Proposal Seeking Support for Special Education of Hearing-impaired Children

Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit in humans today. Hearing impairment cannot be seen and hence its effects are not visible to others, so deaf people suffer in silence. Unlike blindness, deafness often provokes ridicules rather than sympathy. Very often a deaf person is isolated from family and friends and greeted by unsympathetic attitude. The consequences for a child born with hearing loss is quite severe. A child with hearing loss cannot develop speech and language abilities. This puts the child at a disadvantage in school, higher education, and limits future professional opportunities.

The major problem of the child deaf is one that of communicating with the hearing and speaking world. Globally, children with disabilities count for one-third of all children out-of-school. In developing countries, the numbers are even more staggering, with 90% of all children with disabilities out-of-school.

Growing size of the problem worldwide

WHO estimates of the global number of persons with disabling hearing impairment have increased substantially in the last 20 years. This number was originally estimated at 42 million in 1985, then increased to 120 million in 1995 at the time of the last World Health Assembly Resolution on Prevention of Hearing Impairment (WHO 1995), to 278 million in 2005 (4.2% of world’s population) and to 360 million in the year 2012 (5.3% of world’s population) (Mathers, 2006, PDH 2013). The most recent figure is 466 million (6.12%).

•    2 in 1000 children born in India are deaf.

•    6 in 1000 children born in Andhra Pradesh /Telangana are born deaf, which is

    Three times the national average and six times the global average.

•    Hearing Impaired Children are scattered across and are from a poor Socio-  

    Economic background.

Special education is a form of instruction that's designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities, so that they can learn the same skills and information as other children in school. The term “special education” encompasses educational programs that serve children with mental, physical, emotional, and behavioural disabilities. 

Ashray Akruti’s - Special Education for Hearing Impaired Children

The main objective of Ashray Akruti is to empower the hearing impaired students and has been enrolling students not only from its locality, but also from all over the state and the country. The school imparts the education through well qualified special educators to train the hearing impaired students. This training comes at the hands of RCI (Rehabilitation Council of India) certified educators who provide much needed individual attention. The speech therapist in the organization provides one-on-one therapy to children to speak and develop speech and language skills. Speech therapy is a clinical program aimed at improving speech and language. The program focuses on improving Speech parameters like voice, articulation and prosody. Comprehension and expressive skills are developed through different activities.

The school actively encourages the children to use hearing aids to help them use their residual hearing power and trains them to listen and speak. The School follows the Oral Aural Method of teaching to develop speech and communication skills among deaf students. This approach combines speech, use of residual hearing, and speech reading. The child is trained to use his/her hearing and develop expressive speech.

Some of these techniques are:

Creating awareness on health and hygiene amongst parents and students

Reassuring families about caregiving on the school premises

Following safety measures at the premises – such as masking and hand washing

Using technology so children can seamlessly have an advantage of learning online and offline to keep at pace with other children

Training of special educators and caregivers.

Achievements:

During the pandemic, Ashray Akruti followed a set of multi-dimensional practices to support all our hearing-impaired children and their families.

We worked with the families of the children to ensure physical and emotional well-being at home.

We guided all stakeholders so that our children continued to learn and develop at a healthy pace during the lockdowns.

 We are happy to share that our efforts yielded excellent outcomes.

·        In the pandemic year, thirteen of our students completed the Grade 10 exams with distinction. All of them are pursuing higher education courses to prepare for university.

·        487 of our children who study in other grades have also been able to make solid progress. Their speech, communication, and language continued to improve at a steady pace throughout the pandemic and they have all been promoted to the next grade.

If a pandemic couldn’t stop us from bringing the changes in these children's lives, we expect the same kind of help to progressively develop and work towards the betterment of these children now and even after.

At Ashray Akruti, we will work with all our stakeholders to ensure a smooth return to normalcy for our children. Our gamut of interventions will include hearing evaluations, speech therapy for the children, continuous access to technology for education and training of special educators to support the children.

Activities undertaken for successfully completion of this program includes:

Academics : The school follows the oral aural mode of communication. At the pre-primary level, the focus is on development of speech and language, assisting parents in developing strategies to nurture their child’s language, speech, auditory and intellectual abilities. Parents are involved in the educational program so that they understand the concepts and teaching methodology, and can practice the same at home.

The school follows the state board curriculum from grades 1 to 10. Students of grade 10 appear for the Common Exam conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Telangana State at the end of the academic year.

The organization provides education through well- qualified special educators who adapt the content of the lessons and uses various techniques and teaching aids for better conceptual understanding.

Individual attention is given to every child and remedial teaching is provided for children who are struggling with academics in school. The school runs from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm excluding national and state holidays.

Hearing Assessment and Hearing Aids

The school actively encourages the children to use hearing aids to help them use their residual hearing power and trains them to listen and speak. The students are assessed and evaluated at the hearing clinic run by Ashray Akruti by qualified Audiologist & Speech Language Pathologist (ASLP) We ensure right type of hearing aids are prescribed and provided to the beneficiaries.

Auditory – Verbal Therapy

Auditory-Verbal Therapy is specialized type of therapy designed to teach a child to use the hearing provided by the cochlear implant or hearing aids for understanding speech and learning to talk. The child is taught to develop hearing as an active sense so that listening becomes automatic and the child seeks out sounds in life. Designed to support the integration of children who are hard of hearing or hearing-impaired into a regular learning environment, this is vital for their future independence. 

Speech therapy

The Speech Therapist in the organization provides one-on-one training with children to speak and develop their speech and language skills. Speech therapy is a clinical program aimed at improving speech, language and oral motor abilities. Students also receive intensive auditory training to develop listening skills.

The program focuses on improving:

Speech parameters like voice, articulation and prosody.

Comprehension and expressive skills through speech and language development [A1] [KS2] activities

STEM Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are collectively considered the keystones of an advanced society. Some of the innovative and effective methods Ashray Akruti uses for a year to teach STEM subjects such as Electronic Building Blocks, Robotics & 3D Printing. Ed-tech tools provide students an exciting, exploratory learning experience while helping improve their analytical and problem-solving skills by honing the delivery through the best ed-tech tools.

Computer Education

The school has a well-furnished computer lab. Students receive grade-level computer training by covering topics like coding, typing, painting, MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, and usage of the internet.

Sign language training

Ashray Akruti provides children with the opportunity to learn structured Indian Sign Language. Sign language helps the older children who may not able to communicate through speech alone. At Ashray Akruti, we believe that learning sign language is a necessary first step towards building an inclusive community.

·        The 100 Hearing-impaired children will have access to an all-round education and extended support that keeps in mind their special needs and makes them ready for the world where they can be employed in organizations.

·        The 100 Hearing-impaired students will improve in concentration and observation skills

·        The 100 Hearing-impaired students will improve in Speech, Language, and Communication skills

·        50% decrease in the stress in the parents as the students would not be idle and would be engaged in physical classes (and online classes if required).

·        Children are happier as they can now meet and connect with their friends in a safe environment and increase peer to peer learning.

·        Productivity of the teachers goes up by 50 % due to training in technology. They can now use the best of technology and offline presence to teach the students.

·        A blend of online and offline education aided by technology tools and devices will spread digital literacy amongst hearing-impaired students, preparing them for the future

·        A better bridge to the next level of education by building the children’s abilities to facilitate entry into the courses and colleges they desire

·        An all-round education that includes art and craft, physical education and digital aids will help prepare children for a wide range of careers

·        Hearing-impaired students will be independent, confident and grow into contributing citizens of society.

·        Families will be stress-free due to multi-dimensional support and this will mean a better environment for the child to thrive

·        Parents and caregivers will be able to carry out their work and take care of their well-being, which will have a direct impact on the well-being of the children.

·        Teachers and counsellors will be able to work in a stress-free, efficient way which is a great benefit to the children.