• Some 34 million children worldwide are deaf; 90% are not exposed to language
• One mother was baffled her son was deaf yet other children could hear
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Parents with newborns have been advised to intentionally ask for hearing tests on their children within the first six months in credible heath facilities across the country.
Lugha Ishara Team Foundation lead Nancy Nyambura said 90 to 95 per cent of people who God gives deaf children hear, so they are usually unaware of the challenge.
“So they take time to seek intervention. By the time, they seek intervention, there is part of the child’s brain that shrinks and the language component that’s not stimulated,” Nyambura said.
Nyambura addressed the press at the sidelines of a newly constructed JSS laboratory’s opening ceremony at Mulaani primary and JSS school in Kalama, Machakos county, on Thursday.
She said the foundation exists to end language development delays in deaf children to enable their meaningful participation in all aspects of life.
“Ninety per cent of the 34 million deaf children worldwide don’t receive early childhood exposure to language due to lack of early detection and intervention,” Nyambura said.
“We provide tools and methods for early detection and intervention of hearing loss and language development in deaf children.”
Nyambura said the foundation works closely with various organisations, both public and private, as well as health service providers, such as Gertrude’s Children's Hospital.
“The reason why I’m able to speak as a hearing person is because I could access sound and then repeated. So, I was able to acquire language, I wasn’t taught by mu mother or father.
So, for deaf children, because they can’t access sound, there is part of the brain that neurons don’t multiply and, therefore it shrinks, it’s irreversible. We call that language deprivation,” Nyambura said.
She said no parent is ready for a deaf child.
Nyambura, however, noted that the Kenyan medical system doesn’t detect or screen for hearing loss, like would be a child getting a jab for vaccination.
She said if screening is done on children and hearing loss detected, it usually take most parents time to believe the situation due to shame, guilt and superstitions around disabilities.
“Lugha Ishara says if the detection is done early, World Health Organisation standards are one, two and six months,” Nyambura said.
“That applies to developed countries, the solution is early detection.”
Nyambura said education for deaf children doesn’t start at school, it starts at mothers or fathers’ knowing that their children have hearing loss issues, getting them screened and onboarding them on interventions.
“We are reducing the journey by providing relevant, reliable and affordable information and tools for screening and detection,” Nyambura said.
“We work with Getrude’s children hospital in doing this. We are rolling out a universal newborn screening program that is mandated by WHO.”
She said deaf children’s brains get fully stimulated for language development if they are given early intervention.
“We don’t need to see these substandard results from children with hearing loss. But, early intervention is what really matters for every child. Newborn’s ear drums also need to be protected,” Nyambura said.
She said a deaf child can use spoken language if the condition is detected early and he is fit with hearing aids or cochlear implants.
“That gives the child with hearing loss who wears gadgets or aided the ability to go to school alike. We also offer auditory verbal therapy,” she said.
Terry Musyoki, mother of four boys, said one of her sons is deaf.
“When my son was six months old, I noticed he had a problem. We did our investigations and by the time he was two years, we had already done an assessment and confirmed that he was deaf,” Terry said.
They confirmed the son’s deafness at a hospital when he was one and half years old.
“It was a long journey since I never thought this boy could be deaf since I have other, hearing children,” Terry said.
“In my mind, I thought my son was dead. I didn’t know [about being] deaf.”
She then started looking for ways to help her son.
“Someone texted me saying some organisation was looking for deaf children. I called the number and that’s the way I met Nancy. My son was three years then. They were teaching sign language,” Terry said.
She said Lugha Ishara enabled her integrate and get helped mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
“I just settled knowing that my son wasn’t a curse,” Terry said.
“My passion is just to give the little sign language I know and hope to parents with deaf children alongside other types of disabilities. Don’t lose hope in life for siring such angels.”