Criterion 6

Students need specialist teacher contact time of at least half a day per week.

6.1 Students have a severe hearing impairment and need regular input from a teacher with specialist skills in deaf education to access the curriculum.

Helen: 4 years 10 months - a brief profile

Helen has a severe bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss and uses her hearing aids full time. When she starts school she will have an FM radio aid.

Helen uses three to four word phrases that are only intelligible to people who know her well. She also uses key signs. She frequently needs instructions re-phrased, although she understands better at a face-to-face level.

An Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf (ITOD) has been teaching Helen some vocabulary and concepts. Helen participates happily at kindergarten but relies on imitating other children.

Helen meets Criterion 6.1.

Students who meet this criterion:

• have a severe (71 - 90 decibels) or profound bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss, and
• use hearing aids and/or a cochlear implant full time and usually use an FM system, and
• use spoken language as their primary means of communication and may use sign language and gestures.

They require frequent oral interpreting of information in learning settings and need pre- and post-teaching of concepts.

Other students may meet this criterion and be included in the Reviewable Resourcing Scheme because they have a bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss in the moderate-severe range with:

• a late diagnosis and/or
• poor management of hearing loss in their early childhood and school years.

This criterion is not for students with a conductive-only hearing loss or with a central auditory processing disorder.

6.2 Students have severe vision impairment and need regular input from a teacher with specialist skills in vision education to access the curriculum.

John: 4 years 11 months - a brief profile

John has severe vision impairment. His visual acuity is 6/36 after best possible correction and he has restricted vision in the right field. He will need to have materials presented to him in print size N24-N32.

Kindergarten teachers are careful to place activities on a table where there is sufficient light and no glare for John. He sits near the front at mat time and the teacher presents materials to his left side. John has difficulty going into unfamiliar environments or when they move furniture at kindergarten or home.

John meets Criterion 6.2.

Students who meet this criterion may:

• have low vision in the severe range with visual acuity of 6/36 or beyond after best possible correction
• have a loss restricting field of vision to 15-20 degrees
• be blind but unlikely to learn Braille.

A student who meets the criterion usually needs:

• specialist teaching of concepts
• specialist advice to class teachers to improve access to the curriculum
• a desk copy of any work presented from a distance
• enlarged print
• a range of assistive equipment
• orientation and mobility instruction for independence.

This criterion is not for students with visual perception difficulties alone.