Deaf children face schooling challenge

WITH only 12 facilities islandwide that cater to children who are severely to profoundly deaf, it is unlikely that the average child who is deaf will attend a school in their community, according to Iris Soutar, executive director of the Jamaica Association for the Deaf.

"Consequently, relocating or travelling far distances is a tremendous economic burden, and this results in many of our children not being able to access education," Soutar admitted to the Jamaica Observer last week.

She said that this is an area that demands significant work, to ensure that deaf children are assured the basic right to education.

The executive director said the association operates a hearing assessment clinic that allows them to assess children from various parishes. In 2012, Soutar said 792 children were assessed and of that number, 180 presented with some degree of hearing loss.

"Sixty-three per cent reflected a mild to moderate hearing loss, which means that with amplification, they should be able to function in mainstream; and 37 per cent would go to special schools," Soutar explained to the Sunday Observer.

Currently, there are approximately 300 deaf students in school, ranging from pre-school to continuing education. The association operates eight educational programmes, Soutar said, adding that there are also other providers of the services.

"On an annual basis, perhaps not more than about 25 to 30 per cent of the children we identify with a hearing loss we are able to place in special placement," Soutar revealed. "There is a significant gap between identification and intervention, sometimes it is due to the response of the family -- many families go into denial when they receive the information.

"And for many families it may take up to 40 years for them to come to that consciousness when they realise that they are now old and they have youngsters who cannot fend for themselves, and that's when they come back to the system to say, 'Miss, what can you help me to do, because I can't manage anymore'," said Soutar.

In the meantime, Soutar said progress is being made in terms of the recognition of the natural language of the deaf community in Jamaica.

"More and more recognition is being given to this, which has also impacted expectations of teachers of the deaf. So, current work is looking at influencing what happens in our teachers' colleges to ensure that teachers who graduate and come into schools for the deaf are adequately equipped," Soutar explained.

"Because we are looking at how they deliver instructions, we are looking at how they assess [the] performance of children. Because some of the assessment tools that we use in hearing students cannot be used in its generic forms, we have to do modifications to be able to work for the population of deaf kids," she said