Hearing Impairment Service

The Hearing Impaired Service (HIS) is an educational service hosted by Torfaen, but covers the five local authorities of Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Newport, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly. In addition to the Hearing Impaired Service, the Vision Impairment Service and the Communication Intervention Team (ComIT) have been amalgamated to form the Sensory and Communication Support Service (SenCom)

The service use a person centred appraoch to work closely in partnership with children and young people with a hearing impairment, families, schools, education/career services and health professionals to meet individual needs as identified.

The aim of the service is to assist all children and young people with an identified hearing loss to achieve their maximum potential and to acquire the necessary skills for life. The team is comprised of Qualified Teachers of the Deaf and Specialist Higher Level Teaching Assistants. The service are also fortunate to have access to a Family Support Officer who can offer advice, support and guidance to families and professionals who are interested in learning more about Cued Speech.

The service provides specialist training and advice to schools and pre-school settings on communication skills, language development, specialist audiological equipment and the inclusion of children and young people with a hearing impairment, as well as guidance and support to families of children with a hearing impairment. Where appropriate, the Hearing Impaired Service also provide, on loan, assistive listening devices such as radio aids.

The vast majority of children are referred to the service by Health, however we are also able to give advice and signpost parents or professionals who have any concerns regarding a child or young person's hearing. After referral, contact is made with the school's Additional Needs Co-ordinator to discuss the child or young person if they are of school age.

If the child is pre-school, the visit and support may be provided in the family home. Following referral to the service, children and families can attend the weekly pre-school group in Brecon House, Cwmbran which is an excellent opportunity to meet other families with hearing impaired children.

A social group 'Listen Up' has also been established for young people and their families offering an opportunity to meet others with a heaing impairment.

Service support is dynamic and encourages close links with home, school and other agencies. We aim to build capacity in settings in meeting needs and provide focused support in response to changing needs.

Contact details: 01633 648888 HIS@torfaen.gov.uk

There is also lots of information on there website, just click on the link below.