MSI Local Offer 3 July 2014 HOSS Conference Suzanne Wilkins County Professional Lead for Sensory Impairment Kent County Council

MSI Local Offer in Kent The Kent MSI Local Offer may be different to the Local Offer for children with MSI in your LA, however: The journey we have followed over the last few years reflects the current SEND reforms This may throw some light on how services could be developed in your LA in the light of the SEND reforms

SEND Reforms These reforms plan to bring: Clarity for parents of what services are available and how these are accessed Joined up multiagency working including joined up reports A focus on the outcomes for children, young people including young adults Continuum of provision Support for transition to adult life

The starting point for Kent 2007 Kent Adult social services undertake a project to re-evaluate their service delivery for deafblind adults Services for children are asked to produce the data on deafblind children Approx 50 children on both the VI and HI caselists Realisation dawns that there was little coordination between HI and VI There was little/no MSI specialism in the peripatetic sensory service

Parents consulted First step was to consult with parents. The large distances result in this being undertaken by phone The adult Deafblind Development Project funded the consultation 30% of the MSI families agreed to be interviewed, some took up to 60 minutes each Tremendous amount of time was investment but results were revealing

“Many different people have assessed my child “Many different people have assessed my child. There are always people coming to the house. So many people! I am not sure where they are coming from. I don’t think KAB or DSC&F have assessed her. I think education and also OT and DCS have possibly. I don’t know all their names or where they have come from. English is not my native tongue but I speak it better than my wife, whose English is not so good.” Parent Dec 2007/Feb 2008

“At the end of the recent summer holidays I wrote to my child’s Social Worker asking if we could arrange respite for a week for next summer as we haven’t been able to go away as a family for two years now and are desperate. I thought if I gave a year’s notice they might help us. I had a letter back saying that another team in another area was taking over but wasn’t given a contact address or number. They haven’t contacted us so I guess I will have to do the chasing again.” Parent Dec 2007/Feb 2008

MSI Parent Consultation A high proportion of the parents surveyed were unhappy at parts/all of services offered/received by their children All parents would have liked more information along the way Some expressed anger and a few were very distressed   Most parents had ideas on how the services could be improved

Next step The findings from both parents and professionals were pulled together using the headings from the Deafblind Guidance as a framework This statutory guidance requires local authorities to undertake a number of actions to improve services for dual sensory impaired people This applies to both adults and children Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults 2001 reissued 2009 LAC(DH)(2009)6

Deafblind Guidance The Deafblind Guidance requires the LA to: Identify, make contact with and keep a record of children and young people with MSI Ensure that assessment are carried out by a specifically trained person/team Ensure services provided to CYP with MSI and their parents/carers are appropriate, recognising that they may not necessarily be able to benefit from services aimed primarily at blind children or deaf children who are able to rely on their other senses.

Deafblind Guidance Ensure CYP with MSI and their parents/carers are able to access specifically trained one-to-one support workers   Provide information about services in formats and methods that are accessible to CYP with MSI and their parents/carers. And for CYP; education within an appropriate format or method. Ensure one member of senior management includes within his/her remit, overall responsibility for services for CYP with MSI and their parents/carers.

Action for MSI CYP For each part of the Deafblind Guidance we drew up an action plan: to improve services and outcomes for children, young people and their families to improve the delivery model and specialist services provided by professionals to identify future areas for development

Identified a strategic lead Strategic lead - County Manager Disabled Children Service MSI Steering Group was established and this included the strategic lead for MSI This multiagency group moved forward with all of the proposals and used an operational working group to support developments Strategic lead identified funding for new ways of working

MSI Intervenors 2.0 FTE MSI Intervenors (delivered by 4 members of staff) were recruited to: Work with children and young people outside school time Support the development of communication and independence Provide short breaks for families either in the home or through supporting access to community or specialist activities

Family Days Organised by the MSI Working Party these provide: 4 events each year which support families with deafblind children to come together as a group to access community or specialist activities Develop family to family support There are 25 families who regularly attend, although usually only 15 families at each event Academically able MSI young people act as peer mentors/helpers on the Family Days

Guide-Communicators Guide-Communicators are available as part of the services provided by adult social services A service was developed for young people Currently Guide-Comms are working with academically able MSI teenagers to build their independence skills and to provide short breaks Young people are encouraged to design their own activity with Guide-Comm support

Training One day awareness training is provided on a regular basis to a multiagency audience County Sensory Impairment team have facilitated the NatSIP/Sense 7 day RCE MSI course on an annual basis since 2008. Over 80 practitioners have completed the NatSIP/Sense course.

Specialist Teachers for MSI MSI sections were developed for the Kent Mainstream Core Standards for All Learners which provides advice and strategies at universal, targeted and specialist levels for all schools Similar documents were developed for Early Years and Special Schools Reorganisation enabled the reflagging of some to the posts for Specialist Teachers as MSI Currently three Specialist Teachers have MSI coordination as part of their role. Not necessarily to deliver but to bring together the HI and VI work

MSI Reports One parent in the consultation commented that she received HI reports and VI reports but she was expected to draw together what the two sets of information meant for her son. Joint MSI reports were developed. The Specialist Teachers for MSI work with the ToD and the QTVI to provide information and advice on: Communication Access to Information Independent mobility

Social Services Historically Disabled Children Service included a team who worked with deaf children only. Additional staff and the reflagging of one post resulted in a Sensory team who with children and young people who are deaf, VI or deafblind Mobility services for children are commissioned from a local voluntary organisation. This is jointly funded by Disabled Children Service and Special Educational Needs and is delivered on a priority basis within schools and the community.

Outcomes Families report the benefit of short break opportunities Parents have responded positively to the joined up nature of services and have said they are more able to support the strategies in reports Professionals have regular opportunities to meet with families of MSI children to gather feedback and gauge the next developments required Education, Social Services and Voluntary Organisations work more closely to improve outcomes for children with sensory impairment

Outcomes Parents are providing support to other parents whereas previously many had spoken of the isolation of being a parent of an MSI child Families have experienced a wide range of opportunities with their children and are now accessing these without specialist support Young people with MSI are accessing life experiences that their peers take for granted Staff in schools are better equipped to meet the needs of children and young people with MSI

MSI and EHC Plans For children and young people with MSI there will be an MSI Appendix for EHC Plan rather than HI and VI being required. Outcomes will be focused on: Access to the curriculum Communication/Information Independence/Self Esteem

Local Offer The Kent MSI Local Offer was an organic development that has moved forward over a period of time Key factors: Finding out the parent and child’s experience and understanding the improvements they require Working to the Deafblind Guidance Working jointly with all providers Actively working to improve practice and delivery

Supporting the development of the MSI Local Offer Along this journey we have participated with adult services in the development of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Sensory. This was an opportunity to set the scene with regard to the data and information on children and young people with MSI as well as HI and VI. Part of the JSNA requires client/user feedback which would have been a starting point if we had not already visited this previously.

Future developments Some areas of work still need improvement; parents have requested joint audiology and ophthalmology clinics not all areas have orthoptist lead vision screening for four year olds We are working with Health commissioners for children services on the development of a Joint Commissioning Framework for Sensory. This will inform future developments to the MSI Local Offer.

What does the Local Offer look like? Kent’s local offer for sensory is based on the matrix in the NatSIP publication - Creating Confidence in Local Services. We also have a more accessible version - An Overview of the Local Offer for MSI. The Local Offer must be collaborative, accessible, comprehensive and transparent It is important that the Local Offer is not static, it should develop to support the best outcomes for children, young people and their families