Learning in school can be a challenge at the best time. But for listening children who cannot hear the teacher and cannot talk to classmates, there is a conflict every day.
This is the reality for Leena (name changed to protect her privacy), a partial deaf 7 -year -old from a city near Kosovo’s capital Pristina is the first 7 -year -old grader.
Leena does not use sign language and goes to a school that does not give appropriate support for children with loss of hearing.
Leena depends on gestures and to understand what is going on, but it is not ideal in a classroom with more than 25 students where things go quickly.
Help requires
“Psychologists told me that he was far behind in the classroom; he needs help,” Lina’s father, Fac T. Told DW.
Leena’s family thought that she was just a quiet child. Now, they believe that she was born deaf.
“When Leena was two, a relative noticed that she did not respond to her name.”
First, he did not believe it. “We called her name during the shake, hopefully she would react. But she never went away. When we knew,” Hey says.
After a long time, they do not do a variety of doctors. She has been receiving medical treatment for many years.
A hard journey
Their journey has not been easy: the way the family has faced all kinds of difficulties, including untoward private doctors, expensive treatment and frequent diagnosis.
“The cost of a process is € 25,000 ($ 27,800). He first said he is not deaf; then he said that he is. I did not decide.”
Fac came to know that his daughter was capable of listening to 10% in one ear and 13% in the other. After countless counseling and therapy, Leena’s hearing has improved.
“Now she hears 60% in one ear and 40% in the other, but the doctor said that she still needs a hearing aid,” says Fic.
Fak sees a significant improvement in his daughter. Nevertheless, during a letter exchange with DW, she mainly communicated through gestures and sounds, scanning her eyes, which is waiting to understand. His father fulfills most of his answers.
Misunderstanding about symbolic language
According to NGO Kosovar Association of the Def (KAD), very few deaf people in Kosovo can read lips. Most consider symbolic language to be the most effective form of communication.
However, many people in Kosovo do not use sign language, writing, gestures and techniques, it is often used. But the thesis is helpful in the form of things, they do not replace the need for a structured language.
Arta (name changed to protect his privacy) is in 11 and fifth. Like Leena, she is partial deaf and does not speak.
During an exchanges with DW, ARTA has used a pen and paper using a pen and paper, writing letters answers and saying that her favorite theme is mathematics and art and she is taking programming courses in a digital school.
“No, she does not know the symbolic language, and I don’t want her,” her mother, Mimoza J told DW.
There is a misunderstanding between many parents in Kosovo that learning symbolic language will make their children “very comfortable” and become an obstacle to their efforts to learn the spoken language.
But A study by Boston University and Valesly College It was found that the terminology spoken by learning symbolic language is not a hindrance in development. In contact with the spoken language, it is ensured that learning of symbolic language will not be delayed or prevented.
Stigma and refusal
“Information and deficiency of stigma are one of the main challenges that prevent parents from accepting the use of symbolic language,” Kad told DW.
Psychologist Etif Silas emphasizes the important role of symbolic language in communication and emotional development.
“As social legs, communication is the foundation of our relationships. Limit hearing complicates interaction with colleagues,” she says. “Sign language brids this difference, promotes communication among all children.”
Challenges on labor market
Accord for 2011 data from Kosovo Statistical Agency – The most recent data available – the country has an estimated 5000 deaf people and 4,500 people with hearing loss.
In the long term, people with hearing and speech disability face a high risk of exclusion from the labor market. Because Sign Language is not part of the school course in Kosovo, chances of discrimination remain high.
People with hearing disabilities “struggle to integrate in the job market as the infrastructure does not support their needs. The workplaces that lack proper adjustments in the workplaces that faces the thesis challenges,” Sociologist Flake Yamery told DW.
More imports, psychological effects of exclusion from young age can cause anxiety, low confidence, isolation and frustration.
Sign language in Kosovo
Cad reports that Kosovo has 16 certified sign language interpreters working in public institutions. Three are employed in the education system: two mother Teresa at Learning and Counseling Resource Center at Priuren and one at Elena Gajika School in Pryina.
For information provided by the Ministry of Education, 56 children with hearing loss participate in Mother Teresa Learning and Counseling Resource Center.
United Nations Conference on Personal Rights with Disabled States are required to ensure equal education opportunities for disabled students.
Sign language is not clear in Kosovo’s schools, nor is it used there as a language of instruction. In a statement to DW, Kosovo’s Ministry of Education said that integration is challenging and takes time.
Over the last 15 years, effigies have been created to reduce education for puff students, including passing laws on preview education and administrative instructor instructions at resource centers.
Although KAD has worked with the Ministry of Education to train many trainers, there is still a concrete plan to include symbolic language in the course.
Teaching material is available
A travel teacher for Mother Teresa Learning and Counseling Resource Center, Verim Selmani, says the Center has supported 120 students and has continued to break the communication obstacles in the rural AEAS, especially in the rural AEAS.
“We have recognized a four-level symbolic language program that is currently training teachers and students within the resource center. In future, it will be available to anyone outside the institute,” he told DW.
The KAD has created materials to teach sine language in 2012, including the first Kosovo sign language dictionary and a teaching DVD. The dictionary, which included more than 3,500 signs and 1,000 sentences, is Is available online,
But although all this constitutes progress, still has to go a long way – especially in terms of support from the state.
For now, Leena and Ata will continue to participate in classes, which they can untestral to Kosovo, they can take concept to ensure that signs are an integral part of the country’s education system.
Edited by: Angle Flangon
