What we do

The role of a specialist teacher and specialist support worker is to provide effective support for children and young people (C/YP) who may experience barriers to learning through a visual impairment.

We work with C/YP, families, and educational settings to establish a deeper understanding of eye conditions and the potential implications for learning. At the heart of our work, we promote equal access to learning through providing advice on optimum learning environments, resources and teaching strategies, bespoke to the individual needs of the C/YP we work with.

Habilitation combines both mobility and orientation training with the teaching of the life-skills needed to perform everyday tasks. The skills and strategies taught by the habilitation specialist help C/YP with vision impairment to achieve the greatest level of independence to support preparation for adulthood. The habilitation specialist works closely with the specialist teachers and support worker, to ensure a co-ordinated, planned approach towards understanding and meeting the needs of C/YP, in collaboration with educational settings and families.

The vision support service work with educational settings providing advice and training to make sure the needs of C/YP with visual impairment are understood and met. Within this context we may also work directly with C/YP using a range of assessment tools to assess needs, identify provision to reduce any barriers to learning and where appropriate provide direct teaching to develop specific skills.

How we work

Barnsley Vision Support Service work within a set of quality standards for sensory support services established by National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) and quality standards for habilitation.

Assessment of a C/YP’s visual impairment informs the type and level of support from the service ensuring a needs-led offer. Barnsley Vision Support Service have an eligibility framework outlining levels of support informed by NatSIP guidance ensuring a fair and equitable access to the service.

We work in partnership with parents/carers, key staff in educational settings, health, social care and education services to ensure a shared understanding of need. C/YP are at the centre of our involvement and we work to ensure C/YP voice informs our assessments outcomes and plans for strategies/approaches to achieve those outcomes. We work in settings, family homes and the community within a framework of ‘Assess Plan Do and Review’ that supports monitoring of progress towards agreed outcomes. We work within statutory SEND processes to provide advice for Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments and as part of the annual review process for C/YP with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Accessing the service

The Vision Support Service is accessed by a referral from health services such as Ophthalmology, Orthoptic Services and Paediatric Consultants. If settings/schools have concerns regarding a C/YP’s vision, a referral to the service can be made with agreement of parents/carers. See the referral form.

What we do

Barnsley Education Inclusion Services recognises the necessity for Habilitation training for CYP with VI because a child who can see typically would develop these personal independence skills as they grow up in their family. They would observe what other family members and other people around them did on a day-to-day basis. Typically sighted children would then go on to imitate what they had seen, repeatedly practising and modifying it, until the skills and strategies they were using became automatic. Children with a vision impairment cannot observe and watch others to the same extent (if at all). They cannot see what others do and so learn from what they see. Habilitation training is not a form of therapy or care support: it is a way of accessing the world, maximising learning strategies through specific learning and experiential approaches and skills (in the absence of vision) with the aim of maximising a person’s independence and ultimately, their employability.

Habilitation combines both mobility and orientation training with the teaching of the life-skills needed to perform everyday tasks. The skills and strategies taught by QHS help CYP with Vision Impairment (VI) to develop in line with their sighted peers, enabling them to achieve the greatest possible independence and to maximise their educational outcomes and life chances. (Quality standards for the delivery of Habilitation for CYP with VI 2023)

Following receiving a new referral to Vision Support Team, all cases are allocated to QHS for assessment and advice. Close liaison is maintained with the allocated TVI and joint assessment takes place to identify the most appropriate advice and interventions. Contact is made with the CYP and Family as part of this collaborative process to capture their voice related to need and aspiration. This information is captured within a Record of Involvement Report.

Following initial observation in the use of functional vision for the purpose of habilitation (mobility, orientation, and daily living) in a range of settings, Barnsley Eligibility for Habilitation is completed. This is a locally developed tool based on National Sensory Impairment Partnership (Nat SIP) Eligibility Framework for Habilitation. Its used to equitably assess need and provide a score for levels of support which guides the allocated package of support to meet need. CYP's who are known to both habilitation support and vision support may be allocated two separate packages of support to meet their holistic VI needs. One would be from the QHS and one from TVI. The roles are distinct and differ greatly from each other. Please refer to Vision Support Service Offer for further details related to TVI.

We conduct assessments and provide advice, training to build capacity in educational settings to support meeting the habilitation needs of the CYP on caseload. Specialist teaching is provided, in line with the Quality Standards for Habilitation Practice. This training is provided on an individual basis and covers areas relevant to the CYP related to level of functional vision and needs (not exhaustive list, refer to Quality standards for breadth of QHS role) such as:

• Mobility Training - independent travel on foot, accessing public transport safely and independently.
• Use of specialist mobility aids and equipment to support safe navigation in a range of environments to create independence and autonomy in access the community around the CYP.
• Compensatory skills which require bespoke training in utilising a range of senses in a coherent, planned and systematic way to provide the child with information about their world.
• The use of low vision aids/ technology to access information independently both using near and distance vision.
• Development of age-appropriate independent living skills and self-care skills which aims to utilise any residual vision enabling CYP to develop confidence in completing these skills independently.
• Promotion of personal organisation, information processing and problem solving skills to transfer to a range of environments as they develop skills for PFA.

The voice of CYP with VI and their families is at the centre of the habilitation assessment and intervention. Collaborative outcomes are written to capture the voice and aspirations of the CYP and family. Habilitation Support works closely with a range of professionals who may be involved with the CYP and family, including ophthalmology, orthoptists, low vision trainers, paediatrician, health visitor, educational psychologist, colleagues in paediatric therapy, social worker, and Portage Service. This may include regular liaison, joint visiting, setting outcomes collaboratively, attending multi-agency meetings to raise awareness of VI needs.

Accessing the service

The Vision Support Service is accessed by a referral from health services such as ophthalmology, orthoptic services and paediatric consultants.

If settings/schools have concerns regarding a CYP’s vision, a referral to the service can be made with agreement of the parents/carers.