#AboutLastNight on My Weekly Special Needs Awareness Radio Show

#AboutLastNight

Tonight's radio show was quite enlightening as we discussed "Autism and Hearing Impairment: Are children living with autism hearing impaired?" on Kiss FM 99.9 Abuja.

I began by explaining the relevance of the topic and relating my experiences working with parents who have children living with autism believing that the reason their kids are not speaking is simply because they are hearing impaired.

Dr. Primrose Fakudze (a registered clinical child psychologist) did a fantastic job explaining what Autism Spectrum Disorder is, the signs and it's various sub-categories which are classic autism, Asperger sydrome & Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (also called "atypical autism").

Mr Ugwuoke Charles (an Audiometrician and Speech Therapist @ Dewdrops Community Centre for Special Needs) took us through a very detailed explanation of the anatomy of the ear and how it functions. He talked extensively on how the outer, middle and inner ear work together to transfer information to the brain and the various mechanisms involved with hearing. He explained the different levels of decibel or frequency of hearing that can be considered as normal hearing and the different degrees of hearing loss. He also touched on the 4 sections of the brain relating to hearing/speaking and dwelled extensively on the part of the brain responsible for receptive and expressive skills.

Mrs. Aisha John-Mark (parent of a child living with autism) talked unashamedly about her son's journey with autism, how she initially felt her son couldn't hear until one day when he heard the Barney song being played in the living room while having a shower in the bath room and ran out while humming along. She also encouraged other parents to strive towards early diagnosis and intervention which was the step she took and she is seeing great improvement in her son.

I concluded the discussion by stating that research has shown that the prevalence of ASD among children who are deaf or have hearing loss is 1 in 59. I further explained that it is possible to have autism and have hearing impairment is not one of the symptoms of autism neither is autism one of the symptoms of hearing impairment.

Let's do this again next week, same time same station.

For sponsorship, please call: 0705 763 0825 or send email to: admin@dewdropscc.org

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