The Belfast mum of a deaf teenager has called for urgent funding so that children with hearing difficulties can have the same opportunities as their peers.
Abbie McKenna will meet with the children’s commissioner Chris Quinn next week to discuss what needs to be done to help deaf children, who currently face the prospect of lower academic achievement, lower employment, and are at higher risk of poor mental health, bullying and social exclusion.
She said her daughter Katie was supported to listen and speak with auditory verbal therapy, describing it as transformative and that every deaf child in Northern Ireland should have access.
“Katie is a typical 13-year-old who loves Taylor Swift, football and dreams of playing in the top collegiate USA Women’s Soccer League,” said Abbie.
“She is also deaf, wears cochlear implants and was supported to listen and speak with auditory verbal therapy.”
Abbie has joined with the Auditory Verbal UK charity, which supports deaf babies and children to learn to listen and speak and have the same opportunities as their hearing peers, and to call for urgent investment to provide early and effective support for more deaf babies and children.
“Katie was a little girl who always wanted to talk,” Abbie, who found out her daughter was deaf when she was just 10 days old, added.
“She said her first word at 13 months, and when her hearing began to deteriorate, we knew she would need some additional support which is when we found out about the auditory verbal therapy programme offered by charity Auditory Verbal UK. The difference their support has made is phenomenal.”
Katie graduated from Auditory Verbal UK’s family-centred auditory verbal therapy programme aged five with spoken language skills ahead of a hearing child her age, and has always attended mainstream school. She is now at a high-performing grammar school in Belfast where she has many friends and interests.
Abbie said: “Katie is the youngest of three children and by far the most confident and independent. She has always wanted to do everything on her terms and been determined that being deaf will not stop her doing anything at all. But deaf young people in Northern Ireland are still at a disadvantage to their hearing peers. This has to change.”
Recent public research revealed that 41% of adults in Northern Ireland believe it is not possible for a child born profoundly deaf today to learn to speak as well as a child without hearing loss.
However, international evidence shows that around 80% of deaf children who spend at least two years on an auditory verbal therapy programme graduate with age-appropriate spoken language and the majority are attaining educational outcomes on a par with hearing children.
There are approximately 200 deaf children under five in Northern Ireland. Currently, there are no certified auditory verbal therapists here working in local services, with just one certified auditory verbal therapist working in private practice.
Auditory Verbal UK chief executive Anita Grover recently met with Stormont junior ministers Aisling Reilly and Pam Cameron to explain the urgent need for investment for the future of deaf children in the province.
“Northern Ireland has one of the best newborn hearing screening programmes in the world,” she said.
“However, deaf children are not currently achieving the outcomes that we know are possible and we are not currently maximising the return on the investment being made in screening and technology.
“When deaf children have access to early and effective support to develop language and communication, whether their families choose to communicate with spoken language, sign language or both, outcomes are transformed.”
To ensure every deaf child has the opportunity to access therapy, there would need to be at least seven specialist auditory verbal therapists in Northern Ireland, though just one is set to qualify next year.
It is estimated that £800,000 is needed over the next 10 years to enable all deaf children under the age of five in Northern Ireland the option to access therapy programme close to where they live through training a small proportion of the existing workforce and supporting some of the most vulnerable children direct as a sustainable workforce is built.
Ms Grover added: “As well as transforming opportunities and outcomes for deaf children, it is estimated this would deliver in the region of £4.5m in economic benefit over 10 years through improved quality of life, employment prospects, lower costs of schooling and avoided injuries.
“For those families who want their deaf children to learn to listen and talk, the benefits of auditory verbal therapy are clear.
“By improving outcomes, we can unlock significant savings for Health and Social Care. But urgent investment in the workforce is needed now so that more children can be supported to have the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers.”