In a garden of flowers stands a school – a special school for special children. They are hearing impaired and, therefore, have difficulty in speaking. It is the Teaching Centre for Hearing Impaired Children at Dalugama, Kelaniya which functions at pre-school level- a haven for hearing impaired children and their families.
Even though it was evening when I dropped in, the small classrooms were filled with the sounds of children copying the sounds and speech made by their teachers. In one corner of the hall sat a smiling nun giving individual attention to children. They hovered around and nestled close to her as they answered her questions. Watching the children were their mothers with eyes unwavering on the faces of their own as they listened intently to their articulation of words and sounds. It seemed as if they are now comforted by hearing their children’s efforts at speech. Heart rending was this sight.
“The aim of this Centre is to make hearing impaired children suffering from speech impediments capable of speech like any other person. Even eight-month-old children (who have yet not started speaking) are enrolled at this Centre,” said the Directress of the Centre, Rev Sr. Greta Nalawatte.
The children are taught to speak, read and write with the aim of enabling them to enter a mainstream school at the age of six. Around 75 children from eight months to five years attend classes at the Centre. Additionally, there are afternoon and evening classes for children attending regular school.
She said that their service recipients come from various parts of the island. “This is not a residential institute. Mothers have to be with their children during classes. All services are offered free. No fee of any sort is levied from any child.”
What this nun with a noble cause envisages is a just, fair and inclusive local and global society where children with hearing impairment and their families could live with dignity. To this end, she has made it her mission to urge the departments of health, social services and education as well as the relevant political, economic, cultural and religious institutions to establish necessary infrastructure.
“As soon as I was ordained a nun, at twenty years of age I was sent to teach in a school in Ragama where some of the children were hearing impaired. It was a residential school and small children were brought there. Little children of five and six years used to cry in the night and we comforted them and lulled them to sleep. Even though the children got used to this system eventually, I felt it was not a good system. The children were taught sign language but I always felt that these children had the ability to speak. I started to teach them to speak. Then I realised that the children could speak. What was needed was for us to take the trouble and teach them tirelessly.” However, the school did not edorse views and insisted on the traditional teaching methods Sister Greta explained.
Successful experiment
“As I had studied music, I wanted to teach it to these children. I believed that they could learn and appreciate music. I organised a band and taught them to play musical instruments. It was a very successful experiment,” Sister Greta reminiscenced her experience at the school.
Later, bidding goodbye to her teaching profession, Sister Greta had the intention of working among the poverty stricken and underprivileged communities. However, her plans were changed. Through the Ministry of Social Services, she was offered a scholarship to Japan to study teaching methods for the hearing impaired children. Though she refused the offer initially, with many people around her urging her to take it up, she had agreed to accept it. On her return to Sri Lanka, she was expected to submit a project proposal outlining how she was to use the knowledge gained in the future. Though she submitted a proposal to establish a school where children would be taught using these new methods, she was asked to resume teaching at her school using the old methods, Sister Greta commented.
Later, she was appointed as the teacher-in-charge of the Special Education Unit at the Kirillawala Maha Vidyalaya. When she had realised that there were no children with hearing impairment, she had gone to the nearby villages looking for hearing impaired children who had dropped out of school. Though the villagers had been suspicious of her as she was a nun, thinking she had come to convert their children to the Christian faith, Ven. Seelogama Wimala Thera, had come to her rescue and had explained the true state of affairs to the villagers. That had paved the way to the establishment of the first centre.
Since Sister Greta knew that preschooling was essential for hearing impaired children who planned to attend regular school, she had started preschool class for a few children. The first preschool was held in the verandah of a dilapidated medical centre in Borella, she said. There, mothers and children sat together on a few mats, at her class. “This was way back in 1983.”
As the number of students increased, there naturally arose a need for more space. Sister Greta went from house to house in Kirillawala looking for a place to carry on her classes. Last, she was offered a part of a very old house near the Government School in Kirillawala. She cleaned the place with the help of the village children and their families. Later, they built an additional wattle and daub section with pieces of wood, cardboard and plastic sheets for roofing; adjacent to what was offered to them originally.
Some parents voluntarily contributed towards the rent. This was how the Special Unit for Hearing Impaired Children at the Kirillawala School was started.
Sister Greta recruited students who had passed their Advanced Level exams as voluntary teachers. With the number of students increasing, this premises became insufficient as well.
Good fortune comes in the form of a Muslim businessman offering a block of land in Dalugama, Kelaniya on the terms of paying back ‘as and when possible.’ The businessman had wanted to enroll his child at the school. Seeing its chock-a block state, he had offered the land. That was the beginning of Sister Greta’s dream school for children with hearing impairment. With the blessings and generous support and leadership of Rev. Fr. Aloysius Pieris (Fr. Aloy) of Kelaniya many rallied around and contributed in making Sister Greta’s long time dream come true.“When a child is first brought here he or she is subjected to hearing and IQ tests. From these tests we can gauge the level of the child’s hearing ability. If their abilities are recognised and training started early, then there is a better chance of improvement,” explained Lakshman Biyanwila the Audiometrist of the Centre. Some parents wait a long while without seeking medical support. Some are of the belief that their child is going through apala (an inauspicious period). Some reason out that if a parent took a long while to speak, the same would happen with a child. So, they wait a long while before seeking help, he explained.
Holistic development
A regular class consists of eight students. They sit in a semi circle to enable the teacher observe and give individual attention to each student. Mothers sit at the same class on one side and gain competency in communication and teaching methods, to be used at home.
The Centre focuses on the holistic development of the children. Therefore, it had created a conducive atmosphere for the children to develop their academic, creative as well as social skills. Art, sculpture, handwork, music and sports are some of the extra-curricular activities offered at the Centre. Student participation is mandatory and the parents willingly join in as well. Here is a community who enjoy working together with each other overcoming the racial, religious and cultural differences. Sister Greta sees it as humanity. “All of us are human. Though we may take different routes, in the end, we all gather at the same place,” she said.The training is structured on the age and aptitude of the students, explained Ms. Joyce Moses, the Principal of the Centre. “Children under two years get one hour training. While one group trains from 8.30 to 11.30 a.m., another group receives training from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon. Every child at the Centre gets one hour of individual speech therapy per week. Mothers welcomed at every class, sit and absorb how to teach their children at home.
Initially, none are able to talk. The first hours of training are devoted to listening, to familiarise the different sounds and to identify the direction of sound. This progresses from learning the basic sounds, to words and sentences. “Before they start regular school, they acquire speaking and sentence writing skills,” commented Moses. The Centre for the Hearing Impaired, is a unique and new experience not only for the children, but their parents as well.
They are given an opportunity to build new social circles and begin life with new aspirations. “Our children learnt much from the Centre, not only academic skills but many social and other skills necessary for their daily life,” say parents. They opine that the time spent at the Centre is a beneficial time for the parents as well, “we have learnt much and were able to add many good things to our lives,” they point out.
It may have had very humble beginnings, but today the ‘Teaching Centre for Hearing Impaired Children’ at Dalugama, Kelaniya has become a beacon of light to the children with hearing impairment as well as their parents, offering them hope for life.