For a career in speech therapy

Updated on: Monday, December 07, 2009

The Mysore-based All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) is one of the key institutions in the country that strives for the empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Having world-class infrastructure and expertise, AIISH has been in the forefront of addressing communication disorders and learning disabilities.

Importantly, it has launched the Centre for Rehabilitation and Education (CRE) to overcome the difficulty of reaching out to individuals suffering from communication disorders because of geographical constraints.

Clinical services

This centre offers a diploma course in hearing, language and speech under distance education to meet the paucity of audiologists and speech therapists in the country. It also focuses on extending clinical services to the people with speech and hearing impairment.

The centre aims to develop correspondence therapy software for communication disorders (print, audio and video and e-mode); establish tele-intervention for communication disorders; establish helpline for senior citizens with communication disorders; establish support system for users of assistive devices; and provide educational guidance services to parents with hearing impairment.

The 10-month course is recognised by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and focuses on theory and clinical training.

The prime objective of launching the course is to support the National Programme for the Prevention of Deafness (NPPD). Under the NPPD, the centre aims to equip primary health centres (PHCs) and district hospitals with audiologists and speech therapists to treat those with hearing impairment and voice disorders.

AIISH has tied up with 12 medical institutions across the country and set up study centres there to support the initiative.

The course will be imparted through video conferencing from AIISH, Mysore, while clinical training will be provided at the respective study centres.

According to official sources, the country needs about 5,000 speech and hearing professionals and NPPD has been launched with the intention of producing at least 200 such professionals annually. Over 600 districts in the country are facing a shortage of therapists.

Reducing dropouts

This year, AIISH has partnered with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to address another important issue — learning disabilities among the schoolchildren which leads to their dropping out from school.

It has undertaken a three-year project to address the disabilities in children enrolled under SSA.

Experts at the AIISH will sensitise teachers of primary and higher primary schools under the project. An expert committee will prepare the training modules. About 1,200 teachers will be trained in batches, and they will later function as resource persons or master trainers to train other teachers of schools.

Out of 80 lakh schoolchildren in the State, 1.32 lakh suffer from learning and physical disabilities, and projects had been launched with a special focus on such children. The project with the AIISH is one such effort.

AIISH routinely conducts research on children with speech and hearing impairments. “Having the infrastructure to develop a database to address other disabilities in children, we welcome collaborative work for the empowerment of the people with disabilities,” says AIISH Director Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj.

Many children enrolled under the SSA dropped out and some did not make optimum use of their abilities. The project has been conceptualised to understand the academic problems in children that include poor memory, lack of concentration, no interest in studies and failing in examinations and address them accordingly.

Teachers are subjected to two-week intensive training which is spread across 80 hours and the sessions cover theoretical and practical inputs on scholastic problems in schoolchildren through lectures, case work, group work, discussions, debates and demonstration therapies given by experts from the AIISH.

Literature in English and Kannada is provided for the benefit of participants for use in regular school/classroom settings.

The CRE empowers parents or caregivers of children with communication disorders to help themselves and start self-help groups to address the special needs of their children.

Computer education

Another important step which the AIISH has taken is to impart computer education to parents or caregivers of children with communication disorders so that they can improve their children's condition in later stages.

AIISH provides stimulation and intervention services at its pre-school centre to children with autism, spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, mental retardation and delayed development.

The parent has to compulsorily accompany the child daily to the centre and understand the concepts taught for the child's growth, which also enriches the parent's knowledge.

If parents become computer literate, they shall understand basic operations and use the Internet to update their knowledge to address their child's disabilities effectively.

For a career in speech therapy

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