From March 14^th - 16^th 2013 the federal state’s Dept. of Hearing referees met up with Dept. of Vision referees at Hermann-Schafft-Schule in Homberg/Efze, the “Supraregional Centre for Counselling and Promotion regarding schools with SNE focus on Hearing and Communication, and focus on Vision”.

Bottom line of the meeting was the preparation of the National Symposium on Hearing and Vision taking place in November 2014.

The joint symposium of both departments may be seen as a successful one, since interesting discussions led to positive conclusions.

Furthermore, the Dept. of Hearing’s current trouble spots were discussed. In summary it can be said, that the following must be worked on urgently:

• Schools with SNE focus on Hearing must not be closed down unnoticed and prematurely due to decreasing numbers of pupils.
• Within the framework of mainstreaming, regarding the provision of individual aids and necessary resources for children and adolescents with hearing impairments, it must not come to maladjustment between the federal states.
• No unequal handling of the parents’ right of choice must be conducted.
• The current maladjustment of the involvement of professionalism regarding political and structural decision-making processes must disappear.
• No succeeding of problematic decisions concerning teachers’ vocational education and advanced occupational training as well as recruitment practices regarding qualifications.
• Different definitions of tasks at both schools with SNE focus on Hearing and remedial centres, with special recognition of one’s own SNE opportunities, must be clearly expressed.

With regards to the contents of the meeting’s conception, the acquired standards touching the SNE focus on Hearing were embedded as well as considerations about ways of making the Depts. of Hearing and Vision’s voices heard when posing their specific problems.

Unfortunately only seven federal states still hold assigned experts at their respective Departments of Hearing. Here is an urgent appeal to the federal organisations for an increased advertising of the department’s activities.

Translation: Ruth Stang