Listen.Speak.Educate...Compete

Anyone listening!

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Lets raise awareness about deafness in children-Early diagnosis and habi...

We are shortlisted for BMJ South Asia 2015 Awards:Healthcare Advocacy

This is for our work on deafness:early diagnosis and intervention in the community.
It means a lot to my team of audiologists,speech pathologist,Pediatricians, immunisation nurses,ASHA workers,Anganwadi teachers,Parents,Volunteers and our supporters

http://southasiaawards.bmj.com/about-bmj-awards/

There is a long road ahead but early diagnosis and intervention is the key.We have been proposing pediatric hearing screening in immunisation OPD.As regarding rehabilitation,again early and we advocate speech,language and education for the young deaf (infant to 6 years).This will prepare them for mainstream or integration.
Deafness is a silent disability but not a mental disability,early habilitation can make them independent and a productive member of our society.

Discussing Cochlear Implants with Deaf Leader

Language Deprivation Syndrome Lecture

Though this lecture is for an hour,for professionals working with hearing impaired- its an eye opener.I am speechless..I should say..

I have learnt Hindi as my mother tongue L1 and went ahead to learn Marathi,English,Telugu,Kannada...now I want to learn Indian Sign Language.When I say learn and speak,I learnt grammar and vocabulary of these languages.
I can understand and speak few words of Malayalam,Tamil,Gujarati,Punjabi and Bengali being with friends.In our field,we say incidental learning of another language.

Presently,in my opinion- it's almost impossible to convince hearing parents about signing!I hope they educate themselves about the advantage of bilingualism.The best change to learn language for these children born to normal hearing parents is to diagnose them at birth and amplify by 6 months,at least with a hearing aid. 

Cochlear Implant Surgeon learns from Cochlear Implant Engineers:Sharing a wonderful talk by Prof. Rahul Sarpeshkar

Though we as Surgeons counsel patients for surgeries and read about implants,talks like these are very informative.This helps me to understand implants better and give proper information to patients or parents.
We have to remember that once inserted,Cochlear Implant is a lifetime commitment.