Deaf children are not dumb
From Asha Ahuja LUDHIANA,
July 23 — Any child who is handicapped physically or mentally, has to bear untold amount of hardship, discrimination and neglect. However, if this child is treated as a gift from God, life for him or her becomes worth living. This is what happened to
Kahan, son of a successful ENT specialist, Dr Naresh Malhotra, and his wife
Anu. When the parents discovered that their son had hearing impairment, their world crashed. They kept asking themselves, "Why us!" Their elder daughter was normal. After the initial shock, the parents decided to make their child's life as normal as possible. They looked around the world for a good doctor who could help their child. They visited the USA and attended courses at the Alexander Graham Bell Institute in Washington DC. They went to John Tracy Clinic in Los Angles, visited Canada, attended many seminars and finally, learnt to cope with the handicap of
Kahan. First of all, a good hearing aid was procured after tests. Impaired hearing has to be tested just like the eyesight. Some persons have a total loss of hearing, while the others have some residual hearing left. The test is carried out using an audiogram, after which, an appropriate hearing aid is fitted. Ms Anu Malhotra said, "Generally, we club deaf and dumb together, which is wrong. Deaf children are not dumb. Their vocal organs like the sound box, the larynx and the pharynx are all fine. They cannot talk because they have not heard anything. For them, the outside world is just a vacuum." After Kahan was fitted with a right hearing aid, She spoke to her son all the time and soon, his vocabulary grew. At present, he is studying in Class V in a local school and doing very well. Ms Malhotra said in such cases, children could learn only one language, so, the CBSE had exempted Kahan from studying Hindi and Punjabi. This needed a lot of patience and determination. It was difficult for
Kahan, too, but he picked up fast. The parents of Kahan believe that he is the greatest gift of God to them. To help the other parents facing such a dilemma, they decided to set up a centre for children with hearing impairment. Dr Malhotra said, "There are three types of hearing aids — body wear, which has two wires reaching the ears from a box which can be kept in a pocket, the BTE (behind the ear) and the ITE (inside the ear) which is very small, sophisticated and costs more than the other hearing aids. The ITE is concealed in the ear canal and perhaps that is why most persons do not know that Bill Clinton wears one." Ms Anu Malhotra said the centre was her way of thanking God for making her son enjoy everything which a normal child could. During a session in the centre,
Bhavya, a student, was being taught how to measure. Her mother said, "Ever since she has started coming here, she has learnt a lot of new words and has become more confident. My elder daughter, aged 16, who suffers from the same problem, could not find a similar centre and knows much less than
Bhavya." Bhavya was made to stand on a weighing machine and note her weight. Then, her mother and teacher stood on the scale and Bhavya was able to tell who was the heaviest of the two. She studies in DAV School and her teachers have no problems with her. Ms Malhotra was continuously talking to her. "It requires a lot of patience, but it pays," she said. She asked Bhavya to write who weighed the most. The child wrote at a good speed which showed that she was an intelligent girl. She was later read a story which she could comprehend. Her mother, performs five measuring assignments at home, so that the concept of measurement is embedded in Bhavya's mind. The session ended with the teacher telling the child to open the cupboard as part of her "auditory training". In this case, there is no eye contact. The child took out a box of sweets and was given some out of it. Each similar session lasts half an hour. Madhu "auntie" speaks clearly and loudly, besides being loving and patient, which makes her students love her. Ms Madhu said, "My son scolds me for talking all the time, but I have to do so because without constant listening practice, students cannot improve their vocabulary. Moreover, I have to constantly remind my students to keep wearing their hearing aids when awake. It is an irritant, but cannot be helped." She said, "God has been very kind to us. We are not working here for financial reasons. To help these children is a prayer for us and gives us a sense of achievement. We want to help people find a solution to such problems."
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