Everybody deserves a chance to do something worthwhile for themselves. As children, and later as adults, we’re expected to study well, figure out what we want to do with our lives, develop relevant skills and work towards the attainment of our goals. However, the same isn’t always the case with special children. Due to their disabilities, they’re often denied the opportunity to learn and work like others, and in turn, the opportunity to feel worth something.
At MBCN, children with special needs are given the attention and appreciation they deserve. To help hone their existing skills and develop new ones, they are trained extensively at school.
Products they make at Swayam include small decorative boxes, notebooks, jewelry boxes, envelopes, office kits, paper bags, and many more. The most widely sold and popular product that they made would be ‘My Prayer Box’. Made with meticulous care, these wooden prayer boxes contains 23 puja items, and are in tune with international quality standards. A huge hit in Indian households, ‘My Prayer Box’ is a harbinger of blessings and peace.
We must add, moreover, that these products are not only favorites among families. In fact, multiple brands like Taj Hotels, Hyatt, Nazeer, and Lakshita have chosen to work with ‘Swayam’ over the years. These brands are happy customers of Swayam, and they highly appreciate the products.
Within just months of their birth, most babies begin to hear sounds and recognise the rhythm and melody of voices. They often react to cooing sounds when someone talks to them…but what happens if they don’t?
As children get older, their hearing ability plays an important role in developing speech and language skills. An undetected and untreated hearing problem can have a devastating effect on their ability to learn spoken language. This can eventually hamper their schooling, education, career prospects, relationships and general quality of life.
In the past, often went undetected until they were around two years old – until it became obvious that he or she hasn’t started talking yet. However, with the advent of new and cost-effective technologies, hearing impairment can be identified and treated at a much younger age.
The following communication milestones can help parents and guardians read all the early signs of hearing loss in a child.
1. Newborn children get startled and jump in response to sudden loud noises, even if they are asleep. They might also try to turn towards the direction of the sound. If you happen to notice that your baby isn’t responding to loud noises, consider it a red flag.
2. A, E, I, O and U – we all are familiar with the five vowels. In fact, most babies start uttering these very early. While the inability to make vowel sounds does not confirm a hearing disability, it may indicate a problem with speech. Either way, it’s worth a visit to your pediatrician’s clinic.
3. Babies are fascinated by sounds, including music and conversations. Our world is a very noisy place, and a newborn should respond to these noises. Pay close attention to how your child reacts when a cell phone rings, or a car honks nearby.
4. In the first 4-8 months of growing up, babbling is the official language of babies – their preferred form of communication. The absence of babbling is one of the most clear signs of your little one having a hearing impairment.
5. Another form of hearing impairment occurs when your baby is capable of hearing, but responds to only a certain set of sounds. This is a case of selective listening.
6. If your child only reacts to vibrating sounds such as a cell-phone or a dryer, he or she may have a problem. Some babies with hearing impairment respond only to such sounds.
7. By the time your child is 12 months old, they should have learned their name. If they don’t yet respond to their name, they might not be hearing you at all.
8. The first words of a baby are magical for parents all around the world. By the time your child is one, they should be uttering single words like ‘ma-ma’ and ‘da-da’. If they don’t, it may be a warning call.Let’s not forget that all of these are just warning signs. They don’t guarantee anything. However, if you suspect anything, consulting a doctor is never a bad idea.
Detecting a hearing impairment as early as possible is a crucial step for your child’s overall development. We, at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, encourage parents to make their child undergo various processes for detection. If your child is born with a hearing loss or develops it at a later stage, he or she can still succeed in life and fulfill all their dreams. That’s precisely why we have special classes for students to learn sign language and acquire special skills through training.
Take a look at our special children teaching us the basics of sign language communication:
Information flows from a developed to a developing region. Even today, there are many areas in our country, which are deprived of intelligent application of the technology like internet banking and mobile apps. There is scarcity of special schools and trained professionals in many parts of our country. We, “Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan” are dedicated to remove barriers and improve disabled children lives residing even in far flung areas with the help of a mobile app, ‘Vaakya’. In a developing country, mobile device is the most effective medium to reach the unreached masses.
Our Centre for Research, Technology and Innovation presents this mobile based self-instructional tool highly useful for disabled children. Parents can guide the children with the help of this advanced app, easy in navigation and usability. Needs and emotions associated with food/drink, dressing & grooming, queries, recreation, travelling, can be communicated easily. Still much functionality is yet to be added to this app for making it more effective.
The unique features of the app are mentioned below –
The app, available easily on mobile/online is a picture-based AAC (augmentative and alternate communication) app
Leveraging app, the parents can check the growth level of their kids in different domains and then suggest them the best practising methods. It is indispensable to find out the delays in development.
The app will help the child in 7 domains – Motor, Cognitive, Social/Domestic, Self-help Skill, Language, Reading and Writing
An educator, therapist, guardian can create multiple user accounts. In coming time, the app will be added with much more functionality like advanced senors and discussion forum.
