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SEND advice and guidance

Audiology and Deafness Curriculum


The Audiology and Deafness (A&D) Curriculum consists of five areas which are important to the deaf and/or hard of hearing child or young person’s awareness and understanding of their deafness.

Below is a breakdown of the outcomes that are in each of the different areas of the curriculum.

Please ask your Teacher of the Deaf for further information.

Curriculum areaOutcomes
1. Anatomy & Physiology
  • To understand how the hearing system works
  • To be aware of how sound affects the hearing system
  • To know the different types of hearing loss and the different effects they might have on the hearing system
  • To know the different levels of hearing and own audiogram
  • To understand own hearing loss and the cause
  • To understand how own hearing loss affects listening
2.Management of Equipment
  • To know that hearing aids and/or cochlear implant/s support my listening
  • To be aware when the Hearing Aid/Cochlear Implant are on or off the ears
  • To know the difference between working and not working
  • To understand that the Hearing Aid/Cochlear Implant have value and need to be cared for
  • To understand the difference an Assistive Listening Device can make for me
  • To be aware of what is good quality sound
3.Awareness of Self
  • To be aware that attention needs to be given to others in order to communicate
  • To be aware that the attention of others may need to be sought before starting communication
  • To understand that some information can be gained indirectly from overheard (seen) conversation/ announcements
  • To be aware of impact of hearing loss on road safety and in other settings
  • To be aware that there is support available through education and beyond
4.Management of Educational Environment
  • To begin to recognise and have an understanding of who the Teacher of the Deaf (QToD) is.
  • To understand that acoustics and positioning in a room can affect access
  • To understand the importance of self-advocacy and how to do this for myself
  • To understand ‘reasonable adjustments’ and what these might be
  • To understand that a room may have different acoustic qualities. To identify different acoustic environments
  • To understand different features of support and how these might help
5.Auditory memory and Speech Discrimination
  • To be able to detect sound vs no sound and have awareness
  • To be able to discriminate some differences/ similarities between words
  • To be able to detect and discriminate LING sounds
  • To be able to complete speech discrimination assessments
  • To be able to listen to and carry out simple instructions
  • To be able to recall vocabulary as appropriate