Student and School Support Services commence as soon as a child starts school. The program comprises:

• Continuation of individual A-V Therapy sessions, as necessary
• Transition Planning and Support
• Annual Workshop for Teachers and School Staff
• Regular visits by our Teachers of the Deaf/Auditory Verbal Therapists to students at their schools
• Long-Distance on-line therapy and advice, where appropriate
• Progress monitoring and feedback to students, parents and staff
• Parent Information Sessions and Newsletter
• End of Year celebration of student achievements and progress (Further On)

Transition Planning and Support

The Centre provides transition planning and support for students entering primary school and moving from primary school to middle school and/or secondary school and finally to tertiary study. Support includes information and advice, counselling, familiarisation visits, introductions to new therapists and teachers and peer group support.

Annual Workshop for Teachers and School Staff

Each year, at the beginning of the school year, the Centre organises a one-day workshop for teachers and school personnel regarding students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Workshop topics include matters such as acoustics, use of technology, language development and strategies for the classroom.

The Workshop plays a major role in informing teachers of the special needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing and in focusing them on how best to assist the students in the mainstream school environment.

School Visits to Students

Cora Barclay Centre Teachers of the Deaf/Auditory Verbal Therapists visit students in their schools on a regular basis to provide auditory-based speech/language intervention with students, to monitor equipment and to consult with teachers and other staff. Frequency of visits depends on a range of factors including the severity of hearing loss, age-language performance levels, the age of the student and so on.

Progress monitoring and communication with parents is ongoing as children advance through school.
Parent Information Sessions and Newsletter
Following the success of the introduction of Parent Information Sessions and Newsletter in the Early Intervention Program in 2006, the Centre is planning to expand the range of topics in the Information Sessions to cover matters of particular interest to parents/carers of school students and to start up a School Support Newsletter for parents, teachers and students.

Long-Distance Services

For some time the Centre has provided occasional services to school students through video conferencing. As part of our ongoing program review and the move to a new Centre in North Adelaide, we have decided to opt for online telephone services (Skype) in preference to the dating video-conferencing technology. This may lead to an expansion of this service in the future.

Further On

Further On is our annual celebration of the achievements of students receiving services from the Cora Barclay Centre, with a particular focus on those who are graduating from school. As anyone who has attended this event will have witnessed first hand, it is both exciting and moving to hear the students’ stories of their progress through school in preparation for the wider world as part of the hearing community.

PEER SUPPORT - WHISPa

WHISPa is a peer support group that aims to help students who are deaf or hard of hearing prepare for the continuing challenges of school life and teenage years, and to handle these effectively. It was formed in early 2006 by a group of older students and their parents and has developed an ambitious program of leadership training and mentoring and has attracted funding support from the state government and philanthropic bodies for this purpose.

The WHISPa program of social and personal development activities will be continually informed by the results from a survey of students receiving support from the Cora Barclay Centre that was conducted in early 2007 to ensure that their time and energy was genuinely aligned to students’ needs and interests. As one of the founding members says: “We want to help kids realise their full potential. We want to help them understand that the stumbling blocks of failure are the stepping stones to achievement”.