Two infant-intervention centres in Sri Lanka are referenced here for families with children who are deaf and researching the spoken-language option with digital hearing-devices.
CEHIC – Centre For Hearing Impaired Children
- Since 1992, the CEHIC in Dalugama has sent over 600 deaf children to mainstream schools in Sri Lanka after attending CEHIC from birth to age three. The community school supports deaf infants from eight months, in spoken language skills while offering hearing device and audiology services. Sister Greta, the centre’s founder, studied in Japan and teamed with parents after noting ‘the social marginalisation’ of children taught by traditional methods of deaf education.
The Amaliya Early Learning Centre
- The Amaliya Early Learning Centre in Colombo is a non-profit entity whose staff work with families to teach deaf children to listen and talk with early intervention. Parents and families partner with the centre to prepare infants from birth to age 3 to learn in English and Sinhala, for attending their local mainstream school at the relevant time.
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AURED in India, enrols infants from six months old for auditory-verbal therapy and runs a school for older children to learn to listen and talk with hearing devices, in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati before their mainstream school years begin. India has long been a pioneer in providing low-cost hearing and speech services for deaf children and their families – while providing sustainable models of early intervention for additional countries to replicate.
