Francine Black, Staff ReporterDEAF OR 'hard-of-hearing' children can learn to listen and speak, according to Marcus Rose, clinical director at the Bolesta Auditory Verbal Training Center in Tampa, Florida.
According to Mr. Rose, such children can, in fact, learn to function efffectively in a normal environment. This was the focus of his presentation during a workshop for professionals who deal with the deaf and hearing-impaired at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH). "We want to let them know that their children, even with profound deafness, can develop complete language appropriate skills. Parents should fight for options because there are more available (options) other than sign language," he said.
Mr. Rose, who is also a speech language pathologist, notes that one option available to parents was auditory-verbal therapy. This involves the teaching of children who are deaf or 'hard-of-hearing' to listen and speak using cochlear implants or high-powered hearing aids.
Such devices encourage the development of spontaneous speech and language processing in a natural way, allowing children who are hearing-impaired to thrive in typical living and learning environments.
Mr. Rose noted that early identification of the level of hearing loss was key in making the process effective as the longer it takes the more difficult the process could become.
"Early identification is very important because as you move through time the brain changes," he explained.
Yesterday's seminar is part of a four-day training workshop for parents and professionals of children who are deaf or hearing impaired being held from July 28-31.
The workshops are being held under the theme, 'Expanding Horizons for children with hearing loss in Jamaica and the Caribbean'. Thursday's workshop focused on how policy makers could provide improved options for the hearing-impaired.
The workshops are a collaborative effort of parents and professionals of the Caribbean Association of Otolaryngologist, Jamaica Association for the Deaf, Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, United States, Cochlear Corporation International and the Bolesta Auditory Verbal Training Center in Tampa, Florida.
The remaining workshops are primarily for parents and are being held at the Inter-faculty Lecture Theatre at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
