New Training Opportunities
We offer a variety of technical and educational courses to support your work with deaf children and young people.
Please contact us for an informal discussion about your training needs.
Training packages - new and updated for 2023
Our new team of Education Advisors are delighted to offer the following training packages. The team can be flexible with training and are happy to deliver elements of different courses to meet your needs. Our bespoke and specialist training is delivered by experienced Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (QToDs) and is designed to upskill QToDs and others working in deaf education in order to improve outcomes for deaf children and young people.
Language assessment and target setting - half or full day
Language assessment is one of the key skills of a QToD. This training will help new and established QToDs to choose the right language assessment for any deaf child or young person from 0-25 years, administer it effectively, interpret the data and set appropriate targets. In view of the new assessments now available to QToDs, this training can also support services to review and update their Assessment Policy.
Evaluation of listening measures: using speech tests to validate electroacoustic measurements - half or full day
As QToDs know, having the best access to speech sounds is vital to ensure that deaf children’s spoken language can develop. Using the test box and listening checks is key to ensuring hearing aids are working, but we also need to evaluate how well deaf children and young people are listening through their equipment. This training is a refresher course on using speech discrimination testing, with or without automated speech in noise kits.
Linking Listening to Language - half or full day
Listening underpins the development of spoken language and is vital for children’s learning in school. This course will revisit how listening develops and will explore how listening links intrinsically to language. The training will include an overview of listening and language assessments, and then move on to considering the additional materials available for monitoring key areas of listening and language. We will use case studies to identify appropriate listening and language assessments, analyse and interpret results, set targets, plan interventions and associated strategies, identify resources and review progress.
Using the PLS-5 and the CELF-5 to assess the language of deaf children and young people - half day
Since 2022, QToDs have been able to purchase and administer the Preschool Language Scale-5 (PLS-5) and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-5 (CELF-5). These assessments were previously only available for Speech and Language Therapists and Educational Psychologists, but now QToDs can use these assessments to access the language of deaf children and young people from 0-25 years of age.
This course will provide an overview of the new PLS-5 and CELF-5 language assessments, and offer an in-depth exploration of some of their features. including the pragmatics checklist and the pragmatics activities. We will show how the PLS-5 and the CELF-5 can be used to support target setting to improve outcomes for deaf children and young people from 0-25 years. There will be the opportunity to handle the test materials and look at some of the the subtests in detail, including the new pragmatics section of the CELF-5. We will then explore some case studies and look at how to maximise outcomes with effective target setting, based on the assessment data.
Learning through play in the Early Years and beyond - half day
Play is the vehicle by which babies and children learn about their world and develop their communication and language. We will revisit how play develops and will explore the interplay between play and language and look at the importance of getting the play level right when we work with deaf children.
We will consider how and why learning through play remains important beyond the early years to motivate and enhance learning, particularly for those children with delayed language. We will subsequently consider the role of the adult in facilitating play skills and how we can best incorporate opportunities to learn through play as a child moves through Key Stage 1 and beyond.
Making a Difference – Supporting D/deaf children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) - half or full day
The number of deaf children in UK with ASC is not accurately known, however professionals working in the field of D/ deaf education are increasingly supporting deaf children and young people with an additional diagnosis relating to ASC, or for whom the implementation of ASC strategies are beneficial.
This training will be interactive and we will work with you and your team to discuss how best you can support deaf children and young people on your caseloads with ASC.
The course can be tailored to meet your team’s individual needs and can include:
- An update on current research for D/ deaf children and young people with ASC
- Discussion of a range of support strategies for children and young people with ASC including Zones of Regulation and Social Stories
- How we can work towards establishing effective multi-agency working pre- and post-diagnosis of ASC
- Managing Sensory Processing needs
- Working collaboratively with families
- Supporting needs pending a diagnosis of ASC
Assessments - what now? - half or full day
We all know the importance of assessing deaf children’s language. However, what we do next with our assessment data is key.
This course will help you think about how to interpret the data, set relevant SMART targets and use evidenced based interventions to support outcomes.
This is a practical training session, which will use case studies of deaf learners.
This session will be most effective if we are able to use data from your own school or service.
For more information about any of these courses, please contact us.
We will be adding new training sessions throughout the year, so please do check back for further details.