Beyond the Silence…

Beyond the Silence…

With eyes wet and overwhelmed with emotions, Hafsa fumbles for words. “My son can talk to me now.” Till he was three, Habil Babu, 7, couldn’t speak to anyone, let alone call Hafsa ‘mother’.

The four years that Habil spent at the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) in Thiruvananthapuram have brought him back to normal life.

“Now he is just like any other child,” says Hafsa from Malappuram. “NISH has given us back the joys of life. If we had not been to NISH, our life would have been different,” she adds.

Habil’s is one of the many heart-touching stories that you hear from parents who have taken their children with hearing impairment to NISH.

Hafsa and her husband, Bilal Babu, didn’t realise that their son was living in the world of silence until he was two years old. They were rather late in detecting his disability. When Habil was two and half years old, they came to know about NISH and sought admission in the pre-school. Now Habil is studying in 2^nd standard in Government LPS, Kanjiramukku, Malappuram.

NISH, a venture of Kerala State Social Welfare Department, is unique in many ways. On the banks of Akkulam Lake, it’s the only one of its kind in the state. The Baker style buildings amidst the verdant campus make the ambience of NISH more picturesque.

Established in 1997, the charity-based NISH was the brainchild of G Vijayaraghavan, the founding CEO of Technopark. His vision became a reality when Dr. Pavithran, a professor at the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, also joined him in the journey. Kerala government gave full support for the venture.  Thus the institute came into being with just three students and gradually proved to be a milestone of the Social Welfare Department.

Vijayaraghavan says: “EK Nayanar was the chief minister when the initial plans were going on. The government was supportive. We started the pre-school and it came out successful. Gradually we started the degree courses also. There are only a few institutes like NISH in India. But they are concentrating only on some sections of what NISH is doing altogether, and this makes NISH distinct.”

NISH is a multipurpose institution dedicated to the welfare and rehabilitation of the speech- and hearing-impaired children across the state. It offers a wide array of services to help build a normal life.  Audiological rehabilitation, pre-school and parent guidance centre, correspondence programmes, ENT unit, psychology unit, technology division, vocational courses, summer school, etc, are some of the services NISH offers.

Samuel N Mathew, Executive Director, NISH, says: “Anybody can walk into NISH and have a hearing test free of cost. This is the first thing we assure you. NISH is growing fast with new promising plans and projects every year. The sincerity and hard work of a group of people working here are the backbone of this institute.” 

Dr Pavithran, who was the executive director of NISH from 1997 to 2010, says: “Apart from all other achievements, what I feel to be proud of NISH is its dedicated staff. Each and every person working there is sincere and attached to the disabled children. When I stepped out after completing my 13 years in NISH, I was glad that the institution would soar higher and higher even in my absence.”

There are three stages of training here. The first and foremost is the pre-school in which children of six- months to three- years are admitted. The earlier we detect the disability, the easier it can be overcome. So the pre- school has a vital role in the NISH campus.

“In the pre-school, only four students are admitted in a class. So each kid gets adequate care and training to overcome its disability. We insist on the presence of parents along with the kids in the classrooms. It is the dedication and hard work of parents which bring their child to normal life. We can guarantee that every child, after completing its pre-school here, can join a normal school,” says Samuel.

Many parents are grateful to the pre-school at NISH for helping their children to lead a normal life.

Abdul Gafoor, an employee at Kerala University and parent of Amal Gafoor who has completed his pre-school this year, says that his gratitude to NISH is beyond words. “My son was admitted in the pre-school when he was three years old and he is absolutely normal now. We are excited that he has got admission to 1^st standard in Jyothis Central School, Kazhakuttom. It is the hard work and care of the teachers at pre-school which brought our son a new life.”

Degree courses

NISH is the first institution in the country to start degree courses exclusively for the hearing-impaired. They offer degree courses in BSc Computer Science and in Fine Arts (BFA-Bachelor in Fine Arts). Both courses were started in 2008-09. Those who pass Plus Two with 50 per cent marks can apply for the degree courses.

The first batch of BSc Computer Science students completed their degree in 2011 and the result of 99.9 per cent was a proud achievement for NISH.

WIPRO (Mysore) conducted a campus selection at NISH and adding one more feather to the NISH family, four students were selected. At first, the company thought of ‘some help’ for better communication. But within a few days they came to know that their apprehensions were baseless and the children were not in any need of help.

The BFA students are completing their degree this year. As part of it, a degree show (Hues of Silence) was conducted in the campus from May 14-19 in which their paintings, handicrafts and sculptures were exhibited.

In 2002, NISH also started another degree course—Bachelor of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (BASLP)—for normal students, which has won an award from Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). Its post graduation course, MASLP, was also started in 2006.

Dr Suja, HOD, Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, says: “Every year, we have results of above 95 per cent, and those who pass out the BASLP and MASLP, get attractive placements.”

“We started an autism clinic four months ago and many parents, even from abroad, bring their children. Autism, if detected earlier, can be cured to an extent,” she adds.

The government has also decided to start detecting centres in selected hospitals to identify the problems of hearing, visual, mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, etc, through various tests right from the neonatal stage. Testing earlier and doing follow ups may reduce the degree of disability.

“The government is supporting our innovative measures and projects. Planning Board has approved Rs 40 crore and ADIP Scheme has granted Rs 51.57 lakhs for wheelchairs and hearing-aids, etc,” says Samuel.

“Of course, we do have a few challenges. Some children, who come to join the degree course from normal school without proper training in communication, find it difficult to follow the teachers. To resolve this, we have decided to start a pre-degree language development course for the children who seek admission for the degree courses,” he adds.

From the first class of three students 15 years ago, NISH has grown and expanded, realising their short-term goals and constantly working on their vision.

The creativity of the Fine Arts students makes the NISH campus colourful and lively. The brushes dipped in silence evoke wonders. The sculptures and paintings convey their emotions and perceptions.

(Vibrant Keralam)