Africa-Press – Seychelles. For the first time, five parents whose children attend the school for the deaf, have taken part in a training of parents offered by the deaf association.
A small ceremony was organised to deliver the certificates to the parents yesterday at the STC food court.
Founder of the Association for People with Hearing Impairment (Aphi), Anita Adeline Gardner shared that “this project was funded by the national grant offered by the Ministry of Education and it targeted five parents. The objective was to train parents to use sign language and communication techniques in the education domain. It was a six months’ training running from July 6 to December 20, 2022”.
This project is the first of its kind and the deaf association will organise other training sessions in the future.
Mrs Adeline Gardner started the association in 2002 alone and in 2005 she was joined by others. “The deaf association has a great responsibility in taking care of deaf people. We also have to cater for sign language for children and we have been able to work on producing a dictionary. It is our responsibility to teach the population about sign language. We have free sign language classes and we invite the population to come forward. We also cater for teachers who work with the children. The most important component of the community is the family and that is why we initiated the project,” said Mrs Adeline Gardner.
Kathy Euphrasie, mother of six-year-old Aaliah Hertel, shared that she noticed that her daughter had a hearing problem when she was two years old.
“My daughter is at the school for the deaf and when she was two years old, after her medical test, they referred us to the North East Point hospital to see the audiologist. After meeting with Miss Anita, we were able to understand her situation better and she is doing really well.”
The most amazing part is that the father of Aaliah is not present in her life but her stepfather Travis Mathiot is present all along. “We both work and it was difficult to understand the messages she tried to communicate to us, but thanks to the session we now better understand her and she also does her best to make us understand what she wants to communicate to us,” shared Mr Mathiot.
Another proud parent is Fatima Gabriel, the mother of seven-year-old Faith Gabriel. “Faith was born with a few birth defects and we never realised she could have hearing problems. She attended first year crèche in a normal school but could not catch up with the curriculum. It was the teachers who noticed that she might have a problem. They approached Anita themselves and after spending a day with her at school, Anita contacted me personally. Now she is at the school for the deaf and she has improved a lot. With sign language it is easier to communicate,” said Ms Gabriel.
Doris Freminot, mother of Samuel who 16 years old, is grateful for such a training as this has helped to consolidate her knowledge in sign language. “It is very important for a parent who has a child with hearing deficiency to learn sign language as it makes communication easier. Even though it is an ongoing learning process, we are happy to learn more,” said Ms Freminot.
Ms Freminot has sent out a message to all parents who find themselves in this situation and to the community: “Do not get desperate, bring your children forward. It will help with the development of your children. Many people do not understand our children but we make sure of learning the sign language to communicate with our children. Our children have special qualities and this makes us proud.”
Medgee Morgan, a member of the deaf association, noted that “unfortunately there are some parents who keep their children who may have a disability away from all the assistance available and this is to the children’s detriment. Please, do come forward and let your children learn something. Do not be shy to go out with your children.”
Parents with children with hearing deficiency are asked to contact the deaf association to learn the technique of communication. The school for the deaf located at Mont Fleuri hosts 12 children who are being educated by our teachers.
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