Early years sensory impairment support
Early years sensory impairment support helps pre-school children with hearing, vision or multisensory impairments.
It is an educational service provided by specialist teachers with qualifications in hearing, vision or multisensory impairment.
The specialist teacher may visit your home or your childcare provider.
You and your childcare provider will get support to understand your child’s sensory impairment and adapt your approaches to supporting learning through play.
They will work closely with you to agree outcomes for your child to work towards, based on what they can already do.
It may include ideas such as:
- building up their tolerance for wearing their hearing aids
- learning to pay attention to what they can see, hear or touch
- taking turns in a game
- establishing a good sleep routine
The specialist teacher will review your child's progress regularly.
Eligibility
The service supports children aged 0-4, from birth to the end of the summer term before they begin reception.
Children are eligible if they are diagnosed with a:
- hearing impairment, and have hearing aids
- visual impairment that is not corrected by glasses
- combined hearing and visual impairment
Accessing the service
Children are usually referred by audiology or ophthalmology teams but parents can self-refer. Please contact your Inclusion Service area team for more information.