When a child does not speak or respond to calls even after turning two or two-and-a-half years old, medical examinations often reveal congenital deafness. To help such children hear and speak, a charitable organization, 'Cochlea Pune for Hearing and Speech', has been working since 1998. The organization runs a center at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's (PCMC) Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital in collaboration with the Ashwini Medical Foundation.
Through the organization, about 400 children have undergone surgeries and 1,200 children have been treated so far. Many of these children have now started hearing and speaking, and some have even pursued higher education and started jobs or businesses, said Dr. Avinash Vachasundar, the executive trustee of the organization.
If treated before the age of three, a child can hear. After that, speech and language training, as well as pre-primary education, is provided up to the age of six, and later the children get admission to regular schools. To enable children to practice at home, their mothers themselves are trained, Dr. Vachasundar said.
At the YCM center, children aged 0 to 6 years are given language and speech training through play from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 3 pm, informed trainer Seema Kulkarni.
Along with YCM in Pimpri, the organization has centers in Rajgurunagar, Manchar, Narayangaon, Daund, Pirangut-Urawade (residential center), and Kudal in Sindhudurg district. The organization has about 50 trainers, which includes 35 mother-trainers.
