Helping children with hearing impairment
Technological development alone will not teach the child to listen and to speak; there is need for the child to be in an effective habilitation programme.
Some children are born deaf. But with advancement of technology, children with hearing impairment can now hear and learn to listen and talk. It is estimated that 3-4 out of every 1,000 children born who have some degree of hearing impairment. It is crucial that infants with hearing impairment are identified before 3 months and upon detection be entered into an early intervention programme. Unlike Singapore, a country like Bangladesh does not have universal newborn hearing screening programmes whereby each child born is screened soon after birth, using objective tests. There are three hospitals in Singapore involved in the Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening programme including Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Critical language learning years are from birth to six years of age. The earlier infants are detected with hearing loss, the better the outcomes will be. As a result, there will be diminishing effects of the hearing loss on speech and language development. At SGH, such help is available to children with hearing impairment and their families. They are entered into the Listen & Talk programme, which specialises in the auditory-verbal approach. Families are guided and supported as they work to create a listening and language learning environment in their homes. Parents become skilled in integrating language learning in daily interaction with their children. Depending on the hearing impairment of the child, hearing aid or cochlear implant may be suitable option for the baby. However, technological development alone will not teach the child to listen and to speak. There is need for the child to be in an effective habilitation programme, where s/he learns to listen and integrate newly acquired sounds. The child and the family attend weekly auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) session in order for the child to learn to listen and make meaning of what s/he is hearing. "This type of programme is very crucial in addition to any intervention to overcome hearing impairment," said Dr Low Wong Kein, Director, Listen & Talk Programme at Singapore General Hospital. "Parents are essential partners and their participation is vital in the child's habilitation," he added. Although some hearing impaired children would benefit from the services of the special schools, the primary goal should be helping them become successful in the mainstream educational setting. This can be done in programmes in collaboration with school teachers, which is going on in Singapore. The deaf children can be enabled with effective intervention and will remain no longer disabled. They can also live a meaningful productive life and grow up like any other normal child.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments