Miracle of technology, and a lot of hard work, helps children to hear and speak

NewsCommunity

30 Mar

**From left, Hear and Say’s Roxanne Innes, Kirsty Farrow, Liz Morosini and Marley with Wayne Greenham (Sundale Community Foundation) in the centre’s playground.**

Little miracles happen every day at the Hear and Say Sunshine Coast Centre in Nambour. With support and dedication virtually all the children who graduate from the program enter mainstream schools able to hear and speak as well as children with typical hearing.

But Hear and Say Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Roxanne Innes said there were no magic bullets, especially for kids with the most profound hearing issues. The amazing outcomes took a lot of hard work, highly specialised speech therapy and the helping hand of technology.

And there was no time to waste.

“We get involved pretty much as soon as the parents contact us,” said Roxanne. “So sometimes the baby’s as young as four weeks old and the parents have just found out that they’ve got a hearing loss and they call straight away. Our main focus is to get those hearing aids on ... and they need to be hearing well 10 to 12 hours every day. Hearing aids at that age is more about just trying to keep some stimulation to the brain and get children used to wearing technology.

“Children will then go to cochlear implant surgery at between seven and nine months, if required. Our specialised speech therapy, called auditory-verbal therapy, is all about training the parents and keeping up stimulation and hearing aid retention.”

Roxanne said parents needed training to learn how to make the most of the technology, stimulate their child’s hearing and prompt speech development.

“You can’t just walk in, get a cochlear and walk out,” she said.

“It’s not like a pair of glasses when you put them on and you will see an immediate improvement. I always say our job as therapists is to entertain the children and teach the parents.

“The parents need to be using specific, hearing-related strategies with their children 24-seven. They just have to essentially immerse them in language, talking and singing and reading to them constantly.”

The rewards were well worth it according to Hear and Say Fundraising Manager, Cherie Nicholas who is already looking forward to this year’s Christmas celebration and Graduation Ceremony at the centre.

“It’s for the children who are then going off to prep,” she said. “Each of them has to make a speech that Roxanne helped them prepare. It’s absolutely beautiful to see how these children have grown and developed over the time they’ve been coming to the centre, and to see them all ready to go to prep. From what was this time of difficulty and uncertainty about their future,all of a sudden it becomes a certainty that the children are going to go on and achieve their potential. That’s really exciting.”

Sundale Foundation chips in

As a not-for-profit organisation, Hear and Say must raise around $10,000 each year, for up to six years, to fill the funding gap for one child with hearing loss to listen and speak.

That task will be made a little easier thanks to a $3500 donation from Sundale Community Foundation, towards the centre’s LEAP Group Social Skills program.

“The commitment shown by Hear and Say to give children who are deaf or hard of hearing the precious gifts of sound and speech aligns with Sundale Community Foundation’s values,” said Sundale Community Foundation Director, Wayne Greenham.

“We are delighted that this partnership will ensure more children have a future where they can reach their full potential and not be limited by their hearing loss.”