Welcome to the NatSIP Website

This website offers access to a wealth of SI resources, most of which are now freely available.  We encourage you to register on the site for full access to everything we have to offer.  Registration is free, and open to anyone.  A walkthrough/howto on the registration process is here.

As we prepare for the 14th Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE) 2024 survey, this article provides some background on the team behind the annual survey and the reasons we do this.

What is CRIDE?

CRIDE brings together a range of people from different backgrounds who all have a common interest in using data to improve provision for deaf children. The Committee receives no funding for its work, and its members give their time voluntarily.

Almost half of the members have a background as, either a current or former head of a specialist education service for deaf children. These members play an important role in advising on whether the questions are appropriate and reasonable for other services to answer.

The remainder are academics, heads of special schools, consultants and representatives from the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD) and the National Deaf Children’s Society.

In Scotland, a separate working group leads on the CRIDE Scotland survey with links to the UK-wide group, so that the surveys are parallel.

The survey has now run uninterrupted since 2011. It was created as a successor to the surveys run then by BATOD. Paul Simpson, as their National Executive Officer, played a leading role in establishing CRIDE and we are grateful for the legacy he has left us.

According to CRIDE 2021 there were 3,907 children with at least one cochlear implant in England known to services (4,501 across the UK) which equates to 77% of children with profound hearing loss. In addition 2,966 children have a bone conduction device. For 2022 the British Cochlear Implant Group (BCIG) recorded the total for all children with Cochlear Implants, being supported by centres, as being 6,265. 440 children were fitted in 2021-2022. Most of these were fitted bilaterally. (It is likely that the number for centres will be larger than those known to SI services).

BCIG have recently updated their Quality Standard on Cochlear Implants including important sections on clinical practice, assessment and rehabilitation. The new guidance covering adults and children can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14670100.2023.2197344.  A recent BCIG guide for Rehabilitation professionals, working in an Implant Centre can also be found here; www.bcig.org.uk/_userfiles/pages/files/bcig_professional_guidelines_for_rehabilitation_staff.pdf

These standards a guides give a very good insight into what HI professional working with children with Cochlear Implants should be able to expect from implant services to support children in the UK.

For more general guidance about Cochlear Implants and information on eligibility criteria for a CI the NICE guidance can be accessed here; https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta566

Event:
 The Equality Act 2010 and Educational Settings - Disability Discrimination and reasonable Adjustments - The role of the Tribunal
Date:
 Thursday 19 October 2023  -  13:30 - 16:00
Platform: Online via Microsoft Teams

 

We are pleased to announce that the presentations from this training event are now available, along with a a fact sheet bringing together the links for all the resources mentioned in the presentations.

Available documents

A Hearing to Succeed and Achieve booklet has gone live today on the Ewing Foundation website as a fully functional Flipbook with internal links and QR codes. You can find it here.

This resource links with the new NICE Guidance on Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) in Under 12’s which was published on 30 August 2023.

Katy Michell, the author and Ewing Foundation Education advisor, has written this booklet to assist those working with pre-school children with fluctuating hearing loss.

Young children can have a mild to moderate hearing loss throughout their pre-school years, which has a significant impact on their language and ultimately impacts their behaviour and wellbeing.

Services will be able to use this resource to signpost to families and to early years settings to provide information and advice that will be really beneficial for the children they are supporting. It provides clear strategies to promote speaking and listening as well as information about improving the listening environment.

In June 2016, NatSIP published the Quality Standards for Sensory Support Services document.

The document drew from the Ofsted framework for inspecting education establishmentsm and, in particular, the Ofsted/CQC framework for consultation, for inspecting local area arrangements for identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND.

In 2022, the RNIB published the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI).  For more detail on the CFVI, please see the RNIB website here.

In response to the CFVI, in August 2023, Appendix 2 was added to the Quality Standards document, showing how the Quality Standards map on to the CFVI and vice versa.

The updated document can be found in the document library.

Available document:

Last June NatSIP partners joined See Ability eye care champions in signing a letter to NHS England and government on improving eye care for people with learning disabilities.

Yesterday there was good news in that there has been a new commitment to rollout sight testing in all special schools from next year 2024/25! Where there is the existing NHS service in special schools this will continue too.

It’s such a great bit of news and SeeAbility wanted to thank everyone for all their incredible support!

If you would like to read more the government statement is in full here

NDCS has today publicly launched Every Moment Counts, their new 2023-2028 strategy.

It’s based on these charitable objectives:

  • To deliver outstanding support in the early years;
  • To provide life-changing information and advice;
  • To build communities that unite families;
  • (in respect of our international work) to be the leading global authority on childhood deafness

The strategy is available at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/every-moment-counts-our-2023-to-2028-strategy/ and there is a media landing page at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/every-moment-counts