#AboutLastNight on My Weekly Special Needs Awareness Radio Show

Our topic on the weekly Special Needs Show last night on Kiss FM 99.9 Abuja was "How do I Communicate with Individuals Who are Hearing and Speech Impaired?"

I began by explaining that individuals who are speech and hearing impaired can and do communicate non-verbally. One of the major ways they communicate is through sign language, others who can read and write English language have taken advantage of technology using the various communication apps such as "text to speech" available on palm tops, laptops etc.

Mr Ugwuoke Charles (an Audiometrician and Speech Therapist @ Dewdrops Community Centre for Special Needs) talked about hearing impairment, type of hearing impairments: conductive, sensorineural and mixed hearing loss. He also talked about the degrees of hearing impairment which are mild, moderate and severe/profound hearing loss. He further gave a detailed example of speech impairments such as dysarthria and the various known types of dysarthria which are: cerebellar, pseudobulbar, bulbar and cortical dysarthria. Mr Charles talked about other speech impairments such as aphonia and aphasia, and he summarized by explaining the process of speech which is from respiration (diagram/lungs), phonation (vocal cord) then articulation (tongue, lips, teeth and speech muscles). He concluded by explaining the types of audiological services at the Dewdrops Community Center for Special Needs.

Dr. Primrose Fakudze (a registered Clinical Child Psychologist at the Dewdrops Community Center for Special Needs) talked about the psychological and behavioural challenges of individuals living with speech and hearing impairments such as feelings of neglect, anger, temper tantrums etc. She further explained the kinds of psychotherapy available to the individuals who might be going through such challenges.

Mr. Timothy Tinat (President of the Association of Sign Language Interpreters of Nigeria) was ably represented by Ms. Kindness Okoro (a sign language interpreter) who explained the role of sign language interpreters in bridging the gap between the speech and hearing impaired and the society at large.

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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@ Abuja, Nigeria