A Single Strategy for Sensory Needs - The Highland Council

5.6 Full time equivalent (FTE) Teachers of the deaf
5.2 FTE Auxiliaries
0.5 FTE Sign Language Tutor
0.5 FTE Clerical support
Dingwall Primary and Dingwall Academy have additional resources for hearing impaired pupils and there are currently 12
profoundly deaf pupils attending these schools – all of whom use sign language. There are also a number of signing pupils who
attend Dingwall Primary on a regular basis. This varies from one day a week to twice each term and can be for intensive tuition
or merely social interaction with signing peers. Apart from the 12 signing pupils attending the 2 schools in Dingwall, there are
another 17 signing pupils spread across the Highlands from Caithness and Sutherland to Fort William. The geographical spread
involves staff in a great deal of travel in order to provide an equitable service.
Outwith Dingwall, the Peripatetic Service caseload currently stands at 196. These vary from occasional visits to pupils with a
mild hearing loss due to glue ear to profoundly Deaf signing pupils who have 2 mornings of input a week. In addition to those
who are seen regularly, there is a large caseload of monitoring visits.
Highland Deaf Education Service is involved from the point of diagnosis to school leaving age. As Highland has Scotland’s first
Universal Neo-Natal Screening Programme, their involvement can begin from as early as 2 days of age. Currently, their preschool
caseload has a significant number of pupils who have complex needs in addition to their Deafness and therefore require
considerable resources.
Sign Language Tuition is an area which is significantly under – resourced within Highland at the moment. It is of paramount
importance that parents acquire the necessary sign language skills in order to foster good communication with their children
from an early age.
Highland Council Social Work Service Deaf Services And Hearing Support Team
The Team provides a range of services across the Highlands for people who are Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or Deafblind
and their families/carers. The title reflects the two main aspects of the service provided.
Deaf Services refers to the generic social work service provided to people who are profoundly deaf, families of children who
have a significant hearing loss, and others for whom deafness is a significant factor, where mainstream services would not
have the knowledge or skills to assist.
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The Social Work Service includes care management provision, combining the use of mainstream resources with provision of
specialist support work directly from the team, and support to deaf children and their families, including organising activities in
school holidays. In addition to on-going consultation with service users and their carers, a significant amount of work is
undertaken with colleagues in mainstream Social Work teams, in the Education Service and with NHS Highland.