SchoolScreener for Schools has announced an invaluable webinar for educators in primary and secondary school settings entitled ‘Identify and Support Pupils with Hearing and Sight Loss’.
The free event takes place on Tuesday, December 7 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm, via the Mark Allen Group (MAG – TES SEND show and Publishers of Headteacher Update and SecEd).
Studies identify that as many as one in five children have some form visual and/or hearing deficit* with the potential to affect their educational, social or behavioural development.
This has massive implications for children and schools, including inclusion costs and learning outcomes. This webinar will explore how schools can identify and subsequently support children with mild to moderate vision or hearing difficulties or those who are developing sight or hearing loss. Children’s hearing and sight changes as they grow, so testing a child will tell you their status now but can’t predict the future.
The event will comprise a panel of experts, from clinical academia and schools, which will:
- Discuss how prevalent mild to moderate hearing and sight difficulties are and what form they can– including how children’s vision and hearing can change over time.
- The impact of Covid on pupils’ speech and language development and myopia (short-sightedness).
- Consider the implications for educational and social development, including pupil welfare, academic progress, inclusion and pastoral care.
- Discuss how the behaviour of children with undetected vision and/or hearing deficits can present as challenging behaviour in the school environment.
- Discuss how children’s sight and hearing changes as they develop. Children screened by the NHS at Reception often use SchoolScreener software. However, even at Reception provision is patchy (and does not include for vision, screening for colour-blindness and long sightedness, both of which have significant educational implications for children who are not identified with these conditions
The webinar will be hosted by:
Pete Henshaw who has been a journalist for more than 25 years and has specialised in education for 18 of those. He has been the editor of SecEd since 2006 and Headteacher Update since 2012. He is co-host of the SecEd Podcast, SecEd and Headteacher update webinars, and writes regularly for the magazines.
The clinicians on the panel will be:
Professor David Thomson who has spent most of his professional life at City, University of London. He lectured in Clinical Optometry and Visual Perception before becoming Head of Department. In the 1990s, he recognised the potential of emerging computer and display technology for vision assessment and screening. He started to develop software and today his software is used in thousands of clinics and schools worldwide. In 2016 Prof Thomson was elected a Life Fellow of the College of Optometrists for his outstanding contribution to the profession.
Dr Sebastian Hendricks, a consultant in paediatric audiovestibular medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS FT, Sight and Sound Centre. Sebastian has an MSc in audiovestibular medicine and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians as well as the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health. Sebastian has a dual accreditation as a specialist in paediatrics and in audiovestibular medicine, the discipline specialised in hearing and balance problems.
This webinar aims to provide essential tools for educators in both primary and secondary settings to support pupils with hearing and / or sight issues, in order to ensure that those pupils can achieve their maximum potential in terms of academic achievement, social involvement, wellbeing and inclusion during their school careers.
ABOUT THOMSON SCREENING AND SCHOOLSCREENER FOR SCHOOLS
SchoolScreener for Schools has been developed for use by school support staff to identify children with vision or hearing deficits from ages 7-18. The software includes automated reporting for Inclusion, SLT and Parents, Data management is also automated. SchoolScreener for Schools is a variant of SchoolScreener Vision and Hearing, used since 2013 by non-clinical NHS staff to screen children at Reception age.
Thomson Screening is the leading supplier of software for Vision and Hearing Screening and other School Health Needs including Health/Risk Assessments, Immunisations, Height/Weight and associated data management.
The company was founded in 2011 by City, University of London, and further develops and commercialises the work of Professor David Thomson, for 25 years head of Department at the University’s Department of Optometry and Dr. Sebastian Hendricks, Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in Paediatric Audiovestibular Medicine.
Thomson Screening’s products address healthcare, education and workplace needs around the world with the software has managing over 3million screenings to date. Customers include the NHS in the UK, non-profit organisations in the USA and NGOs in developing countries.
SOURCES:
* (Li et al, 2016) (Holden et al, 2016) (Zhang et al, 2022).(Moore et al, 2020).
