The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss is preparing for its next training program to take place in Danang and Dong Nai this Fall. A few of the Vietnamese teachers and audiology technicians who work in these provinces have already been participating in our training programs in Binh Duong provinces these past several years.
We visited both locations these past few weeks to prepare for the upcoming programs. While in Danang, we visited a school that employs Mai, an audiology technician who is enrolled in the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss audiology training program. Mai welcomed me to join her in an appointment she had scheduled with a four year old girl with hearing loss and her mother. When the little girl came into the room, she immediately hugged Mai in a warm embrace that only comes in a relationship built on trust and familiarity. Mai listened intently to the mother’s questions about her daughter’s hearing aids and a previous audiogram. She confidently addressed the mother’s concerns and even utilized a Familiar Sounds Audiogram as a visual aid to help her understand.
They all then went into the sound booth where Mai did a diligent job testing the child’s hearing and then explaining the results to the mother. It was really wonderful to observe the effects of the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss audiology training come through in this technician’s service to the family. Mai is sharing her knowledge with an aspiring audiology technician at her center and is also educating the teachers there about the correlation between audition and language so they can better serve the children with hearing loss in the educational programs.
The school in Dong Nai was established by one of the participants in our Vietnam Program shortly after we launched in 2010. Sister Thuy has been a dedicated participant in our training programs over the years. She is a shining example of someone who not only absorbed the knowledge, but then has had the dedication and initiative to apply it. She developed this school which provides early intervention, kindergarten classroom, and inclusive education services. She has been training her staff on teachings provided by the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss over the past few years.
The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss team created a series of development charts as a tool to help Vietnamese therapists and teachers assess the children they serve. Enlarged representations of these GFCHL development charts are hanging in the hallways of the Dong Nai school for parents to study and understand.
The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss has invested in this school’s audiology equipment and training. Through Sr Thuy, the center is now providing quality audiology care as well as educational services to young children with hearing loss in the province.
We also recently received word that Ho Chi Minh City National University of Education will be offering a course in Auditory-Verbal Therapy as part of its deaf education curriculum for special education students this year. The course material will based on the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss curriculum.
It is truly inspiring to see the investment of knowledge sharing, training, and resources by the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss take root among the professionals and families in Vietnam. With their drive and initiative, these Vietnamese are creating positive change that will benefit so many young children with hearing loss in their country both now and in the future.