| What
happened?
Ear examination and hearing testing was provided for 1032
students. Those students found to have active ear disease
were provided with medical treatment, in cooperation with
families, schools and community clinics.
In summary, 79% of this group of Indigenous students were
found to have an educationally-significant hearing disability.
Findings in more detail were as follows.
Forty
per cent would conventionally require physician services to
treat active middle ear disease and/or provide reconstructive
ear surgery — 16 percent had persistent and significant
conductive hearing loss in both ears; 24 percent had conductive
hearing impairment that would cause major difficulties for
students learning English as a foreign language.
In addition to those above, 38% had indication of a Central
Auditory Processing Disorder (CAP-D) displayed by poor speech
discrimination scores and intolerance of background noise.
How do these problems show themselves?…
Workshops
were held at each of the six schools, for teachers and assistant
teachers, community liaison officers and other staff. This
covered topics such as: ear disease, auditory deprivation
and language development; implications for schools and support
services for students with hearing disabilities; phonological
awareness (PA) intervention program for Indigenous language-users
who are speakers of English as a foreign language; classroom
acoustics, and FM classroom hearing aids and speaker systems;
structuring learning environments to promote inclusion of
students with hearing disabilities. The in-service program
concluded with a negotiated plan for how each school would
be involved.
FM
sound field amplification systems were provided to all schools
where appropriate, except one which already had the equipment
and one which had design issues likely to make the equipment
of doubtful benefit.
What
did you do?…
Aren't hearing aids for kids a bit of
a 'shame job'…
|
