At Silver Beach Singaram Pillai Vidyalaya, Vidhya keenly watches her five-year old daughter dig into the lunch box. The mother is excited by all that this girl does, for they signal that she is ready for regular school next year.
“Until the age of two, Bhavana did not talk. She would only gesture with her hand. Everyone at home told me she would talk later, and due to this, realisation dawned late that she needed medical intervention,” says Vidhya, a resident of Korratur.
Thanks to the training at this special school for the hearing-impaired, over 30 children like Bhavana have been mainstreamed by the age of six.
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Started in 2004 with two students and two teachers, the government-aided school for the young hearing impaired is a project of the Rotary Club of Madras Silver Beach and Singaram Pillai Group of Schools.
“We even take infants and make both the mother and the child part of the programme. Residual hearing, if ignored, will become profound, so early intervention is the best remedy for hearing-impaired children,” says S. Shanmuga Sundari, teacher at the school who was trained at Bala Vihar.
It has 12 children enrolled and the school is seeking to get more children. Teachers say they canvas at government hospitals and at neighbourhoods but many shy away from such early intervention programmes. Children are taught through activity-based models, provided with hearing aids and offered various therapies.
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“We make the mothers resource persons, as it is essential that such children are equally cared for at home,” says Sundari.
The Rotary Club of Madras Silver Beach continues to support the school by providing it with additional teaching aids. “This is one of the most successful projects of the Club and we want more children to benefit through it. We are next planning to conduct more camps to create awareness about early intervention,” says N. Ravi, trustee of Rotary Club of Madras Silver Beach.
The school functions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is located on the premises of Singaram Pillai Boys School, MTH Road, Villivakkam.
For details, call 2617 2845, 94440 63670.