Deafness is a invisible handicapped ness. It's aftermath is so devastating and shattering. Legendary Helen Keller who herself was a deaf as well as blind said that "Blindness separated me from things around, deafness has separated me from my fellow human beings" . Impact of deafness on one is evident from this famous quote. But that doesn't mean parents of deaf children have no hope in store for them.
Even if the child is deaf by birth, it is possible to train him in efficient way and teach him language and knowledge. "Home is the first school","Mother is the first teacher" etc acquire more significance in case of deafs. Developing auditory and language capabilities of deafs is indeed insurmountable task. Here central role of bringing up the deaf child befalls on mother of the deaf child. She should drain every ounce of her energy in this noble work. She should develop self confidence like " What if the child is deaf? I can make him speak" . Patience and endurance are to be acquired by the mother of the deaf child. She should develop the inner courage to face impending situations. A mother having all these qualities embedded in her can be trained easily to bring up her child and will go a long way in bringing her child to the mainstream.
Once medical authorities suspect deafness factor in a new born baby, a check is mandatory. Don't lend an ear to people who utter things like "Child will develop slowly, Some children speak only after they attain 4 years of age" etc. Instead do a complete ear check and if deafness is confirmed, fit the child with suitable hearing aid . Attitudes like " Deaf child cannot be taught, why waste money on it" should be entirely avoided by parents.
Steps involved in getting an hearing aid fitted to a deaf child:
1. Visit reputed audiologists and obtain complete audiogram which is nothing but a graph where the frequency at which the child can hear is sketched with help of a computer attached to a audiometer. Facilities are available in most parts of India.
2. Get the child fitted with suitable hearing aids tuned as per audiogram by a reputed expert audiologist.
3. Hearing aid varieties are
Budget Class : If you cannot afford BTE's go for body level hearing aids. But they are far bulgiest hearing aids and aren't always comfortable. Also quality can sometimes poor.
Economy Class: Behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids come in Programmable (computer programmable) and non-programmable formats. Pleasant to wear than body level aids. Cost ranges from Rs.10,000 to Rs.50,000 (depending on company and loss %).
Deluxe class: Technology is growing at a rapid rate that now mini aids that can be fitted entirely inside the ears are available. Cost spiral up to lakhs.
4. Cochlear implants can also be done on the child. Contact COCHLEAR corp for details.
Don't think that your problem is solved once your child has been fitted with aids. The child is to be thought the benefits of the aids. Several methods like calling him, with you behind him should be tried to check whether he can hear with the help of aids. Then the child is to be made aware of many vocal, external sounds. Encourage your child to make or utter sound through his vocal cords. "Did you hear", "Wasn't that loud" etc.. should be asked to question the child. He should be made to express his listening of sounds. Small children generally have a tendency to imitate. Hence they may be made familiar with sound emanating from dogs, cats, vehicles (car horn. screech ) etc. For example suppose a dog barks outside carry your child out of the house, point to the dog, ask him about sounds and encourage him to imitate a dog's barking. Thus the child should be made familiar with common sounds either in and around the household.
Since the child hears all the sounds all at a time, teach him to pay attention to important sounds. 3-4 months of hard work on your part enables your child to respond to various child using hearing aids. Don't expect your child to start speaking right away after being fitted with aids. Constant training only can make him know what to talk . So patience should be exercised till the child reaches the stage where he can talk whatever he thinks. Use the period during this stage to develop his language capability and enlighten his mind with knowledge.
Once the child is fully adept with listening various sounds, move on to teach him things around him like dresses, animals and birds, flowers and fruits, vehicles etc. One effective way to implement this is to get the photos of these things, paste them in a book. You can create a photo album comprising photos of family members and a picture album comprising of things i mentioned above. At the same time it is necessary to make the child familiar with relationship with other family members and things around him. If he can recognize this then, congratulations!. Your child has completed the so called " first stage".
Generally normals learn language and speech through what is called "Passive listening". A deaf child cannot listen passively. So many incidents that take place around, conversations going on in the household are not grapsed by the child. To undermine this the mother should take steps to explain every ongoing things around the child to him. The sequence should start right away from morning routines like brushing the teeth, having a glass of milk, having breakfast, father going to office, washing the clothes,cooking the dishes,lunch, shopping etc. During this the the mother should accompany his child, keep explaining things to him. The child should also be encouraged to do small jobs like bringing glass from the kitchen, bringing soap from nearby shop etc. Keep him active and make sure he is focused on explanations given to him. Be a little strict, not too much.
A normal hearing child hears a sound or voice repeatedly and masters it completely. Since a deaf child can't do that, early training along with reading and writing is a must. Whatever we tell the child lipreads it, listening with the aid of the hearing aid. It forms a visual abstract representation of the thing in his or her own mind. So it would certainly help if you label all the things in the house like "this is a door" on door etc. Take your child near labeled things and read them out to the child. At the same time he should be encouraged to spell out them. Draw the pictures of various things and get the child to write out their names. The process should be carried out until the child is fully adept with the things around him. Don't think it is too rash on your part to force your child to start writing so early. It is for your and his/her own sake. It may help you know whether the child has understood whatever you taught him.
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Mysore (PH: 2544392)
Karnataka
INDIA