The mission is part of an ongoing collaboration between the foundation and Vietnam's Thuan An Education Center. The collaboration consists of a multi-faceted Deaf Education Program featuring teacher training, professional development, audiology support and hearing aid distribution initiatives at 35 schools for the deaf in Vietnam. The multi-year program is designed to empower teachers and professionals with the expertise and tools they need to train each other and best serve children with hearing loss and their families in Vietnam.
Jill Bargones PhD, CCC-A demonstrates a hearing aid to two interested little boys
Between Jan 10-21, 2011, an international team of audiologists and auditory-verbal therapists will engage with nine schools in the foundation's Deaf Education Program. The team will conduct audiological services, hearing aid fittings, in-classroom coaching support, and auditory-verbal training to teachers, professionals and families. The foundation has received generous hearing aid donations from Oticon and Phonak. It received a grant from Kopernik to purchase Solar Ear hearing aids and to support its training efforts. The teacher training component of the Mobile Mission has the financial support of Oticon Foundation, Apex Foundation, and University Lions Club of Seattle. The foundation is seeking further donations in anticipation of the need.
Maura Berndsen MA Ed, LSLS Cert. AVT and Vietnamese teachers engage with a Vietnamese mother and daughter with hearing loss
The foundation's Hearing Aid Program delivers quality hearing devices to children in developing countries and helps facilitate ongoing audiology and education support. A $100 donation to this program will cover the cost of one hearing aid and two batteries. In 2010-11, donations to this program will fund hearing aids for children with hearing loss in Vietnam whose families cannot afford them. The foundation's team of audiologists will ensure proper fitting of the hearing aids.
Potential Impact
There are currently no professionally trained audiologists in Vietnam to serve the estimated 180,000 children identified with hearing loss in the country. Families are responsible for purchasing their own hearing instruments without government assistance. One teacher of the deaf typically works with 10 children in Vietnam. The foundation is serving 90 teachers at 35 schools in its first year, therefore directly benefitting 900 deaf and hard of hearing children in the first year of the program. In lockstep with the quote: "Give me a fish and I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. Teach me to teach others to fish and we can feed the world", teachers who attend training share their learning with others, making the benefits exponential. The foundation intends to expand its model to other developing countries such as Cambodia, Nepal, and Congo.
Parents travel from miles around to engage in evening lectures about language development in children with hearing loss
Cash donations to support the foundation's Vietnam Deaf Education program andthe foundation's Hearing Aid Program are accepted at: https://www.childrenwithhearingloss.org/difference.shtml To donate hearing instruments for the upcoming January mission, please contact Paige Stringer, Executive Director, Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss at paige@childrenwithhearingloss.org
About the Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss
The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in 2009. Our international mission is to help deaf and hard of hearing children around the world access the education, technology, and resources they need for life success. For more information, please visit: www.childrenwithhearingloss.org
