Naad, a helping centre for hearing impaired children at Colaba, may be the only hope for many distressed parents as it is set to bring from the UK the Pilot Hearing Screening Service that can detect hearing loss in a child within 10 minutes of birth. The device, to be introduced on December 4, will be one of the first few to be brought to the city. Audiologist Dr Natasha D’souza says, "The Bera machine is what is normally used in our country, but Naad will be the first one in the city to offer this service which is commonly used in the UK."

The only centre in the city that offers the Early Intervention Programme, Naad guides parents to deal with their hearing impaired children and equips them to fit into the mainstream life. Started by the ‘I Hear’ Trust three years ago, Naad has familes visiting even from Pune, Goa, Assam and Delhi to help their children fit into normal life.

"Early intervention is required to help these children listen, learn and speak like a normal child," says Shefali Shah, director and therapist at ‘I Hear’ Foundation.

Naad offers everything right from an audiological booth to measure the child’s hearing loss, fitting the best suited hearing aid, training them to listen and to speak, and also training the parents to handle the disability. "The first reaction of parents of a hearing impaired child is they stop talking to the child. But children learn to talk by listening to sounds. Through our therapy sessions, we train parents to talk to children as lovingly and as much as possible," says Shah.

The training is mostly conducted by playing games where the mother and child interact as they play. Naad aims at ‘mainstreaming’ these children and this can be done better the earlier the child arrives at the centre.

"If the child starts coming to the centre at the age of one, he or she can be ready to join mainstream education by the age of five. We test them and evaluate them through internationally accredited standardised tests twice a year, and if they pass they are prepared to join the mainstream," explains Shah.

The centre has a dedicated team of two therapists, two audiologists and one counsellor who have also worked with the parents of a three-month-old baby.

They believe parents need to work with hearing impaired children since birth, for it is difficult for them to grasp the language and expression once the early years pass.

By Suparna Thombare
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=9218