Low Incidence - Sensory Service

The Low Incidence Team is part of the Specialist Teaching and Support Services (STASS) What does it do? The Low Incidence Team is made up of the Physical and Medical Team, The Support Team for Deaf Children, The Vision Impairment Outreach Team and the Local Authority Led Resourced Provisions for Children and Young People who are Deaf and Hearing Impaired and Children and Young People with a Vision Impairment. These teams work collectively to provide information, advice, support, direct teaching and training to ensure that children and young people (CYP), 0 - 25 who are deaf or with a vision impairment, multi-sensory impairment, and physical / medical needs have their needs met. The Low Incidence Team works in 2 distinct ways; The specialist outreach staff work from the centre to provide a service to children and young people, 0-25, who are at home, or who attend their local early years setting, school, or post 16 provision. The specialist resourced provision staff work in one of four Local Authority Led Resourced Provisions, (LARP) hosted by mainstream primary and secondary schools, which specifically provide a high level of teaching and support for children and young people who have severe to profound deafness and / or vision impairment. The focus of the service is on independence and preparation for adulthood from the early years. In addition to supporting full curriculum access, appropriately qualified and skilled staff deliver specialist curriculum and teach specialist skills, such as braille, ICT, British Sign Language (BSL) Personal Understanding of Deafness (PUD), mobility, habilitation skills, self advocacy, disability awareness and independence. Who is it for? All CYP 0-25 are entitled to an assessment of need if they present with sensory or physical difficulties. CYP who have a medical diagnosis of a sensory impairment or physical or medical disability will be assessed, and support will be allocated according to the Bradford Matrix of Need and The National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NATSiP) eligibility criteria. The team will work with parents / carers and families, in homes, early years settings, mainstream and special schools, and post 16 provisions. In order to ensure needs are appropriately met, we employ a range of specialist staff – teachers, educational audiologist, early years specialist practitioners, technology officers, habilitation officers, audiology officer, deaf instructors, specialist support workers, support officers and leaders – to ensure that children and young people 0-25, and their families, and settings receive the specialist support they need to be successful and achieve. Please see the individual team pages for information on referral and accessing provision.