Support Information for Current Students

Sign Language Interpreters at the University are Member of the Register of Sign Language Interpreters (MRSLI) or equivalent, Trainee Interpreter (TI). The Interpreters employed by SEC conform to the CACDP (Signature) Code of Practice for Sign Language Interpreters and Code of Ethics for Interpreters.

They facilitate communication between deaf students and university staff so that both parties receive equal access to information. The interpreter will not participate in any way other than to put into sign language what has been spoken and voice into English what has been signed.

The Language Support Tutor provides specialist one-to-one English language enhancement for deaf students, either those whose first language is BSL or those who communicate orally.  The Language Support Tutor will give guidance on:

• Spelling and grammar
• English language vocabulary
• Planning, research and finding suitable sources of information
• Breaking tasks into practical, manageable steps
• Structuring written work
• Exam revision and techniques
• Reading strategies

You should see your course tutor for guidance on the content of your assignments.

The role of a specialist mentor is to provide highly specialist, one-to-one support to help students to address barriers to learning created by a particular impairment, for example, mental health conditions or autistic spectrum disorders. This could include a range of issues such as:

• Coping with anxiety and stress
• How to deal with concentration difficulties
• Time management and prioritising your workload
• Problem solving and finding solutions
• Communicating with individuals
• Assertiveness and relaxation techniques
• Utilising other support effectively
• Anticipating and planning for future tasks or goals.
• Creating a suitable work-life balance. 

This service is provided to many disabled students (autism / mental health condition / long standing ill-health) and those diagnosed with specific learning difficulties/differences (dyslexia, dyspraxia, AD(H)D or dyscalculia). The focus of tuition is to support students to develop a wide range of strategies and skills such as:

• Time management and organisation skills
• Spelling and Grammar
• Reading and writing strategies
• Planning, research and finding suitable sources of information
• Breaking tasks into practical, manageable steps
• Structuring written work
• Exam revision and techniques

The role of the scribe (amanuensis) involves the support worker writing down, or typing what a student dictates in an examination or in-class assessment. This support is usually recommended as part of students Special Examination Arrangements and can be include:

• Writing down, word for word, what the student says. This requires the student to include punctuations and to spell out technical words or names,
• Reading exam questions, or reading information that the student may have written.
• An allowance of extra time may be included with this type of support.

A scribe is not allowed to rephrase or paraphrase what is dictated to them. We recommend that students meet with their scribe before the examination to undertake a practice session.

Reasonable adjustments are input by our specialist Accessibility, disability & Inclusion advisers. They will work with you to develop a support plan which may list: 

• Additional time in exams
• Adaptations to assessments 
• Extra time to submit your written assessments

The reasonable adjustment will be dependant upon your need and also the course you are studying. 

 Our specialist Accessibility, disability & Inclusion advisers can support with assessing any need for ergonomic equipment for teaching and exams. 

The University offer a range of assistive technologies. 

AppsAnywhere is the portal where you will access a range of software or applications that you need for your studies, either on campus or off.

Simply log in to https://appsanywhere.wlv.ac.uk with your University user account and password from your own device at home or from a PC on campus. (On campus PCs there is a little icon on the desktop you can use too).

We also have a University Software Catalogue which provides an A-Z listing of all available software, how to get it and from where. The larger proportion of applications are available from AppsAnywhere, but it also contains applications you can download onto your device straight from the supplier. 

IMPORTANT: Please be aware that the applications available in AppsAnywhere will only work on Windows devices, if you use an Apple Mac, please talk to your tutor/teacher about where you will get the software you need for your studies.