Name of Service:

The National Deaf Children’s Society

Address and contact details:

round Floor South,

Castle House

37-45 Paul Street,

London EC2A 4LS

but offering services in every region of England and also across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

 Freephone helpline - 0808 800 8880

 Email - helpline@ndcs.org.uk

 Live chat - www.ndcs.org.uk/livechat

Website address and link: 

www.ndcs.org.uk

1. What does your service do?

What is the key purpose of your service and how does it contribute to better

outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and

disabilities and their families? What are the typical activities that you do?

Do you have any limitations on the amount of time your service will support

a child or young person? Do you provide any on-going support?

NDCS provides free impartial and unbiased information to families, empowering them to make informed choices for their child.

NDCS provides information on all aspects of childhood deafness and hearing loss including:

• Education

• Audiology

• Benefits

• Technology

• Communication

• Additional needs

• Parenting.

NDCS provides support to families in a range of ways including through a Freephone Helpline, Family Officers, specialist advisors, publications, family events and web forums, from initial diagnosis to adulthood.

Deaf children and young people can access information, share their experiences and have fun at www.buzz.org.uk.

NDCS provides activities/events/courses for parents and deaf children from different cultures and caters for all communication and cultural needs for these families.

NDCS also produces a range of support for professionals working in education, health and social care to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and experience to support deaf children and their families. Professionals looking for more information on the support we offer can visit www.ndcs.org.uk/professional_support/.

NDCS has affiliated Local Deaf Children’s Societies across the UK which are run by parents for families and provide local activities and events – the Local Group for Northumberland can be found here http://www.ndcs.org.uk/family_support/support_in_your_area/local_groups/find_a_local_group/north_east/tyneside_dcs.html

NDCS Regional Directors work at a strategic level across health, education and social care to help improve policy and practice for deaf children and their families. NDCS provides support for deaf children from initial diagnosis to adulthood. We do this through working with parents and deaf children directly.

NDCS uses the term ‘deaf’ to mean all types of hearing loss, including unilateral deafness and temporary deafness such as glue ear. We support all deaf children and young people, regardless of their level of deafness, how they communicate or what technical aids they use.

2. Where is it located and what areas does it cover?

Where are your main locations and do you work across the whole local

authority area? Are there any differences in your offer in different parts of

the local authority area?

Individual family services are provided in to the homes of parents of deaf children. We also offer activities and events for deaf children and their families which are held across a range of public facilities e.g. hotels, activity centres, leisure centres etc. We cover all of the UK with our services including delivering in various areas across the North East. NDCS tries to be equitable across the country in provision of services. Direct activities for deaf children may be held for example once a year at Kielder.

3. Who does your service provide for?

What types of need and age ranges do you cover? What are the eligibility

criteria to use your service?

We provide services for deaf children and their families from diagnosis of their hearing loss (this could be as early as 6 weeks) to age 25

4. How can I start using the service?

I can make direct contact myself or would there need to be a referral from

someone else and if so, who? Do you charge for the service and if so, what

are the costs? Can I use my personal budget to pay for the service or to add

to the service? Are there any waiting lists and if so, how long are they?

Parents and professionals can refer families into our services by contacting one of the following:

Freephone helpline - 0808 800 8880

Email - helpline@ndcs.org.uk

Live chat - www.ndcs.org.uk/livechat

Our services to families are free – parents are requested to become free members to access our full range of services. NDCS does not hold waiting lists, parents are referred directly to the correct team e.g. Family Officers, Education Appeals, Events/Activities, Technology

5. How are decisions made about who can use your service?

How are these decisions made and who makes them? How will I know the

reasons behind their decisions? How will you help me understand them?

If a parent refers himself/herself into NDCS, our helpline makes the decision on which team to refer to for the most effective help. The only decision that is made on who can use our service is whether the child is deaf. Our website and publications information provide information on how we can support families.

NDCS uses the term ‘deaf’ to mean all types of hearing loss, including unilateral deafness and temporary deafness such as glue ear. We support all deaf children and young people, regardless of their level of deafness, how they communicate or what technical aids they use.

6. How do you communicate with service users and how are they

involved in decision making/planning?

What are your usual methods of seeking the views of service users? Do you

use any specialist communication system eg signing? What leaflets and

information do you have? How does the service communicate with parent

carers whose first language is not English? How will I know how well my

child or young person is doing? Do you offer any parent training or learning

events?

NDCS has a participation team who regularly consult with deaf children and young people about their needs and wants – we respond to what children tell us and provide ongoing feedback to families. We regularly ask parents of deaf children about different issues and act on their feedback e.g. experiences of Speech and Language Therapy Services, Audiology Services. Where we carry out face to face consultations, we ensure that interpreters are available but also work ask parents/children to alert us to any other communication needs so that we can meet those needs.

We offer ‘Parenting a Deaf Child’ courses regularly and our Family Weekends offer space and time for parents to come together to share their experiences and learn about e.g. audiology services, communicating with their deaf child, growing up as a deaf child. Feedback from these courses and events are always very positive.

Parent Place - this is our online forum where we have a dedicated discussion board for parents of deaf children with additional needs at www.ndcs.org.uk/additional

All staff are trained to BSL level 1 as mandatory with many trained to level 2 and above. Any volunteers working on the activities/events are at least BSL Level 2 trained. Many Family Officers are BSL Level 2 or above and have previous qualifications in working with deaf children e.g. Teacher of the Deaf. Additionally we ensure that we have qualified interpreters at every event and at any family home visit where necessary i.e. where English is a second language. Additionally staff undertake regular internal training e.g. child protection, to ensure that they are trained to the highest level to deliver the activities and services.

7. Is your service fully accessible?

Is the building fully wheelchair accessible? Have there been improvements

in the auditory and visual environment? Are there disabled changing and

toilet facilities? Do you have a changing places facility? What support is

there for a child with additional needs in general areas eg waiting rooms?

How will my child or young person be able to access all of the activities of

the service and how will you assist him or her to do so?

NDCS risk assesses every public venue it uses for its activities. All our activities are accessible for all deaf children including the use of interpreters, hearing induction loops and any other technology required. NDCS has vast experience and expertise in the support of deaf children and their families and in ensuring that all activities are accessible. We have indepth discussions with every family prior to any activity/event/home visit to find out what their communication needs are so that we can provide for them. Where activities are for children who are deaf with additional needs, nurses are provided by NDCS for medical support during the event.

8. What training are the staff supporting children and young people with

SEND had or are having?

This should include recent and future planned training and disability

awareness. Are there any specialist staff? Do any other services work closely

with yours?

All staff are trained to BSL level 1 as mandatory with many trained to level 2 and above. Any volunteers working on the activities/events are at least BSL Level 2 trained. Many Family Officers are BSL Level 2 or above and have previous qualifications in working with deaf children e.g. Teacher of the Deaf. Additionally we ensure that we have qualified interpreters at every event and at any family home visit where necessary i.e. where English is a second language. Additionally staff undertake regular internal training e.g. child protection, to ensure that they are trained to the highest level to deliver the activities and services.

We work in partnership with other organisations where we feel it will add to the support of families e.g. Family Weekend for deaf children with additional complex needs where we worked with other organisations such as Downs Syndrome.

9. Who can I contact for further information?

Who would be my first point of contact if I want to discuss something about

my child/young person? Who else has a role in my child’s/young person

support? Who can I talk to if I am worried? Who should I contact if I am

considering whether child/young person would benefit from the service?

Parents and professionals can refer families into our services by contacting one of the following:

Freephone helpline - 0808 800 8880

Email - helpline@ndcs.org.uk

Live chat - www.ndcs.org.uk/livechat

Once parents are in touch with a Family Officer, the Events Team or our Education Appeals Team for example, then they would be able to contact that person directly should they have questions during the open case time. Our helpline would be able to help anyone who is considering a referral.