Children who are multi-sensory impaired frequently have complex medical and educational needs. Consequently many families receive services from a number of different professionals.
It is vital in meeting your child's needs that you, as parents, and the professionals working with your child work well together. Several factors can make this hard to achieve, including when large numbers of professionals are involved or when services are not well co-ordinated.
As parents, you can help improve this situation by by sharing their knowledge and understanding of your child with all the professionals involved.
Children attending school
Both parents and professionals need to recognise that home and school are different, and work in different ways to meet children's needs. Children may sometimes respond differently to activities in the two settings.
Both parents and professionals need information from the other about your child's state - whether they've slept well or what they've eaten.
As parents of a child with deafblindness, you are less likely to meet other parents whilst waiting for children in the playground, as you might if your child was in a mainstream school. This can lead to isolation and also to a lack of information, for example about the next stage of education.
It is important therefore to understand that you can contact key staff by phone, and that calls should always be returned promptly. This is especially important because transport arrangements usually mean that parents cannot pop into school for a word with the teacher as they might in a mainstream school.
Further information
Information for teaching professionals on working with families of children with deafblindness.
Information about appropriate qualifications for people assessing children.
