Non-Medical Helper (NMH) DSA Funded Roles

University of Wolverhampton

Non-Medical Helper (NMH) DSA funded Roles

The Non-Medical Helper (NMH) roles provide disabled students at the University of Wolverhampton with the additional enabling human support they require to complete their course.

Below is a description of each of the NMH support roles that the University of Wolverhampton provides.

Academic Support Worker

Staff that carry out these activities must have the skills and competence to work effectively, at the direction of the student.

The role is generally to provide support in the following areas:

•  Providing practical support around the campus

•  Providing practical support in the library, laboratory or workshop/studio etc.

•  Reading aloud

•  Scribing

•  Supporting students to develop their independence and autonomy for example by providing support with issues such as time keeping; organisational skills etc. and can be supplemented by practical support e.g. library support, workshop support etc.

•  Supporting a disabled student during examinations

•  Manual note-taking to produce an accurate record of the content of lectures, seminars, discussions, off-campus events etc. in the student’s preferred style and format.

The following NMH roles can be are covered in this post:

Specialist Note-taker for Deaf and Visually Impaired Students (appropriately trained Academic Support Workers and Electronic Notetakers)

The primary requirement of this support is to make a comprehensive set of notes to meet the needs of the student for access, review and revision purposes. The note-taker will make a comprehensive although non-verbatim, typed or hand-written record of the content of lectures, seminars, discussions, off-campus events etc. in the student’s preferred style and format.

The note-taker may be a manual notetaker (handwritten notes or handwritten notes that are later typed), make typed notes to be shared after the lecture or be a specialist electronic notetaker (ENT) providing ‘live’ access to notes. The Electronic Notetaker will provide virtually simultaneous access to spoken information through their notetaking.

Specialist Mentor

Specialist mentors provide highly specialist, specifically tailored, one to one support which helps students address the barriers to learning. This support is primary provided for students with mental-health conditions or autism spectrum conditions. The support could address a range of issues, for example, coping with anxiety and stress situations, how to deal with concentration difficulties, time management, prioritising workload and creating a suitable work-life balance.

Specialist Mentors should not act as advocates or counsellors. Their role is to help students recognise their particular barriers to learning and support them in developing strategies to address these barriers, particularly at times of transition, e.g. when starting at university or when planning to move on from it. For some students this support will need to be on-going while for others it might be gradually phased out or only be required at certain points of their course.

Mentors should be vigilant in terms of the professional relationship developed with the student. Some students may begin to see the mentor as a counsellor and although the mentor role requires that support relationship to help students to deal with some of their emotional issues connected with their disability or learning difficulty, referrals to specialist agencies and counselling services are required if the student’s problems are more general. The role of the mentor is primarily to support the student to develop strategies and to link with specialist services as appropriate with a focus on maximising independence and development of a sustainable support network that is not reliant on the mentor or Student Support and Wellbeing service.

Specialist mentors are not able to:

·  Proof read, edit or contribute to the content of a student’s work. Where specialist study skills tuition is required, this will be provided by the Student Support and Wellbeing team of specialist tutors.

·  Act as student’s advocate. Specialist mentors are expected to signpost students to appropriate advice including the Student’s Union.

·  Act in an advisory capacity with regards to students’ academic life. Where students request this form of advice, it is appropriate to signpost students to appropriate advice, for example their Personal Tutor.

·  Act on behalf of a student who has a grievance against a member of academic staff. In such a case, the student should contact their Disability Adviser for further advice.

·  Act as a counsellor. DSA does not fund counselling. Student requiring counselling support should be signposted to appropriate Counselling Services. If you have any concerns about a student’s current mental health status, please inform their respective Disability Adviser (See Disability Adviser details in Appendix 9).

·  Provide any clinical input or act in a medical advisory capacity.

Specialist One to One Study Skills Support

This specialist one to one support addresses the issues which some students might have in acquiring, recalling and retaining information in written and spoken language as well as the range of memory, organisational, attention and numeracy difficulties that students with specific learning difficulties or an Autism Spectrum Condition often face when working in an HE context. This support is primarily provided for students with a Specific Learning Difficulty or an Autism Spectrum Condition.

This support should aim to develop students’ skills and to develop independent learning. It should be tailored to a student’s individual needs and professionals delivering the support should set out clear goals and timescales for achieving these goals. A reducing level of support to enable independence should be agreed, where it is appropriate.

Study Skills Support is provided to students on the understanding that it will alleviate literacy and study skills disadvantages, but input into the content of student’s work should not be provided. It is also important not to influence the student’s written expression by amending their vocabulary – although skills building using a thesaurus or dictionary can be used to assist the student in developing independence with these skills him/herself.

It is also important to be aware of the boundaries in terms of the relationship developed with the student. Some students may begin to see a Support Staff as a counsellor and although it can be useful to help students deal with some of the emotional issues connected with their disability or learning difficulty / difference, students should be referred to professional support services if required.

British Sign Language Interpreters

BSL interpreters are interpreters for students who are deaf and whose first or preferred language is BSL. The interpreter will attend lectures, seminars and tutorials with the student and will interpret from English to BSL or vice versa. Interpreters will use their skills and knowledge of BSL and English and their understanding of the differences between the two, in order to receive information in one language and pass it on in another.

Language Support Tutor for Deaf Students

This support is bespoke support for deaf students which reflects their method of communication, educational history and experience.

Support may include developing research strategies, composition strategies, working on presentations - structure and mode of presentation, organisation, time management, communication etc. – which should all facilitate strategies for independent learning.

This support is not subject specialist support but support to enable access to the course.