Hearing Impaired Children celebrating Christmas with the Founder
Saniya (Changed Name*) (10 years): Saniya lost her hearing due to high fever and dengueat the age of 3. Her mother brought her to the Trust in 2015 when she was 7. She was using the hearing aids but did not understand how to use it properly. She was already going to a normal school but not making any progress. She used to imitate but no speech. Her mother opted only for speech therapy. With regular sessions three times a week there is a remarkable improvement in her speech as she is able to speak simple sentences. There is still work to be done on her speech clarity. Her comprehension is very good. Her mother is very dedicated towards her daughter’s growth and very grateful to the Trust for helping her daughter getting into She actively participates in the Parents Support Group meetings at the Trust. Although Saniya comes only for speech therapy but she takes part in almost all the program/activities/picnic of the Trust without missing her school. She has become confident and doing well in her studies.
Harpreet Singh (Changed Name*) (11 years): Harpreet came to us in the month of November 2017 through one of our Special Educators. He has congenital bilateral hearing impairment. Parents have had a very passive and complaining attitude due to which the child has developed severe behavioural problems. He started using the hearing aids only for few months before coming to the Trust. Due to the lack of transport, they initially enrolled him only for speech therapy. The sessions were given three times a week. Within a few weeks, there was a visible improvement in his listening sounds, uttering few words like hello, bye etc. Not only this, seeing other children in the class rooms, he also started interacting with the peer group. Seeing the atmosphere of the Trust, and the positive changes in Harpreet’s behaviour within two months, his parents decided to enrol him for special education. He is now a happy child, disciplined to some extent, and makes eye contact and follows commands. He is also friendly with other children. We referred him to another institution for Behaviour Therapy.
Aman (Changed Name*) (8 years): Aman has congenital bilateral hearing impairment with autism spectrum and came to the Trust in May 2017. He is an intelligent child but parents had no awareness about his condition, so they did not know how to handle him. They were reacting to his tantrums which made him further stubborn. When he came to the Trust, he had no eye co-ordination, no sitting, aggressive with other children. The special educators and the speech therapists through different activities tried to make him sit for some time and they observed that while drawing he was most calm and focused. With the help of other play activities, his eye co-ordination improved. We referred him to other organisation in the vicinity for behaviour therapy. Initially the parents were not open and co-operative but with counselling they understood the importance. He goes twice a week for therapy sessions. Within two months, his behaviour improved remarkably. Now, he has eye contact, follows command, sitting is proper and friendly with other children. He takes keen interest in everything and a fast learner. His parents in the parent-teachers meeting said,” We had never imagined that our son will ever behave normal and do something in life. But now with the trust’s support, we are very hopeful about his future.”
Radha (Changed Name*) (12 years): Radha came in March 2017. She had a traumatic experience at the age of 4 when accidentally hot oil fell on her leg. Due to the shock she lost her hearing in both the ears. Before coming to the Trust, she was studying in a local anganwadi. She was taken in here in class 2. She started using the hearing aid only after coming to the Trust. The speech therapist and the special educators helped her to use the hearing aid and with their help she now speaks names of her friends, teachers, short phrases and can communicate expressing her needs. She is doing very well and takes interest in every activity. For academics, she needs extra push. She takes a lot of interest in the stitching class and tries everything at home.
Meenu (Changed Name*) (12years): Meenu’s family is from Himachal. She has congenital bilateral hearing impairment. She was using hearing aids and studying in a Govt School there but parents were not satisfied as there were no special educators. They moved to Delhi for suitable prospects for her. The parents came to know about the Trust through her neighbour who is working at the Trust. She was enrolled in July 2017. Meenu is well behaved and intelligent child. She picked up in speech and education very fast. She gets along well with her peer group. Takes part in all activities with enthusiasm. Her mother is totally involved with her daughter.
Pallavi (Changed Name*) (11 years): She has congenital bilateral Hearing Impairment.(Profound Hearing loss above 90 dB). Her father works as a driver and mother is a housewife. She joined the Trust in 2014. She had never used hearing aids before coming to the Trust. She had never been to school earlier so she was taken into nursery. The Speech Therapists have worked on all 4 levels of sound and is able to speak simple sentences and phrases. She is a keen learner and takes part in all activities happily. She loves to be on the stage be it dance or speech or fancy dress show. She has learnt to talk. She discontinued for few months this year (2019) due to some family and financial problems but the staff kept in touch with the parents encouraging them not to make the daughter sit at home and do nothing. After consistent persuation finally Pallavi has started coming to the Trust again. The first day when she came it was a delight to see her, she was happy and excited to be with her friends and teachers again!!!
Mother of Shaista Parveen (Changed Name*) (10yrs): She came to us in Nov 2017. The has congenital bilateral Hearing Impairment. (Severe to profound hearing loss 70-90 dbs). Her family is from a village in UP. Her father in law was very keen that she gets proper education and thus brought her to Delhi. Later, the mother joined them with other children. Shaista’s mother had no awareness of the hearing disability or how to go about it. Rather, she always thought Shaista was a curse and used to scold her a lot. When they came for the admission, the counselling was given to them. She was taken in KG But, every time the mother came to the Trust, she was hopeless and crying all the time. When she was told that with the help of hearing aids, her daughter would be able to hear and will gradually learn to speak, she took the initiative of buying one hearing aid. During one of the staff meetings, she again broke down. We introduced her to one of our housekeeping staff whose 3 out of four children are hearing impaired and studying at the Trust. There was an instant transformation in her life state. Since then, she has been very positive, smiling and takes very good care of her daughter. The result is that Shaista is doing well in her studies. She is in class 2 now and has topped her class in half yearly examination this year. She is also able to imitate simple words easily .
