Since 1977, the Institute has prsovided rehabilitation for children with hearing impairment in Bangalore. This included auditory training after fitting with hearing aids and speech and language training. This service was given on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and children got only a few hours of therapy as they had to go to a normal school.
Over the years, speech pathologists and parents realized that the children were not doing well in their respective schools. At that point of time, there were only 2 English medium schools catering to hearing impaired children in Bangalore but none in Kannada medium. Therefore, the Institute management and staff decided to start a special school in Kannada medium for the benefit of hearing impaired children. In 1987-88, the school began functioning in a rented building with 15 children and 2 teachers.
In 1992, with a matching grants from Lions Club International Foundation, the School building came up inside the Institute campus and was named SUNAAD.
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To provide primary and middle school education in Kannada and English medium for hearing impaired children
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To provide special training in improving speech, language and listening skills
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To provide guidance to parents of hearing impaired children on home training
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To provide counseling for parents to handle the problems encountered in raising & educating a hearing impaired child.
Principal:
Ms. Margret Joseph, B.Sc., B.Ed., DSE (HI), MA-Sociology
28 years of teaching experience. Previously was principal at the pioneering Sheela Kotwala Institute for HI, Bangalore.
Staff:
18 well-trained and experienced staff. 14 teachers with DSE(HI) and remaining with many years of teaching experience in special schools.
Admission procedure:
Children with hearing impairments are first sent for audiological screening at the Institute, and admission is based on the recommendation of the clinician.
Present strength of the school is 180.
The school has two sections:
(1) The Pre-School section [for young children with hearing impairment, aged 1-6 years].
The objective of this section is to provide intensive speech, language and listening training to children between 1-6 years so that after training, they can be integrated into a regular school at the same age as their hearing counterparts.
The teacher to child ratio in the Pre-School section is 1:3. The age range of children in this section is 1-6 years. This low teacher-to-child ratio is maintained to ensure that the teacher is able to give individual attention to each child and also monitor his/her progress closely.
The curriculum for the young children with hearing impairment in the Pre-School section revolves around intensive language and listening training. All our teachers have a diploma in Special Education [Hearing Impairment]. The involvement of the parents is crucial for the success of the training program, therefore mothers receive regular training and counseling on the follow up required at home.
(2) Nursery to 7th standard – for children older than 4 years.
When hearing loss has been identified only after the age of 4 years, the child is admitted to the nursery section (not pre-school) of the special school. Here, basic training in language and listening is given. After 3 years of training, the child is ready to go to the 1st standard and is able to cope with the regular school [state level] syllabus from the 1st standard to 10th standard. They appear for the 10th standard examination along with hearing children. The only concession hearing impaired children get is that they are exempted from learning the 2nd and 3rd languages.
Integration is recommended depending on the child’s ability but generally children remain in the school till the 10th standard. Apart from the prescribed syllabus, the children are given extra training for language development.
Medium of Instruction:
Kannada medium - Pre-school to 10th grade
English medium - Pre-school to 7th grade (efforts are underway to get permission for continuation till 10th standard)
Mainstreaming children:
Segregation of the children into high and low functioning groups is done based on parental involvement & support, severity of HI. The children in the high functioning group (i.e., those with mild to moderate HI) receive Auditory Verbal Therapy, where the main aim is to provide the children with basic communication skills required for mainstreaming into regular schools.
Facilities:
The recommended teacher to child ratio is 1:8 in a special school. This is followed at Sunaad. Four of the classrooms have group amplification systems which help the children listen better.
The school has a well equipped library with several books aimed at developing children’s language & reading skills. Science laboratory is equipped with all the materials prescribed by state board syllabus. Computer training is also provided for children from class 2 onwards.
Extracurricular activities - Students are encouraged to participate in various activities and inter-school competitions and our students have won many prizes. In addition, annual visits to different places of historical interest are planned for the children, with the main aim of exposing them to different experiences and enriching their learning and communication skills.
