In this posting, we have listed all the questions that Dr. Andrew Kendrick was asked during his presentation on March 25th.
UPDATE: NOW you can find the answers given by Dr. Kendrick in this posting as well! Please feel free to comment!
Natalia Tarasova: Which state legislative acts do parents in Australia consult to make sure the management of the school doesn’t refuse to enroll a child with a CI?
The department of Education, this is a state run body with different criteria for each state however, across Australia discrimination on the basis of disability for education is against the law. Also school are required to provide an individual education program to support a child with a hearing loss, this is typically done with the classroom teacher and the itinerant Teacher of the Deaf supporting that particular school.
Who accompanies a child with a CI at school apart from parents and classmates, is there a pedagogue specifically for that?
In Australia we have Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf. These teachers have completed a post graduate study in Sensory Impairment – Hearing. In government schools the Department of Education provides support to deaf and hearing impaired children integrated into the regular school system with an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf. The amount of time (in hours) depends on the needs of the child with a minimum of one hour per week and a maximum of 3 hours per week.
Catholic schools also have the same service.
Independent schools must self-fund itinerant support.
We also have hearing support units within schools where there is a teacher – student ratio of 1/6. The intent is for these children to be integrated into their local hearing school as soon as the auditory/language skills are on par with their hearing peers.
Do we see also a reverse process when the child goes back to a special school in the final years of his study because mainstreaming becomes too challenging?
Not really as mentioned above the emphasis is on developing age appropriate skills at an early age.
Which FM system is preferable – the one with the transmitter standing on the teacher’s desk, or hanging from the teacher’s neck?
We typically use the one around the teachers neck for the following reason:
Signal is always an equal distance from the teacher’s mouth – if it is on the desk then as soon as the teacher moves the signal to distance ratio is compromised.
Who buys the FM system for the child – is it just the parents or other sources to finance it?
We are very fortunate in Australia as the government pays for all audiolgoical services for children birth to 21 years of age. This includes:
- All diagnostic assessments
- Hearing aids, batters etc
- Fm system
- Cochlear implants including all cords, batteries etc.
FM systems are considered best standard of care here in Australia and kids start wearing them when they enter preschool at around age 3-4 years. However it is important to education both parents and teachers on appropriate FM usage. I recommend the following:
- If the teacher is talking 60 % or more then use the FM. For example language time, story time, number / mathematics.
- Where the teacher is talking less than 60% of the time don’t have the FM on as it is really important for our children to hear conversation and communication around them at times so they can develop the ‘incidental’ learning through ‘over hearing’. For example: craft time, group discussion, outside play, sports etc
[Liubov]: How to solve the problem in case the child using a child-teacher FM system must take part in group discussions? When these settings follow each other dynamically?
See above
[Glaskova_Tatjana-Uljanovsk]: Does the child turn the FM system on and off by themselves?
I think it is important to teach our children from a very early age to manage their own hearing technology such as;
- Putting coil back on head
- Putting processor on
- Changing battery
- Letting an adult know if the signal is not ok
- Managing the FM – however this does need to be monitored and up to the classroom teacher to ensure it is being worn appropriately. I do expect a child from around 5 years to be the one to give the teacher the microphone rather than the teacher asks for it.
What is the maximum age for a child to go to school if they were implanted with 3.5 years of age?
It completely depends on their listening and language age level. I think that if you have a delay in listening or expressive language skills of greater than 12 months then mainstream school is going to be very difficult for them and I would recommend a support unit if possible with a small student to teacher ratio. The objective of the school and the home must always be to close the gap so that the child can be mainstreamed with listening and language skills that will allow him/her to reach their full potential.
[Dinara – Almaty]: Is there a difference between FM systems used in class between teacher and child, and those used in music class or in the gym?
No they are the same, so the child only has one FM.
Does the child need an assistant in class?
Some children do, you can have a hearing buddy, a child in the same class whose role is to ensure the child with the hearing loss understands instructions and directions. There should be more than one buddy for a child as this can be quite tiring to be the hearing buddy so generally a few children will be chose.
At college and university our government does pay for the following services if a student requires them:
- Note taking – whose role is to take notes during the lectures etc so the student with the hearing impairment can concentrate on listening or lip reading the lecturer.
- Sign language interpreter if the student is sign dependent
- Li reading support – someone who repeats what the lecturer says in lecture so the hearing impaired student can lip read the content and generally they would write their own notes.
[Vera Lyubomudrova Moscow]: When the child has just entered school, should parents tell his classmates about implants, show how they work, in any way draw attention to this?
Absolutely. Often by ‘demystifying’ the equipment right up front you take the curiosity element out for children and they are less likely to pull it off etc.
We also give our children the language through which they themselves can explain their deafness such as, my ears are broken and I need to wear the CI so I can hear.
No matter what we do however it is likely that our deaf children will be bullied at some point and this will probably be at school. Research around bullying tells us that a child is likely to have continued bullying against them if they have positive self-esteem and the language to respond to bullying. Bullies typically will only systematically bully if the child they are bulling shows weakness, lack of self-confidence. By giving our children a positive self-image and self-esteem they are less likely to incur sustained bullying.
[Lena D Kiev]: What is the maximum interval between the first and second CI provided the child has worn hearing aids?
Research tells us that the shorter the time distance between the first and second, proving the first implant was early, the better the outcomes might be. However as we continue to understand more about brain plasticity we learn how resourceful the brain can be in reorganizing information. Typically in many developed countries babies are having bilateral simultaneous implants. I have heard of adults who had a 20 year gap between first CI and bilateral and they do well with the second implant, other who do not do so well with the second implant. It is crucial however, that if a child or adult has a second implant, no matter the time difference the second ear requires therapy not unlike they had with the first ear.
[Oxana Rudakova – Petropavlovck]: Which percentage of CI-implanted kids go to special schools for the hearing-impaired, and what is this caused by?
I don’t know the answer to this I will try and find out for you.
[Umnikova-Belgorod]: How to be sure that it is time to take the child from special kindergarten to a general one and how to help them adapt faster?
As mentioned before I think that for the most part children with a listening and spoken language delay of less than 12 months at 5 years of age can be successfully mainstreamed. I would recommend the parents do the following in order to maximized their child’s school experience;
- Have a communication book that stays in the child’s school bag. Parents write anything they think is important for the teacher to know for the day eg child on medication, child came back from holidays – this will help the teacher know what has happened in the child’ life and perhaps frame a conversation around this knowledge.
- Teacher writes key things that occurred at school during the day eg – story book they read, child fell over and hurt their knee – this helps him tell you the story when he come home.