Miss-Delectable
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Deccan Herald - Don't turn a deaf ear
Without adequate language, the child's communicative, cognitive, social and educational developments often get hindered.
The initial three years of a child’s growth is marked by rapid development in his speech and language abilities. A ‘hearing child’ enters school with a fair amount of language through which the teacher then imparts education. Since hearing is the channel through which a child picks up speech and language, hearing-impaired children are faced with a big challenge. Without adequate language, the child’s communicative, cognitive, social and educational developments often get hindered.
When Ratna Shetty wanted to shift her then five-year-old to a regular school, she had doubts about her hearing-impaired son’s ability to cope in a class with hearing children. The clinching factor was the child’s language abilities which were on par with those of a hearing child, if not better. Ratna, who now runs a mothers’ training programme for hearing-impaired (HI) children, spent the initial years giving enriched language input to the child using his residual hearing (even acute HI children usually have some amount of usable hearing) in a pre-school programme. She chose to speak in Kannada to her son and later the child was shifted to an English medium school. With her extraordinary hard work the child went on to become an engineer, work in a reputed company and is currently studying in the US .
Only a minority of HI children do as well as Ratna’s son. Hosamani, a teacher in a residential school for the deaf in Bagalkot says that he is concerned about the future of his wards. Majority of them manage to communicate using a combination of signs and speech but do not pass the 10th exam. At 18 years of age their reading levels are around that of a 2nd grade hearing child. Vocational training offers limited choices and many of them continue to rely on the disability pension provided by the government instead of becoming contributing members of the society.
Issues in the education of hearing impaired (HI) children are complex and numerous. The above two scenarios represent the two extremes. Our government supports inclusive education where a HI child studying in a regular school is eligible for all kinds of support such as interpreters (for sign language), classroom modifications (for appropriate amplification), etc.
But in practice, regular schools cannot provide any of these. Early identification and stimulation, so vital for good speech/ language development and therefore integration, do not happen for various reasons in our country. Special schools for the hearing impaired often use total communication, a combination of signs and speech, to impart education. Manual communication, where the HI child uses signs (using hand shapes and movements), is picked up easily by a HI child from his other HI classmates.
Indian sign languages
Sign languages are complete systems in themselves, as rich and complex as spoken languages. But a lot of work still needs to be done on Indian sign language before it can become as well accepted as the American sign language. Parents and teachers need to learn sign language too if that is the mode of communication opted for a HI child. Finger spellings have now been developed for many Indian languages including Kannada.
Then there are social/ behavioural problems associated with HI. Since many of the social rules are acquired through communicative interactions, a HI child may exhibit socially inappropriate behaviours. With concerted efforts, all these issues can definitely be tackled. HI children have the potential to become well educated and well-rounded individuals when given the right opportunities and training. It was with this intention that Dr SR Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore conducted a two day conference for teachers of the deaf across Karnataka.
About 65 delegates participated in the conference, which had sessions on modes of communication, social problems of the hearing impaired, role of teachers, etc. Teachers actively participated in the deliberations. At the end of the two-day conference the following points were agreed upon:
1) For early identification of hearing loss universal infant hearing screening must be introduced across the country.
2) Increase in public awareness at all levels in order to catch HI children young and make use of the optimum period for speech and language development.
3) Provision of appropriate hearing aids, batteries and accessories. Financial assistance to Cochlear Implantation Programmes.
4) Intensive stimulation at home for infants/ children through mothers. Hence, programmes for training mothers.
5) Reduction of barriers to communication through use of Indian sign language in all spheres.
6) Sensitising teachers in regular schools about inclusive education.
7) Empowering parents to make choices about mode of communication and educational options.
8) Salary for special teachers to be increased.
9) Greater awareness about Persons With Disability Act and Rehabilitation Council of India Act.
Without adequate language, the child's communicative, cognitive, social and educational developments often get hindered.
The initial three years of a child’s growth is marked by rapid development in his speech and language abilities. A ‘hearing child’ enters school with a fair amount of language through which the teacher then imparts education. Since hearing is the channel through which a child picks up speech and language, hearing-impaired children are faced with a big challenge. Without adequate language, the child’s communicative, cognitive, social and educational developments often get hindered.
When Ratna Shetty wanted to shift her then five-year-old to a regular school, she had doubts about her hearing-impaired son’s ability to cope in a class with hearing children. The clinching factor was the child’s language abilities which were on par with those of a hearing child, if not better. Ratna, who now runs a mothers’ training programme for hearing-impaired (HI) children, spent the initial years giving enriched language input to the child using his residual hearing (even acute HI children usually have some amount of usable hearing) in a pre-school programme. She chose to speak in Kannada to her son and later the child was shifted to an English medium school. With her extraordinary hard work the child went on to become an engineer, work in a reputed company and is currently studying in the US .
Only a minority of HI children do as well as Ratna’s son. Hosamani, a teacher in a residential school for the deaf in Bagalkot says that he is concerned about the future of his wards. Majority of them manage to communicate using a combination of signs and speech but do not pass the 10th exam. At 18 years of age their reading levels are around that of a 2nd grade hearing child. Vocational training offers limited choices and many of them continue to rely on the disability pension provided by the government instead of becoming contributing members of the society.
Issues in the education of hearing impaired (HI) children are complex and numerous. The above two scenarios represent the two extremes. Our government supports inclusive education where a HI child studying in a regular school is eligible for all kinds of support such as interpreters (for sign language), classroom modifications (for appropriate amplification), etc.
But in practice, regular schools cannot provide any of these. Early identification and stimulation, so vital for good speech/ language development and therefore integration, do not happen for various reasons in our country. Special schools for the hearing impaired often use total communication, a combination of signs and speech, to impart education. Manual communication, where the HI child uses signs (using hand shapes and movements), is picked up easily by a HI child from his other HI classmates.
Indian sign languages
Sign languages are complete systems in themselves, as rich and complex as spoken languages. But a lot of work still needs to be done on Indian sign language before it can become as well accepted as the American sign language. Parents and teachers need to learn sign language too if that is the mode of communication opted for a HI child. Finger spellings have now been developed for many Indian languages including Kannada.
Then there are social/ behavioural problems associated with HI. Since many of the social rules are acquired through communicative interactions, a HI child may exhibit socially inappropriate behaviours. With concerted efforts, all these issues can definitely be tackled. HI children have the potential to become well educated and well-rounded individuals when given the right opportunities and training. It was with this intention that Dr SR Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore conducted a two day conference for teachers of the deaf across Karnataka.
About 65 delegates participated in the conference, which had sessions on modes of communication, social problems of the hearing impaired, role of teachers, etc. Teachers actively participated in the deliberations. At the end of the two-day conference the following points were agreed upon:
1) For early identification of hearing loss universal infant hearing screening must be introduced across the country.
2) Increase in public awareness at all levels in order to catch HI children young and make use of the optimum period for speech and language development.
3) Provision of appropriate hearing aids, batteries and accessories. Financial assistance to Cochlear Implantation Programmes.
4) Intensive stimulation at home for infants/ children through mothers. Hence, programmes for training mothers.
5) Reduction of barriers to communication through use of Indian sign language in all spheres.
6) Sensitising teachers in regular schools about inclusive education.
7) Empowering parents to make choices about mode of communication and educational options.
8) Salary for special teachers to be increased.
9) Greater awareness about Persons With Disability Act and Rehabilitation Council of India Act.