Johannesburg – In 2012, Venisha Naran, a speech language therapist and audiologist situated in Johannesburg, carried out a standard hearing screening for a Grade 1 student at a private school within the city.
The referral included a brief description.
“They indicated that they didn’t suspect any issues with her ears, but she had recently relocated from China and was having difficulties with English,” Naran recalls.
Naran conducted the hearing test on the child.
She later screened her again to verify her initial results. Following the assessment, she sent the young girl home with a note requesting a meeting with her parents: it wasn’t the language barrier causing challenges – she had hearing impairment in both ears.
Throughout the learner’s academic journey, Naran provided her with three different pairs of hearing aids.
Last year, she graduated high school in a regular setting and is currently pursuing a degree in engineering.
“If her hearing issues hadn’t been identified, people might have continued to attribute her learning difficulties to her second language when, in fact, she couldn’t hear,” Naran explained.
Screenings pave the way for a brighter future for children
According to Naran, for every thousand infants born, up to three may be born with hearing impairment.
Furthermore, some children may suffer ear infections that could lead to temporary or permanent hearing loss if left undetected and untreated.
The challenge is that young children often don’t realize they have hearing impairment due to lacking a frame of reference.
“Most of the time, they just adapt,” Naran stated.
She gives an example of a little boy with hearing loss in one ear.
He would tilt his head to listen and only used the phone on one side.
However, he remained unaware of the reason for his actions, and his mother didn’t notice until the hearing issue was uncovered during a screening.
“These children often can’t express that they can’t hear,” Naran added, emphasizing that “they’re often perceived as uncooperative or inattentive when, in fact, they are children who cannot hear.”
Indicators your child may be experiencing hearing difficulties
Hearing impairment can manifest in various ways, some of which may be unexpected:
- Delayed speech and language development
- Difficulties in following instructions
- Poor reading skills
- Underwhelming academic performance
- Chronic fatigue
- Avoidance of social encounters
- Behavioral issues
- Tilting their head to hear better
- Frequent misunderstandings
- Requesting information to be repeated
- Turning up the volume on electronic devices
- Failure to respond when out of sight
- Experiencing ear pain, notably during infections
While these signs can suggest potential hearing impairment, they do not conclusively diagnose it, underscoring the necessity of thorough screening.
Naran supports making hearing screenings a standard protocol in schools, allowing parents to opt out rather than opt in.
“Many parents forgo hearing screenings due to barriers such as cost and lack of awareness,” stated Dr. Liza Street, a pediatrician and co-founder of Ajuda, a digital medical information storage service.
“Financial limitations often render screenings unaffordable, as parents prioritize essential needs like food, shelter, and childcare, relegating screenings to a lower importance,” she continued.
“Additionally, many parents may not fully grasp the profound effects that untreated hearing issues can have on their child’s speech, learning, and social growth.”
Ajuda seeks to address these challenges through a school screening initiative that includes not only the screenings themselves but also provides secure digital storage for results in a complimentary Ajuda vault that the child can access throughout their life.
Significance of maintaining records
“We require a better record-keeping system because currently, I provide the original results to parents and merely maintain a summary in a spreadsheet – those results can be lost if parents misplace them,” Naran noted.
This can become particularly concerning when children have abnormal screening outcomes.
While it may not require immediate treatment, that initial screening lays a foundational baseline, potentially offering valuable insights to healthcare providers over time.
“Tracking changes over time, observing variations in results, assessing the impacts of interventions as the child grows, and understanding their development are all vital for enabling effective long-term care,” explained Taryn Uhlmann, co-founder of Ajuda and a staunch advocate for preventive healthcare screenings.
Naran has encountered this situation more than once.
“With speech therapy, individuals have reached out to me years later asking for an assessment report because they were unable to find it,” said Naran.
Through a combined approach of promoting screenings in schools and ensuring secure storage of results via the Ajuda vault, Uhlmann and Dr. Street aim to equip the next generation with a lifetime of crucial personal health information.
“Having access to securely stored and readily available results means that no matter where your child goes throughout their life, they will always have essential health information accessible, facilitating comprehensive and holistic care,” Uhlmann concluded.
To learn more about Ajuda or to create your own free Ajuda health vault, visit www.ajuda.co.za.
