Children and families officers effective practice
case study: Leeds Sensory Service Visual
Impairment Team
Leeds VI service
Background
The VI team (VIT) is part of the Leeds Sensory Service. Specialist staff
comprise qualified teachers of children and young people with VI (QTVI),
resource officers, a children’s mobility/habilitation officer, and children and
families officers (CFOs). The VI team supports children and young people with
VI, including those with additional complex needs, from the time of diagnosis
to when they leave school or further education, up to the age of 25 where
required. In line with the structure of other children’s services for SEND within
the authority, VI team staff are allocated to one of three geographical areas
of the city, although there is a high degree of flexibility to allow working across
area boundaries where the need arises.
Staff work with children in their homes, early years settings, local schools, and
further education settings. The team supports children and families from a very
wide range of socio-economic, occupational and ethnic backgrounds and
types of family unit.
There are currently almost 400 children and young people (CYP) on the
team’s active caseload, including 17 braillists, and 60 early years children (0 –
3 years). Over the past few years there has been an increase in the number of
children with complex needs referred to the service and they now represent
almost 40 per cent of the children supported.
Specialist children and families officers (CFOs)
Since a restructure of the team in April 2014 the VI team has included three
specialist children and families officers. Two CFOs have been with the service
for several years.
All three CFOs have have been trained in Portage and in paediatric first aid.
They have also had training in a range of skills such asTacPac, Intensive
Interaction and Makaton and use these within their work.
Like the other members of the VI team, the CFOs are deployed on a
geographical basis across the city of Leeds.
– supporting people with sight loss
charity numbers 226227, SC039316 and 1109
CFO 1 (Kathryn)
 Covers the east of the city
 Has worked for the Leeds Sensory Service VI team for 25 years.
 NNEB trained
 Qualified braillist (RNIB Braille course) with considerable experience
supporting braillists throughout primary school
 Part time (19.5 hours pw) term time only
 Currently supporting 10 children, mostly on a weekly basis
CFO 2 (Roseanna)
 Covers the west of the city
 Has worked for the Leeds Sensory Service VI team for 17 years
 NNEB trained
 Qualified braillist (RNIB Braille course) with experience supporting braillists
throughout primary school
 Mobility trained (RNIB course)
 Experience of working with children with learning difficulties – has worked in
a mainstream school additionally resourced for pupils with complex needs
 Full time (37 hours pw) including school holidays
 Currently supporting 20 children
CFO 3 (Stacey)
 Covers the south of the city
 Has worked for the Leeds Sensory Service VI team for 2.5 years
 Qualified primary school teacher
 Spent 12 years as a primary school teacher, followed by 2 years as a
Portage home visitor
 Part time (24 hour pw) term time only
 Currently supporting 12-16 children
The role of the CFO
The key role of the CFOs is primarily to work with pre-school children in the
family home and early years settings. The CFOs support mainly children who
are blind/with severe VI and those with additional complex needs.
Personalised learning is provided through the termly, individualised outcomes
plan for every child, which the CFO follows under the direction of a QTVI. This
is produced jointly with parents and settings and may be linked to programmes
such as the Oregon Project or the Developmental Journal for Babies and
Children with VI 0-3 years. For children with an EHCP, the individualised
outcomes plan will link to the outcomes in the ECHP. The role of the CFO is
to visit the child in the family home to implement the programme of work. Each
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visit normally lasts for approximately one hour. The QTVI maintains an
overview of the work and in addition to the final review visit, pays occasional
monitoring visits.
The most important element of the work of the CFOs is to model strategies
and approaches to parents and Early Years’ staff so that they develop
confidence and skills in working with the child to promote visual and overall
development.
Because the CFOs work to an agreed programme of support towards specific
outcomes, their input is finite and for most children will end when the transition
to primary school is completed.
However, the CFOs also support some higher needs children in primary
school, and on occasions may support pupils into secondary school and in
special schools. As with the early years children, the CFO will work on a
specific programme of intervention, aimed at a particular outcome or set of
outcomes.
The CFOs also help with extra curricular activities such as accompanying
children on group trips to the pantomime. During the school holidays the VI
Team’s mobility officer delivers activity days such as an arts and crafts day,
which one of the CFOs helps with.
Models of working
Prior to starting a period of work with a child, the CFO goes on an initial joint
visit with the QTVI to meet the family/setting and discuss the programme of
work to be carried out.
The CFOs do not have their own caseloads but work under the leadership of
the QTVI to assist in the implementation of programmes of support with the
objective of achieving specific outcomes for individual children.
Support in the family home
Following referral of a baby/child to the sensory service a QTVI visits the child
in the family home to carry out an assessment and to develop an outcomes
plan for the child. Often the CFO accompanies the QTVI on this first visit, but if
not they will do an initial joint visit to introduce the CFO to the child and family.
The QTVI, with input from the CFO, devises a programme of work, working
towards two or three outcomes which are reviewed on a termly basis. If the
child is expected to become a Braille user, or has additional complex needs,
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the role of the CFO is to visit the child in the home to support the family in
implementing the programme of work.
An important part of the CFO’s role is to empower parents to take
responsibility for helping with their child’s development, for example by
modelling ways of interacting and playing with the child.
For example, to support the visual development of a baby newly referred to
the team with cerebral visual impairment, the CFO supported the family in
developing fixing and following skills, modelling appropriate activities and
helping the family to make the best use of the many toys they had provided for
the child. The CFO was also able to share information about the VI Team’s
Early Years group, offering the opportunity for the parents to meet other
families of babies with VI.
In addition to working with the child and parent(s) towards the outcomes
detailed in the plan, the CFO frequently acts as a ‘listening ear’ for the parent,
many of whom may have additional challenges, for example, as a lone parent
with responsibility for bringing up a child with a severe VI. As one CFO
observed, for many families the role includes providing emotional support and
‘showing them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel’.
Support in an early years setting
The CFO accompanies the QTVI on an initial visit to the setting. Working
closely with the parents, nursery teacher and child’s key worker, the QTVI,
with input from the CFO, sets targets/outcomes for the child. Copies are left
with the setting and the parent.
In the early years setting it is the role of the key worker to implement the
programme of work. This could, for example, involve sensory and tactile
programmes. The role of the CFO is to support the key worker by giving
advice, providing ideas for and modelling activities, and providing materials
and resources.
The CFO also attends review meetings where appropriate and works
alongside the QTVI in preparing the child for transition to primary school. This
includes a joint visit with the QTVI to meet the SENCO in the new school.
For example, one CFO works in nursery developing tactile and pre-Braille
skills in a child who will be a Braille user. Weekly sessions introduce activities
working towards identified outcomes which are followed up on a daily basis by
the child’s key worker and by parents.
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Support in a school setting
For tactile learners, regular CFO support may continue throughout Key Stage
One. This may include preparation for, and reinforcement of, Braille teaching,
independence skills, tactile skills and ongoing modelling of strategies for staff
in the setting, and for parents.
For example one CFO works regularly with a tactile learner with additional
needs in Yr 2 of a mainstream school, following up on the QTVI’s teaching of
tactile, early Braille and independence skills and modelling strategies for
support staff.
Both Kathryn and Roseanna have helped Year 6 pupils to prepare for, and
have supported the administration of, Year 6 SATs tests.
Other forms of support provided by the CFOs include:
 Working with pupils with VI in specialist inclusive learning centres (SILCs)
and partnership schools (a partnership school brings together the expertise
of both the SILC and the mainstream school; pupils join in with mainstream
lessons where this is appropriate). For example, supporting:
o A Year 3 braillist in a SILC
o The teaching of Moon to a Deafblind child in a mainstream
partnership within a primary school
 Supporting the delivery of training, for example, by working alongside the
QTVI on training sessions in settings, or by facilitating workshops during
training courses provided by the VI service to school staff across the city.
All schools that have one or more pupils with VI are invited to the training
courses, which cover topics such as supporting tactile learners and
supporting children who use large print.
 For individual children within a setting, the CFO may provide additional
support and training, for example in developing accessible resources, or
supporting a programme to improve a child’s social skills.
For example, to support the development of a blind child’s social skills and
help them to make friends, a CFO went into school every week for half a term
(9 weeks) and worked with the pupil and other children at a lunchtime club.
This involved activities to help the other children understand the perspective of
a blind child and to have more empathy and understanding of her behaviour
such as why she touched and asked questions a lot.
The CFO also worked with the child to improve her social skills, to reduce the
amount of interrupting and frequency of touching.
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Being able to intervene in this way was helped by the fact that the CFO
already knew all the pupils concerned.
Partnership working
The CFOs work with, and under the leadership of, other team members.
Partnerships beyond the immediate team are led by the QTVI and can involve
joint visits.
Other practitioners that the CFOs work with include Portage workers,
physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, community nurses, health
visitors, hospital play therapists, interpreters and educational psychologists.
The CFOs also work collaboratively with the Leeds Mencap Hawthorn Family
Support Centre, which has a day nursery and runs a parents’ group. One of
the CFOs visits the centre on a weekly basis to support three or four children
and families, working closely with the Hawthorn staff.
Within the team, the CFOs sometimes do joint working with the mobility officer
by reinforcing teaching in homes and settings and by modelling good practice
to parents and staff.
What are the enablers/factors that make this model of working
effective?
There are several factors that help to make this model of working effective:
 Good communication between team members
 Good communication with colleagues outside the team about the role and
what it involves
 Clearly focused identification of the needs of the child and outcomes
planning to enable development of a time limited programme of work
 Using an outcomes based model of support, which builds the capacity of
settings and parents to meet the needs of the children. This ensures that
team resources are used effectively to improve outcomes which have been
clearly identified for individual children, rather than working to a ‘provision’
model (i.e. which is a more formulaic approach, allocating to a child with a
certain level of vision, CFO support until they enter school)
 Extremely adaptable and skilled CFOs who can build effective relationships
quickly, and support the training of parents/staff without encouraging overreliance on members of the team.
 Supportive senior management and local authority who understand the
benefits of the CFO role in capacity building and empowering parents
 The experience that the three members of staff have brought to the role.
Working with primary school aged braillists provided a good foundation for
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Kathryn and Roseanna to move into this role, and they continue to provide
advice on, for example, tactile diagrams
QTVIs attend hospital clinics and communication with the local hospital is
good so referrals from health to education are prompt, ensuring early
intervention for young children and families as soon as possible after
diagnosis
CFOs are able to provide modelling for parents of play and other activities
that support development
Locality working means that the CFOs get to know other
professionals/practitioners
Good ‘off the peg’ resources, such as Oregon, Fantastic Fingers, and
sections of the Developmental Journal for Babies and Children with VI.
These enable the CFOs to prepare activities and resources in advance.
This saves time and means that packs can be left with parents and settings
to use.
What are the challenges?
 The high level of Early Years and Complex Needs referrals means that the
workload of CFOs has to be carefully managed. Each CFO is managed by
a different Area Lead, so internal systems have been put in place to monitor
and prioritise requests from QTVIs for CFO input.
 Managing parental expectations (e.g. families requesting a ‘provision based
model’ such as weekly visits until the child starts school) can be a
challenge.
 Finding time for planning and review of outcomes can be challenging but
this is prioritised as it leads to more clearly defined and personalised
programmes of work which meet individual needs.
 Adapting to change – different ways of working with families, and learning
to support children with more complex needs:
o Getting used to working with children with complex needs, and
children with complex medical needs. This involves learning about the
very individual needs of each child, what they respond to and how
they respond. Having a good relationship with the parents is crucial
o Learning different ways of working with families – the service tries not
to create dependence on its staff. The emphasis is on empowering
parents and helping them to support their children rather than being
supported on a long term basis by the CFO or on a one- to-one basis
in schools.
 Raising parents’ expectations and encouraging them to build their child’s
independence skills
 Learning to work with an audience was a challenge that had to be
overcome by one CFO! For example, working with a child with complex
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needs with other family members and other professionals present at the
same time
 Language barrier for parents who do not speak/understand English
What are the benefits for children?
 Programmes of work are well-matched to individual needs and identified
outcomes, and the way the CFOs work with other team members and with
parents and settings increases the capacity of parents and settings to
continue to develop the skills of the child on an ongoing basis, rather than
reactively, during a weekly visit from the VI team
 Children are ‘school ready’ – they have the basic independence skills (e.g.
putting on a coat by themselves) that mean they are ready to move into a
new setting such as from nursery to school.
What are the benefits for families?
 Empowering parents and helping them develop the skills and confidence to
support their child and to take on responsibility for his/her development
 Supportive relationships with staff are developed and parents can draw on
the expertise of staff who have in-depth Early Years knowledge and
experience
 Feedback from some parents shows that they appreciate having home
visits.
o One parent for example, expressed her relief that she didn’t have to
make yet another visit outside the home in order for her child to
receive input from a professional: “You come in [to the home] and
do nice things [such as learning through play vs visits to
hospital etc]”
 Being able to form a good relationship with someone they can trust
 Being signposted to other sources of support
 Being given ideas and activities that they can use with their child
 Support, reassurance, encouragement – e.g. the CFOs are positive and by
breaking activities and outcomes down to smaller steps they are better able
to see what their child can do and is achieving
That parents and other professionals recognise and appreciate the key role
that CFOs play in supporting children and families is illustrated by the fact that
the two longest serving CFOs have both been nominated for awards:
Roseanna: nominated for Colleague of the Year ín Leeds’ Children's Services'
Awards for Excellence 2013; and highly commended in the Dev Phull Making
a Difference to Customers or Communities Award 2015
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Kathryn: nominated by the parents of a blind child whom she had supported
from the age of 11 months to the end of Year 3 in primary school. The
nomination was for the Big Tea Award, which is for people who support
children with disabilities.
What are the benefits for settings?
 Increases capacity and confidence in settings by modelling good practice
 Co-producing outcomes plans with setting means there is ‘joined-up’
thinking and enables the team around the child to work in a cohesive way.
 Continuity of support by having the same person available to support the
child and staff through and beyond transition is appreciated by settings
What are the benefits for the VI service?
 Enables the service to work more flexibly
 By building capacity in settings and with parents the team is able to work
with more children. It wouldn’t be possible to manage the number of preschool children without these staff posts.
 Flexibility and skills of the CFOs means that the VI service has been able to
use them to support individual children and families as and when needed –
e.g. if a new braillist enters the LA, the CFO can be deployed to support them.
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