| Page | Article | Comment |
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| Focus articles |
| 4 | The climate of change | New policy initiatives, rapidly changing technology and the opportunities provided by newborn hearing screening continue to make the early years a particularly interesting and challenging area of activity for Teachers of the Deaf. This issue of the Magazine concentrates on children under five and here Elizabeth Andrews, Director of the Early Support Programme, provides a quick, personal whistle-stop tour of factors transforming the context within which Teachers of the Deaf work will be helpful as an introduction. |
| 7 | Moving forward | One stated major aim of England’s Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) is ‘to identify all children born with moderate to profound permanent bilateral deafness within four to five weeks of birth and to ensure the provision of high quality and appropriate assessment and support for deaf children and their families’. Driven by this aim and in response to a strong evidence base, the wishes of parents of deaf children and the campaigning of those organisations representing them, together with the advice and guidance of the UK National Screening Committee, newborn hearing screening began to be implemented in England in 2001, and this was followed soon afterwards by other UK countries. Gwen Carr assesses the progress made and explores some of the ongoing challenges. |
| 10 | Laying the foundations | The Elizabeth Foundation is a national charity supporting babies and pre-school children with hearing loss. At any one time the charity is working with around 60 children and their families at two locations in Portsmouth and Bradford and via its Home Learning and Family Support Programme. The raison d’être for the Foundation is a belief that all hearing-impaired children should be given the opportunity to learn to listen and talk. Founder and CEO Shirley Metherell explains how the Foundation seeks to deliver a specialist service within a general framework. |
| 13 | Get started! | The advent of newborn hearing screening now means babies are diagnosed within the first weeks of life. The development of Early Support aims at achieving better co-ordinated, family focused services for young disabled children and their families across England. This early intervention for deaf babies, together with Early Support, has given rise to the opportunity for families and professionals to monitor progress and development from an early age. The Early Support Monitoring Protocol for Deaf Babies and Children is now used widely by families of deaf babies and children and their Teacher of the Deaf. ToD Pat Lloyd reports from Worcestershire. |
| 14 | Lakeland services | Cumbria is one of the largest counties in England. The county has a population of just under 500,000, with a total of 279 primary schools, 25% of these have fewer than 70 pupils. There is a team of 8.8 FTE Teachers of the Deaf, including an educational audiologist, with a combined caseload of around 280 children. The Teachers of the Deaf are currently involved with 21 children aged three or under. Rose Foster explores the effect of Early Support on partnership working with families and other professionals in this area. |
| 16 | Early signs | Catherine Drew joined Frank Barnes School for Deaf children in January 2008 as Deaf Instructor and has been involved in numerous developmental projects such as the completion of the Deaf Studies Curriculum, which is due to be launched in March 2009. Emma Kelty, Assistant Headteacher at Frank Barnes School, has set up a 0–2 Baby Centre next to the nursery, which welcomes both deaf and hearing babies. Together they discussed the need to monitor each baby’s language development and came up with the idea of baby signing classes. |
| 17 | Following the Protocol | Harrow is a small multicultural London borough. The advisory team for the deaf consists of two full-time and two part-time Teachers of the Deaf, one full-time deaf sign language tutor and one part-time advisory teaching assistant. They have been in the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme since 2005, but only fully live since 2006. When first presented with the Monitoring Protocol, staff were very apprehensive as it seemed a very complicated and time-consuming procedure. However, now it is a regular work tool in the pre-school service and they recognise its many uses. Jan Dennant and Liz Freeman provide some positive feedback. |
| 18 | Fitting systems | To support the families of pre-school hearing-impaired children and review their progress clinics are run at the Royal Berkshire Hospital with input from health and education services. It became apparent that some of the young children might benefit from an FM system. With the advent of the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme in the UK hearing aid use has been established earlier for larger numbers of children. It is therefore more feasible to begin FM use in suitable environments soon after the habilitation programme has been established. Catherine Statham and Hannah Cooper set out to investigate whether the management issues and outcomes would improve if ear level receivers for FM systems were used. |
| 20 | Playing with the cards | In Somerset they use fridge/development cards as part of the Monitoring Protocol for Deaf Babies and Children. The cards are given to families and nursery settings in order to provide suggestions and ideas for supporting a particular child’s development. Divided into three of the areas of the Monitoring Protocol, the cards provide advice at each of the baby stages in each area. Janice Bramhall has found some exciting ways of personalising the information. |
| 21 | Go west | Cornwall is a long, meandering county and unless you are on the A30 before the visitors leave their B&Bs it can be a challenge in terms of ‘getting families together’. Angela Devine and Harriet Nott outline Early Support services in Cornwall, where there are three Teachers of the Deaf with additional training in early years through the Birmingham University course, and the training has been cascaded to a further four teachers who now work with pre-school children. |
| General features |
| 22 | Aiming high | Aiming High for Disabled Children is the Government’s transformation programme for disabled children’s services in England. It sets out both a vision and a programme for changes and key improvements that the Government wants to see developing and continuing in services and support for disabled children and their families. Jointly led by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Health (DH), the programme is for all disabled children, including those with sensory impairments. While the main delivery drivers for the programme sit within children’s health and social care, the involvement of schools and early years settings will be vital to its success. With the funding already in place, Amanda Allard explains how the money will be spent. |
| 23 | Lasting impressions | Victoria (Vik) Adesina, Headteacher of the Demonstration School for Deaf Children in Kaduna, Nigeria, has completed a visit to Mary Hare School in Newbury as a result of a professional fellowship scheme run by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. The Commission selects and grants fellowships to allow professionals from developing countries to spend time with organisations in the UK which are similar to those of their home country. During her four-month stay, Vik lived on campus and took the opportunity to ‘shadow’ staff and join lessons, observing the teaching methods used at both primary and secondary school. |
| 24 | Lights, camera, action! | A successful video communicates a message about an organisation, about an idea, about people. It educates and informs the audience, changing attitudes and provoking an emotional response. It is most effective when its message is clear, and delivered with an appreciation of the attitudes and needs of the audience. Producing a video project can be enormously rewarding – it is a lasting document of your work and your ideas, and the resulting programme can be seen by many and make a real difference. Andi Jepson and Cathy Bentley guide us through the process of undertaking a professional video project, from briefing and selecting a production company to delivering a successful video with BSL and subtitles. |
| 28 | Let Us Listen | In May 2008, Lord Adonis allocated £800,000 from the DCSF to fund sign support in mainstream schools. The press release ‘New help for children with visual and hearing impairments’ promised a drive to improve the experience in school of children who use BSL. The Now We’re Talking consortium wrote to Lord Adonis, expressing pleasure at seeing such recognition of deaf pupils’ support needs, but pointing out that the great majority of deaf children learn through listening and speech. Now We’re Talking is actively campaigning for proportionate funding to provide good listening environments, appropriate technology, and training for mainstream school staff in best practice. Pauline Hughes reports. |
| 29 | The Phoneme Machine | It is now possible to use synthetic phonics to teach deaf children through a new Cued Speech version of the groundbreaking THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading And Spelling Skills) Phoneme Machine software. This software, which uses moving human lips to pronounce the sounds in hundreds of frequently used English words, is a key component of the THRASS programme pioneered by British educational psychologist Alan Davies. The latest version was launched in December 2008 and follows a request from the Cued Speech Association UK to include a Cued Speech option. Chris Griffiths has the details. |
| 30 | The stork and the gooseberry bush? | When it comes to learning about sexuality we know that hearing children learn a lot about growing up by listening to adults/peers talking and that many deaf children don’t overhear and may miss out on information. We know that deaf children depend on highly visual, unambiguous information, imaginative games and role plays, and that they may need extra help in understanding the meaning of certain sexuality concepts. What we don’t have a lot of information on are the views of parents with a deaf child in respect of SRE, the actual sexuality knowledge of deaf children, the challenges professionals face in the area of SRE and, especially, the views of young deaf people on their own SRE. At Manchester University Sarah Suter, Wendy McCracken and Dr Rachel Calam are embarking on the next phase of their research to shed some light on these issues. |
| Regulars |
| 3 | Flying high | It is a challenge leading BATOD forward because, as your professional association, we must serve the best interests of the membership – assist in the personal professional development of all members and also stand up for the profession in the national arena. Currently, work is ongoing to strengthen the CPD aspect and to offer a consistent foundation when putting forward the case for having Teachers of the Deaf readily available. Ann Underwood expands on BATOD’s latest activities. |
| 48 | ICT news | Sharon Pointeer provides an update and overview of equipment, resources and websites of specific interest to ToDs. |
| 48 | Advertising rates | Advertising rates also appear on the website via a direct link. Advertising in the BATOD Magazine is guaranteed to reach over two-thirds of the 2,500 (approx) practising Teachers of the Deaf who are members of BATOD - and we estimate that we reach the other third who 'share' the publication, as well as many associated professionals who read the Magazine as well! |
| 50 | This and That | Items from the postbag and e-mail inbox that could be pinned on the noticeboard for you to read!
- FEAPDA Congress 2009
- A new accessibility toolkit for the FE sector
- BATOD submissions to the STRB
- Additional support needs in Scotland
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| 50 | Abbreviations in this issue | A lifesaver – the page that every ToD turns to when confronted with a set of meaningful uppercase letters! |
| Reviews |
| 46 | Friends, like You – story book, educators’ guide, and pupil activity book | Gill Feetham of the Inclusion Support Service at Nottinghamshire County Council takes a look at this three-part resource from America. |
| 46 | Let’s Sign Science | Teacher of the Deaf Brian Shannan reviews this affordable resource and welcome addition to the popular Let’s Sign series. |
| Association Business |
| 31 | Conference preview | Teachers of the Deaf encounter many challenges in meeting the diverse needs of deaf children today. In order to celebrate all that has been achieved by the profession, by deaf children and deaf people, Manchester University, the home of the first university course for ToDs, is organising an international conference on 12-13 June at the Manchester Conference Centre. This conference, entitled Deaf Education Fit for the Future: Innovation, Research and Practice, marks the culmination of 90 years of training in this specialist profession. Siobhán Laoide-Kemp provides a sneak preview. |
| 32 | Using the test box | In using the test box we are looking for a baseline record of the way in which the hearing aid has been set up and how it should function and, subsequently, an indication of malfunction. BATOD’s Audiology Committee provides a few tips on the best ways of using the test box. |
| 33 | ‘It’s complicated...’ | As she moves on to new challenges, Angela Ellis looks back at her experiences of life as a ToD at St John’s School in Boston Spa. ‘It’s complicated…’ is her stock answer to the question: ‘What do you do?’ or ‘Where do you work?’ To strangers, she has to explain first that she is a Teacher of the Deaf working for a special school but then that she is actually not there very much because the over-16s spend much of their time accessing courses in mainstream colleges and Angela co-ordinates the support service there. |
| 34 | Working together to make it better | BATOD has been approached by a number of members, several of whom are heads of service, expressing great concern about the recent campaign document produced by the NDCS entitled Must Do Better. The principal purpose of this document is to highlight the gap between the attainments of deaf and hearing children in order to improve the situation. However, it is being used in ways for which it was not intended but which are having some very negative and damaging consequences. Paul Simpson gives voice to a number of members’ criticisms of the NDCS publication. |
| 36 | On with the campaign | NDCS regrets that some members of BATOD felt upset about the content of its campaign report. The intention was not to criticise a professional group but to ensure that the needs of deaf children appear on the radar of politicians and highlight the barriers that prevent deaf children reaching their full potential. Indeed, in the introduction NDCS mention the dedication of teachers. Brian Gale from NDCS explores some of the criticisms and attempts to put the record straight. |
| 38 | Prize student | At the BATOD Scotland Conference on 1 November 2008 Katrina Murray was presented with the Eichholz Prize. The prize has a long history and all institutions providing training courses for Teachers of the Deaf are now invited to put forward the names of outstanding candidates for consideration by the BATOD NEC. Katrina was nominated by Rachel O’Neill following her work on the Moray House course (Edinburgh University). BATOD President Ann Underwood looks into the background behind the prize. |
| 39 | Remembering Father van Uden | It is with sadness that many teachers of deaf children will hear of the death of Father van Uden at the age of 96, in September 2008. Van Uden was a prolific author (most notably of A World of Language for Deaf Children), an influential thinker and an inspirational speaker, who travelled the world to share the extraordinary practice that developed with profoundly deaf children and young people in Sint-Michielsgestel in the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s. Elizabeth Andrews pays a personal tribute. |
| 40 | European interests | FEAPDA brings together associations of Teachers of the Deaf from all over Europe. The aim is to share good practice principally through organising a biennial congress hosted by one of the member countries. It also has an increasingly active website (set up three years ago by a deaf student) and this, along with regular informal exchanges between member countries, means that the interests of deaf children and young people and their teachers in Europe are very well identified and promoted. Peter Annear reports back from the Council meeting of FEAPDA held in Luxembourg last October. |
| 42 | Representing you – NDCS | Paul Simpson gives an account of the meeting between BATOD and NDCS on 9 October at the NDCS in London. |
| 44 | What went on at NEC on 6 December | Andrea Baker reports on another busy day of BATOD business at the latest NEC meeting. |
| 47 | BATOD was there representing you | Between the NEC meetings, members of BATOD attend various meetings that are of particular interest to Teachers of the Deaf. This list is not exhaustive as some reports have not yet been received or meetings reported on, some are meetings booked for the near future. This list also appears on the website in the Calendar folder. |
| 55 | Subscription Rates | Annual Membership subscription rates apply from 1st August. |
| 55 | Have you moved?
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| inside back cover | Officers of Regions and Nations | Contact addresses of officers of BATOD Regions and Nations |
| Calendar |
| 56 | Meetings to know about | Advertised courses and meetings which are of interest to BATOD members.
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