Deaf Support Team

The Deaf Support Team (DST) supports babies, children and young people (0-18) with unilateral (one sided) and bilateral (both sided) mild to profound hearing difference in City of Edinburgh Council schools and at home prior to them starting formal education. The team is made up of Teachers of the Deaf (ToD), BSL Tutors, Communication Support Workers (CSW) and Specialist Nursery Nurses. 

The team’s vision is to be an inclusive bilingual service enabling, equipping, and empowering deaf children and young people to succeed. We have four aims:

  1. To advocate for our children, championing for them until they are equipped to do so for themselves.
  2. To raise awareness, sharing our knowledge and understanding of the challenges deaf children face and the deaf friendly practices that will help alleviate some of these obstacles.
  3. To promote acceptance, supporting children to celebrate diversity and develop their own deaf identity.
  4. To assist pupils, families, and schools in implementing necessary adjustments and appropriate support

Most of our referrals come from the NHS (Audiology). Parental consent is sought at a clinic appointment for a referral to the DST. A referral can be made directly to our Team from schools but if a child has not yet been seen by Audiology we cannot add a child to our caseload. We do not accept children on our caseload with normal hearing levels.

Pupils are added to our caseload following an assessment of needs and allocated a level of support

DST Level of SupportDirect TOD pupil supportParents/carer supportSchool/nursery support
Advice and Consultancy (Universal)Yearly visitsSignposting to resources and supportDeaf awareness resources will be shared, and local authority training offered on Deaf friendly teaching practices. TOD’s will attend Child Planning Meetings (CPM’s), and Young People Planning Meetings (YPPM’s) as requested to share expertise
Additional SupportTermly visitsIn addition to the above, parents will receive a yearly updateIn addition to the above, schools will receive a yearly update and can request bespoke training
Intensive SupportWeekly visits and input from support staffIn addition to signposting to resources and support, parents will receive a termly updateIn addition to the Deaf awareness resources and training, bespoke whole staff training will be provided yearly. Schools will receive a termly update
Targeted SupportTargeted Support will be allocated when pupils are first referred to the DST, at times of transition, for language and literacy support, health, and wellbeing input and for further specialist assessments as required. This additional input will be decided via the Child Planning Processes.

The DST offers a deaf club for pupils at Braidburn Special School Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Please speak to your ToD for more information.

Further information about our service is available from Helen Pickett (DST Leader) or via our Padlet and a wealth of information and support on deafness can be found at: