Our Principal Speech and Language Therapist, Tamara Rainsley and Qualified Teacher of the Deaf, Louissa Nicola regularly meet with the Children and Hearing Working Group (CHSWG) which is a group that consists of a range of professionals working in Deafness from both education and health settings, who meet three times a year. This group is made up of Audiologists, Educational Audiologists, Teachers of the Deaf, Speech and Language Therapists, Audiovestibular Physicians, a representative from the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), parents and Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) representatives. The group’s initiative is dedicated to supporting deaf children and young people across Sutton, Wandsworth, Surrey and Merton. The group aims to enhance outcomes for deaf children and young people while strengthening communication between health and education sectors and improve collaborative working.
The CHSWG group has driven significant improvements in collaboration between health and education services across Sutton and beyond. Through their work, it became clear that families needed continued support with speech and language development following audiology appointments. Hospital audiologists identified this gap and, drawing on the group’s expertise, developed a family-friendly, collaborative poster to support speech and language development across all hearing levels.
These posters are on display in the Epsom and St Helier Paediatric Audiology waiting room, as well as the Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children and have been well received by both families and professionals in these settings.
You can view these leaflets on the Cognus website: Advice and Resources – Cognus
We are excited for our next CHSWG meeting in June 2025, where we can develop our service offer for deaf children and young people in our local area further through collaborative working practices across a range of localities.