Research School Network: I’m sorry but stop apologising for SEND! Empowering SEND students as a teacher with Single Sided Deafness (SSD)

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I’m sorry but stop apologising for SEND!

Empowering SEND students as a teacher with Single Sided Deafness (SSD)

by Aspirer Research School
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Georgina pic

Georgina Morrison

ELE Lead

Georgina co ordinates and supports the ELE Team as well as teaching at Wilbraham Primary School.

Read more aboutGeorgina Morrison

I’m sorry” I can’t hear you” Please repeat”

These phrases are my own lived experience of SSD (single sided deafness). As a teacher, I make my own adaptations in the classroom: communicating my needs to the children and staff, arranging the room to allow optimal hearing and constant consideration of auditory fatigue and sensory overload (some of the additional challenges for those with SSD).

A missed opportunity

Coming from a family that travelled globally, I was living in South America for the 2‑year hearing check. Subsequently, my late speech development was accredited to growing up in a bilingual community. No more questions were asked until, in year 1, a routine school hearing test revealed I had complete hearing loss in my right ear. At the age of 6, my coping mechanisms had already began to develop: quietness in loud spaces and zoning out in noisy environments. At the age of 6, I believed that everyone had a deaf ear.

The support

The support put in place was limited to an annual hearing test and preferential seating at the front of the class. We now know the effect of SEND goes beyond the immediate disability and a more holistic approach is needed to support our students. It has taken me years to come to terms with my SSD and I am still learning to assert my needs as I have never been taught how to do so.

A holistic approach

The diagram below [i] highlights the areas of development that SEND can affect. SSD has played a part in all of these through my life, yet these were never addressed at school.

1 – Cognition and learning – the head shadow effect makes team sports and class debates challenging.
2 – Communication and interaction – missed frequencies of sound from my deaf side means my brain works harder to fill in the gaps and sometimes replaces a word with a plausible, yet inaccurate, best fit.
3 – Sensory and/​or physical need – auditory fatigue means I need recovery time after being in noisy environments – this is now made better by my new friend the loop ear plug (luckily for me I have a spare).
4 – Social, emotional and mental health – large groups or noisy environments can lead to frustration and missed opportunities to connect and network.

4 balls

Teachers should understand the individual characteristics of pupils’ needs, and how these relate to their classroom environment and the content that they are teaching.”

A better approach

The EEF’s guidance report Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Education provides a powerful starting point. The first recommendation is to create a positive and supportive environment without exception. This considers children who have variations in the same special need or children who are yet to be diagnosed. It focuses on the needs of the individual and suggests strategies to equip them with the tools to assert their own requirements – without apology.

The diagram below [ii] highlights that good practice for SEND children can also benefit children without SEND. It could be that these children have an undiagnosed need or, perhaps they are simply learning to assert their own unique learning needs regardless of diagnosis – not a bad skill for our young people to learn!

Triangle

Build an ongoing, holistic understanding of the pupil and their needs.
Collaboration between the children, teacher, SENDco, parents and other adults is paramount. The recommendation for me was to be seated at the front of the class. Through years of trial an error that I’ve found the best place for me is against a wall in the middle of the class. This way I can turn to hear and see who is talking and use my other sense of sight to determine body language and identify sound direction. To consider all aspects of a child’s need, then clear communication with all involved in key to ensure that observations are shared and acted upon. The table below can assist [i] these conversations.

Grid

A long road ahead
The journey for a student with SEND is unique and lifelong. The EEF guidance report gives a dignified approach and advises a plan, do, review strategy. This allows continual adaption to new information, observation and the changing child.

References:
Department for Education (2015) Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf
(Accessed: 25 November 2024)
Education Endowment Foundation (2021) Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools. Available at: https://d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net/production/eef-guidance-reports/send/EEF_Special_Educational_Needs_in_Mainstream_Schools_Guidance_Report.pdf?v=1732534962
(Accessed: 25 November 2024)

Further reading into Single Sided Deafness or Unilateral Hearing Loss

Tharpe, A. M (2008) Unilateral and Mild Hearing Loss in Children: Past and Current Perspectives’, Trends Amplif, 12(1) pp. 7 – 15, doi: 10.1177÷1084713807304668

Snapp, A. and Ausili, S. (2020) Hearing with One Ear: Consequences and Treatments for Profound Unilateral Hearing Loss’, J Clin Med, 9(4), doi: 10.3390/jcm9041010

[i] (Education Endowment Foundation, 2021. p. 7)

[ii] (Education Endowment Foundation, 2021. p 7)

[iii] (Education Endowment Foundation, 2021. p. 29)

[iv] (Education Endowment Foundation, 2021. p. 15)

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