and Throat auditory implant centre share an insight to their career pathways which have led to their work seeing children who are referred for cochlear implant assessment, providing ongoing habilitation and assessment for those children right up to carrying out the final appointment with the young person, before they transition to our adult service.
Meet a technology consultant 21
Abul Hussain shares an overview of how his role supports deaf children and young people, and their teachers in the classroom troubleshooting hearing technology and working with children and young people, and professionals in education.
Supporting deaf student needs in school with ‘SHARP’ 22
Tanyce Bancroft and Ejrin Gokdogan, students, with support from Carly Simonaitis (Speech and Language Therapist), share an overview of their work that showcases their deafness around their school by using a poster with an acronym to highlight deaf students needs – S-H-A-R-P: Speak clearly at normal pace, Have you put the subtitles on?, Adapt teaching if necessary, Repeat all contributions, Pick me, I have ideas too.
Millie, our seven-year-old drama queen 25
Carrie Timms, proud mum, shares what was a very unexpected journey for her daughter Millie when her deafness was diagnosed. It is a journey that is bringing Millie and her family great joy, pride and even hope for a future career. This article was first printed in the CICS March 2024 edition
Planning school trips for deaf children 26
UK charity, Field Studies Council, flies the flag for outdoor education careers and their planning team of Charlotte and Lorna, both with hearing impairments themselves, use their own experience to ensure that planning school trips can cover all the needs of deaf children and make for really enjoyable trips.
Meet… Natalie Hill, the new coordinator of the CICS Scottish region 29
This article was first printed in the CICS March 2024 edition and introduces Natalie who is mum to Madison and she describes the ups and downs her family has experienced since Madison was fitted with a cochlear implant which is why she understands the importance of families being able to access support and to ask questions, gain knowledge, and hear from others who have been in our shoes and come out the other side.
Insight: The differences between working as a communication support worker and an interpreter (BSL) 30
Limping Chicken, with anonymous author consent, has allowed a reprint of this article that featured on the Limping Chicken blog in May 2024 where readers are invited to share their story, or news about their interesting job, with The Limping Chicken – this BSL-English interpreter who has worked in both positions describes the need to clarify the difference between the two roles as they often get mixed up.
Deaf education and work – my experience 31
Deaf Unity has granted permission for a reprint of their May 2024 article by Fatima Farhan about her experiences through education, university and entering the world of work where, as a profoundly deaf audiologist, she aims to bring a unique perspective to her work, advocating for inclusivity and accessibility.
GENERAL
Language first approach 33
Vicky Lowther, QToD, explains how their flexible and fully inclusive educational provision uses speech, BSL, SSE and Cued Speech to supply a Total Communication approach that adapts to meet the individual needs of d/Deaf children and their families. This article is a reprint of the article first featured in the CICS March 2024 publication.
Don’t Touch Me! 35
Verity Langlands, Principal Audiologist, shares an overview of their child/young person-led approach to desensitisation methods that can improve access to audiology services – at Seashell Trust they have extensively explored desensitisation techniques and considered models of desensitisation used by other therapies, the evidence behind the advice they offer, and measured the impact of the approach. This article was first published in the British Society of Audiology’s Audacity publication in March 2024.
How to help children be smart and safe on social media 38
Stu MacKenzie is an ICT teacher who has been an information and communication technology (ICT) teacher at a secondary school for the past 25 years and is often asked for advice on keeping young people safe on the internet and he gives a detailed checklist to build trust, open communication, and educate each other on how to use the internet and enjoy all of its positives successfully. CICS have granted permission to reprint this article from the March 2024 CICS edition.
Early detection pathways for cCMV for infants 40
Simone Walter discusses requirements for an early congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) detection pathway to ensure infants referred from the newborn hearing screen do not miss out on the opportunity for timely diagnosis and treatment. The pathways described are currently in use in England and apply to well babies (ie babies who were not admitted to neonatal intensive care units) not already diagnosed with cCMV.
Building conversation skills 44
Nick Atkins, QToD, author of ‘Race to the brain’ provides an insight into his latest resource for a QToD toolkit that can help in getting the balance right in conversations by contributing information about yourself whilst also showing an active interest in those you are talking to, which is something that comes naturally to some but for others, especially deaf learners, it is a pragmatic skill that needs explicit scaffolding and targeted practice.
Phonak’s Leo the Lion drawing competition 46
Phonak share an insight to some of the submissions to their 2024 calendar which features drawings of their mascot done by children with hearing loss.
Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness 47
Sense has granted permission for a reprint of their February 2024 press release. The Belfast Statement sets out the right to effective communication access in mental health settings for Deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened and Deafblind people of all ages. This right is enshrined in key international declarations such as the United Nations (UN) Convention on Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Statement was drawn up in close consultation with deaf people and it reflects their first-hand knowledge of the issues that they face in the mental health setting.
ASSOCIATION BUSINESS
BATOD/NCSE/FEAPDA joint Congress 2024 52
Alison Weaver, Vice President of FEAPDA, shares an overview of the joint partnership event that took place in April with the theme ‘Diversity in Deaf Education. Exploring the diversity of deaf learners in their many lives: implications for our knowledge and practice’ which encouraged submissions from a wide range of contributors and delegates had a choice from over 30 different workshops and presentations, in addition to enjoying three excellent keynote speeches,
BATOD North Study Day 57
BATOD North Committee provides an overview of its latest annual Study Day event which had a theme of ‘Inspirational pathways’ which began with a session by Dr Lindsey Jones and then continued with engaging workshops, lunch, networking, and a chance to chat with our sponsors with more workshops and a closing session.
How are we supporting pupils with glue ear? 61
Amanda McNamara, BATOD Scotland’s Chair, summarises their latest event to support continual professional development at a localised level in Scotland which welcomed 14 BATOD members and two speakers and the day comprehensively covered the subject of glue ear.
REGULARS
Review – A sign of her own 64
A historical fiction book about a Deaf student of Alexander Graham Bell, and her struggle to find her true identity and community.
Review – Supporting the pragmatic and social communication skills of deaf children 65
This resource, available on the NDCS website, is aimed at families of and professionals working with deaf children and presents research-based strategies and activities that support the development of pragmatic skills.
The world is too loud 66
Jess White shares a poem she has written from her personal experience.
Representing you 60
BATOD membership 61
