0 0 The Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) : An Update Tuesday 28 January 2025 The MDT continues to support Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and young people nationwide since they began accepting referrals in July, 2023. Together, the Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Psychologist and Administrator, supported by a team of ISL Interpreters and Deaf professionals, continue to support DHH children who have a multitude of additional needs. Deaf Specialist Autism Assessment: The MDT have recently completed training in the Deaf Adapted autism assessment tool, the ADOS-2, delivered by National Deaf CAMHS in the UK. Training/Webinars In addition to direct work with children and professional-to-professional consultations, a total of 10 webinars were provided by the MDT in its first year. There were four ‘Introduction to the Chime Deaf Specialist MDT’ webinars, which were attended by almost 282 people in total. In addition, six webinars on a variety of topics for Health and Social Care Professionals working across the country were provided. The topics included: assistive technology, community audiology, language deprivation, autism and deaf children and young people and ISL/Deaf culture. In total, more than 400 people attended these six webinars. Deaf SLT Special Interest Group Una O’Brien, Speech and Language Therapist, Chairs the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT)’s Deaf Special Interest Group. Who are we? A group of SLTs who are interested in working with children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Some of our members work full-time with deaf people, but many work with deaf people occasionally and wish to keep up to date with developments in the field. Some of our members also work with young adults who are deaf/hard of hearing. What it offers for SLTs: Access for all SLTs to SLTs with experience in the area of deafness who are willing to share ideas, advice and guidance. Annual CPD events. Chime’s Aidan Corr is presenting at the Deaf SIG this month on: Autism and d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Young People: What do we know? Forums for sharing ideas, resources and clinical case discussion. All About Me resource The Chime MDT have also begun to use a ‘ALL About Me’ document to support the children we work with who are deaf. This gives them an opportunity to share and record their thoughts on what helps and what hinders their access to and enjoyment of communication and of life in general! Their story is central to our work. This is what we like to call a ‘dynamic document’, it can be changed as the child grows and their experiences change. This profile document was devised by the MDT, with great assistance from the Chime Marketing team. Find out more about the MDT here .