Update your contact details or change your password in the 'My Details' page
Find us on Facebook
| Page | Article | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus articles | |||
| 4 | Test questions | In times when we as practitioners are continually asked for �evidence-based� practice or proof of our �value added� it is no wonder that we turn to formal testing as a way of trying to prove our worth. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons why children today are some of the most �tested�. It is important to distinguish formal tests from informal published procedures, which are also a useful part of our assessment tool kit and can provide frameworks, guidelines and/or indicators of how individuals are performing using criterion references. In this article, SLTs Judy Halden and Sarah Beazley stress the need to weigh up the value of our formal tests and they pose some useful questions to consider before you open your test cupboards. | |
| 6 | Assessment tools | Cambridgeshire Hearing Support Service uses a combination of standardised tests, observation and non-standardised assessment. Staff work in partnership with families and schools and endeavour always to consider the needs and strengths of the whole child. They are fortunate in having a number of teachers with expertise in different assessments, which is shared across the team. Their aim is to have continuity of information for individual children and across each year group and Key Stage. In this article, the teachers provide a summary of the different assessment tools they use. | |
| 10 | �Special� school clinics | Assessing the hearing of children with complex needs is no easy endeavour. A joint education and health audiological assessment project in Wandsworth has proved very beneficial for children with hearing concerns in addition to a wide variety of complex needs. Over the past nine years that these joint clinics have been running, the range of children seen and the repertoire of tests used have been huge. The outcomes have been equally varied: the team found many highly educationally significant hearing losses, they provided information vital for amplification provision or educational modifications and, equally importantly, they were able to clarify for some children that hearing loss did not form a part of their multiple disabilities. Peripatetic ToD Jo Franklin provides some food for thought for others to see if a similar approach could be helpful for their pupils. | |
| 13 | Hearing for speech | �What you hear is what you say.� This is the working title of Peter Keen�s book, because he sees it as an important part of his work. Add to that �you don�t start to say anything until you have heard it for a while�, and it is not as snappy but just as true. If a baby is born with a hearing loss that will be significant to his or her speech and language development, the brain starts making sense of its inputs unaware of what cannot be heard. The vast majority of severe and profoundly deaf babies hear no speech at all before being aided, so no speech develops. Even when aided, some of this group may not experience a full range of speech sounds, so the brain is still unaware of their existence. Peter Keen stresses the need to assess deaf children�s hearing in order to establish their potential and actual access to speech. | |
| 14 | Ensuring the best start | Newborn hearing screening is offered to parents of all newborn babies and identifies those which should be referred for further audiological assessment. A first screen using the Automated Otoacoustic Emissions (AOAE) test is performed and if there is no clear response in one or both ears the infant will receive a second screen (AOAE and/or Automated Auditory Brainstem Response). No clear response in one or both ears on the second test will result in a referral to the local audiology department. NHSP standards state that the family should receive a referral in three working days and that a baby should be seen in audiology no more than four weeks from the second screen. Christine Cameron, Head of the NHSP Quality Assurance Programme,outlines the diagnostic tests recommended by the screening programme and what ToDs should be looking for in results. | |
| 16 | Reading questions | The task of assessing the reading progress for deaf children throws up many questions, not least because there is a bewildering array of reading tests. What skills are required to become a good reader? Can everyone acquire them? What is �functional literacy? What reading skills are testable? What�s the difference between �top-down� and �bottom-up� reading skills? In this article, Catherine Healey, a semi-retired ToD, gives an overview of some of the tests available for monitoring reading progress in deaf children. | |
| 18 | Creative writing | Can deaf children write well? To answer that question you need to decide what writing is and how to judge its quality. The early stages of writing start to emerge in the home when children are very young and begin to make marks on paper. Many of these initial concepts about print are visual and fully accessible to deaf children, although hearing becomes involved when they start to make letter�sound correspondences. They can also begin to learn the purpose of writing � that it conveys meaning. All these early print concepts can be monitored but It is when deaf children move beyond these early stages that we, as Teachers of the Deaf, frequently begin to see writing as challenging for them. In assessing deaf children�s writing, Linda Watson, a senior lecturer in deaf education at Birmingham University, urges us to look beyond the surface features of grammar and structure and consider how well they are expressing their ideas and using their imagination. | |
| 20 | The written word | At Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children each pupil is placed on his or her own learning continuum and a colour coding system is used to track the pupil�s progress. This enables staff to identify pupils who are making steady progress and also to identify quickly those who may have slowed down. The focus of who owns the assessment and who is accountable for it lies with the teachers and TAs who review the data, targets and developments needed each term. Read the account from assistant headteachers Sandra David, and Emma Kelty, and Year 5/6 teacher Dani Sive of the strategies used at Frank Barnes to assess writing progress and development. | |
| 22 | Where are we now? | For a long time, language assessment of deaf children was rarely addressed by researchers. Common practice was to use and adapt tests designed for hearing children, or make more subjective assessments. Although language tests designed for hearing children continue to be used in some situations, for example with oral deaf children who have received early cochlear implants, their use is not always appropriate. However, the last decade has seen a number of developments in the language assessment of deaf children. Rosalind Herman and Wolfgang Mann of City University London present an overview of UK-based tests that are available to practitioners, in particular in the area of sign language assessment, including some that are currently under development. | |
| 24 | Auditory milestones | The Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme has been working with children and their families for the last 20 years. From the beginning, thanks to the foresight and skills of individuals such as Sue Archbold, Hazel Lloyd-Richmond and Margaret Tait, the Teachers of the Deaf developed their own assessment measures. While many of these remain valid there have also been some changes, and Gill Datta and her colleagues have been developing new monitoring tools � the Nottingham Auditory Milestones, or NAMES � to chart progress following cochlear implantation. | |
| 27 | Assessment for FE | The arrival of a new application form on the desk always brings interest about the student; his or her hopes and fears, how he or she will fit in and the type and level of support required as that student embarks on further education. It is only at interview that the students and parents are assisted in understanding the reality � that life is about to change, that the child is undergoing transformation into a young adult. The Assessment Pack developed by the National Association for Tertiary Education for Deaf People (NATED) was designed to help with this process. Jill Bussien, a specialist teacher (HI) in Kent, explains a little bit more about the pack and how it can assist FE colleges in understanding the needs of their deaf learners. | |
| 28 | Access to assessment | As an awarding body, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is committed to reducing the digital divide. For many years BCS has approved additional time and a wide range of reasonable adjustments that reflect the candidate�s �usual way of working�, when they take its qualifications, for example, ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence. These include the provision of a reader and a BSL/English interpreter. However, following work with Deafax in 2005/06 on a deaf-friendly version of the ECDL manual test bank, BCS has created the Multi Accessible Test System (MATS) aimed specifically at deaf candidates who are BSL users. Derek Mills, Social Inclusion Specialist with BCS, reports. | |
| 30 | Issues of access | Every year the JCQ produces its large document of access arrangements entitled Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration. In 2009 BATOD and other relevant organisations were asked to comment on the draft (effectively the previous version with some amendments) and many of our points were included following the consultation. In fact, JCQ very much wishes that revising this document be seen as an ongoing process � it is happy to receive comments and suggestions from both individuals and organisations such as BATOD during the year for consideration when the document is being prepared � not just in a narrow window of consultation. BATOD National Secretary Paul Simpson takes a look at some of the issues surrounding access arrangements for exams which concern Teachers of the Deaf. | |
| General features | |||
| 31 | Deaf facts and figures | The Special Educational Needs (Information) Act 2008, which applies to England only, requires the Government to publish information about children in England with SEN. In October, the DCSF published the first annual statistical publication. Although the Act requires the publication of information related to the five Every Child Matters outcomes, the focus is on education, reflecting the paucity of information in other areas. For the most part, the information is derived from the School Census. Ian Noon, Policy and Campaigns Officer at the NDCS, summarises the key statistics. | |
| 34 | Helping deaf children everywhere | Deaf Child Worldwide is the international development agency of the National Deaf Children Society, dedicated to enabling deaf children to overcome poverty and isolation in developing countries. Although the constitutional remit of the NDCS is �deaf children around the world�, its services have traditionally focused on deaf children in the UK. Increasing requests for support abroad led to the establishment of Deaf Child Worldwide in 2003, initially under the name of the International Deaf Children�s Society. Gabrielle Nagle provides an overview of its aims and the work it is undertaking in particular in East Africa, South Asia and India. | |
| 37 | CI + FM � policy into practice | In September 2009 Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Cochlear Implant Programme joined forces with the Ewing Foundation and three other London-based cochlear implant programmes � St Thomas�, St George�s and The Portland � to put on a training day for the use of personal FM systems with cochlear Implants. The day started off with an excellent keynote address from Liz Woods, who represented the UK FM Working Group, setting the scene with essential information. There then followed a carousel of workshops. Catharine Infield, Principal ToD at the Great Ormond Street Hospital Cochlear Implant Programme, reports on the day. | |
| 38 | A warm welcome to Malawi | In 2005�06 Julie Gemmill was in Zambia on a VSO placement. In 2009 she returned to Africa, this time for a short visit to Malawi, representing Woodford Foundation Scotland, a small charity which works to develop services for deaf and deafblind children in income-poor countries. At the start of 2009 it was granted a sum of money by the Scottish Government to fund a small-scale project in the Northern Region of Malawi. The major objective of the project is to gather information about deaf and deafblind children who are receiving no education, as well as details of those placed in mainstream schools with no access to specialist support. | |
| 39 | Get the Buzz | The Buzz is NDCS�s totally new and exciting website created especially for deaf children and young people aged between 8 and 18 years of age. Here youngsters will find a safer and more positive space all of their own. There are two sites to choose from � one for children aged 8�11 and another for teenagers aged 12�18. Tyron Woolfe, Deputy Director, Children and Young People at NDCS, has more details. | |
| 40 | Language studies | There is currently very little known about deaf children with sign language difficulties. A group of researchers from the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre and City University London has been investigating deaf children who appear to have difficulties communicating in sign language, despite being exposed to the language from a young age and for many years. This project is the first of its kind in the world and involves deaf and hearing researchers and professionals. The project began in September 2007 and has had a positive response from schools, with approximately 50 children from around the UK being put forward to participate. Testing is still continuing, and here researchers Kathryn Mason and Kate Rowley report on some of the findings so far. | |
| Regulars | |||
| 50 | ICT news | Inspired by the Christmas mail dropping through her letterbox, Sharon Pointeer considers some of the �value adding� ICT gadgets currently available, such as waterproof cameras, digital photoframes and even a pet�s eye view camera. | |
| 53 | This and That | Items from the postbag and e-mail inbox that could be pinned on the noticeboard for you to read!
| |
| 54 | Abbreviations in this issue | A lifesaver � the page that every ToD turns to when confronted with a set of meaningful uppercase letters! | |
| Reviews | |||
| 49 | Parent to Parent: Talking with Luterman | ToD Corinda M Carnelley explores a DVD based on an all-day workshop at The Ear Foundation. | |
| Association Business | |||
| 3 | Flying high | As the new work-stream topics at NEC meetings get underway, more benefits for members are announced and a new BATOD region goes from strength to strength, BATOD is as busy as ever expanding its network of support for Teachers of the Deaf across the UK and even into Europe, as Ann Underwood reports. | |
| 43 | Professionals: part of the problem or part of the solution? | Every two years ToDs from all over Europe meet to learn from and challenge each other; they probe, pry and question, and because this year they were in Italy it was a chance to get passionate about things that are important: pasta, vino and opera, and things that are fundamental to the profession: deaf children, families and the ToD�s relationship with them. FEAPDA is the European Federation that brings 11 member countries together � there is plenty of diversity. And to delightfully confuse the matter further this year there was a delegation from that little known European country, the United States of America! The 21st FEAPDA Congress met on 23�25 October 2009 in Verona and Peter Annear was lucky enough to attend. Read his account of the proceedings. | |
| 46 | Surveying deaf support | The Deaf Education Support Forum has recently been formed in which colleagues from key organisations are working collaboratively on investigating the current training and qualifications available to support staff working in deaf education. Representatives from heads of services, ACSW, ASLI, NATED, Signature and BATOD have got together to agree a strategy for gathering the necessary information to build a national picture of titles, training and qualifications of support staff. Nicki Harris, Head of the Surrey Support Service for post-16 students, and Andy Owen, Chair of ACSW, report on progress. | |
| 47 | Contribute to the research! | Rachel O�Neill works at Moray House School of Education at the University of Edinburgh and is starting a piece of research for her PhD which is about language modification for mainstreamed deaf learners. She is more interested in what happens in ordinary classrooms than the way exam papers are modified. Her research question is: How are texts modified for deaf learners and what effects do these texts have on mainstreamed deaf students? Rachel is looking for teachers of deaf children, tutors in colleges and CSWs to send in examples of how they modify learning materials for deaf children. | |
| 47 | Have you moved? Change of address form | Reading a colleague's Magazine? Wondering what has happened to your copy? If you are not receiving your BATOD Magazine and Journal perhaps it is because we have no record of your current address. Put this right by completing the form and returning it to the BATOD Membership Secretary, or simply email from here. | |
| 49 | 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. | |
| inside back cover | Officers of Regions and Nations | Contact addresses of officers of BATOD Regions and Nations | |
| Calendar | |||
| Meetings to know about | Advertised courses and meetings which are of interest to BATOD members.
Contact the Website Manager to add a one line entry to this valuable page and/or pay for a small advert in the Magazine. |