{"id":1490,"date":"2022-03-09T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=1490"},"modified":"2023-04-25T09:43:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T08:43:56","slug":"there-arent-enough-msi-teachers-so-my-son-misses-out-on-the-support-he-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/there-arent-enough-msi-teachers-so-my-son-misses-out-on-the-support-he-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"There aren&#8217;t enough MSI teachers, so my son misses out on the support he needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-intro\">Eight-year-old Euan from Leicestershire has multi-sensory impairment (MSI) which means he has problems with his vision and hearing. Euan\u2019s mum tells us how the shortage of MSI teachers in her area has led to Euan not getting the support he needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"A boy in a stripey blue and white top sits on a woman's lap. He's beaming with a smile. The woman, his mum, is hugging him and smiling too.\" class=\"wp-image-1486\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-450x338.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-933x700.jpeg 933w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-800x600.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-533x400.jpeg 533w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-350x263.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona-600x450.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/euan-and-mum-fiona.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Euan is currently in Year 3, at a mainstream primary school, but is really struggling because he isn\u2019t getting the one-to-one support that he needs from a specially trained MSI teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MSI teachers are trained to look at both hearing and sight impairments of a child, and support them to learn and engage with the world in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without the right support, Euan gets frustrated at school, and this sometimes leads to him acting out. It\u2019s not that he\u2019s a naughty child, but without having support from professionals that understand his needs, he can\u2019t keep up with lessons or games in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I\u2019ve been on the phone every week trying to get him help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s been such a challenge to try and get him support from an MSI teacher. I\u2019ve been on the phone every week trying to get him help. We\u2019ve only just managed to arrange a deafblind assessment for him to review his needs and outline the support he should have in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His school has recognised that Euan needs more specialist support from a teacher who is trained to work with children who have both hearing and sight impairment. And the Local Authority have also previously said he should be receiving one-to-one support in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Euan still isn\u2019t getting this. There\u2019s a shortage of MSI teachers in the area, so Euan\u2019s just been left without the care he needs at school. I\u2019m really concerned that it\u2019s affecting his development and progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The right support could have a huge impact on Euan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When Euan\u2019s had extra support at school in the past it\u2019s had a really positive impact. We noticed this during lockdown. My husband and I are both key workers, so Euan continued to go to school. His class was much smaller because a lot of the children stayed at home. This meant Euan teachers had more time to give him the one-to-one support that he needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When everything opened back up and his class went back to the usual, bigger size, Euan started to struggle again. It\u2019s really clear that the right support could have a huge impact on Euan\u2019s education and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019m supporting Sense\u2019s campaign calling for funding to train more MSI teachers. Just like any other child, children with MSI should have access to the support they need to learn and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n  <div class=\"wp-block  box  ctaBox    is-style-textured-yellow-tint-10\">\n    <div class=\"ctaBox__row\">\n      <div class=\"ctaBox__content\">\n        <div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get this and other stories in your inbox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Get inspiring stories like this in your inbox, alongside ways to get involved<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <div class=\"ctaBox__cta\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/sense-touchbase-pears\/contact-us-touchbase-pears\/sign-up-for-our-emails\/\" class=\"button  button--secondary\">Sign up<\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Euan\u2019s mum tells us how the shortage of MSI teachers in her area has led to Euan not getting the support he needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[182,181],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-euans-mum","display_author-fiona"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}