The Centre for Child Development, Research and Referral (CCDR) has donated a hearing aid worth GH¢ 4,000 to Miss Bernice Mensah Damptewa, a Junior High School leaver.

Miss. Damptewa has been suffering from hearing impairment for a couple of years and this condition affected her performance in school since she had difficulty hearing what was being taught in class. As a result of this, she performed poorly at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Miss Damptewaa was referred to the Centre for assistance and was supervised by an M. Phil. Special Education student, Mr. Ernest Yeboah, who discovered that she was suffering from hearing impairment. Subsequently, the Centre, as part of its services, referred her for audiological assessment at the Centre for Hearing and Speech Services at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

Through the efforts of the Head of the CCDR, Dr. Dr. Irene Vanderpuye, a hearing aid was donated by the Director of the Centre for Hearing and Speech Services, Dr. Yaw Nyadu-Offei for Miss Damptewa.

Handing over the equipment to the Miss. Damptewaa, the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Foundations, Prof. Eric Nyarko-Sampson, called for the establishment of hearing assessment centre for the University to support children with special needs.

Prof. Nyarko-Sampson urged the benefactor to take proper care of the hearing aid to prolong its lifespan. He appealed to benevolent individuals and organisations to support children with special needs.

The Director of the Centre, Dr. Irene Vanderpuye, for her part, thanked the Dr.  Nyadu-Offei of UEW, for donating the equipment to Miss. Damptewaa. She called for attention for children with special needs and appealed to government to support special needs institutions to be able to deliver their functions effectively. She used the opportunity to educate the benefactor on the use of the equipment. Dr. Vanderpuye appealed to public-spirited organisations to come to the aid of the Centre to assist children with special needs.

The mother of Miss Damptewa, Mrs. Salomey Gyasi Mensah, was grateful to the Centre especially, Dr. Vanderpuye for the gesture. “My daughter will now hear better because she normally looks at people’s lips to read what they are saying,” she said. According to the mother, she had to scream before her daughter could hear her from afar.

An M. Phil student reading Special Education, Mrs. Mary Osei, implored students to take interest to pursue special education programmes. She said “when students read Special Education programmes, they will know the special needs of students and will offer them broader knowledge in handling children.”

Mrs. Osei admitted that poor salary of teachers in special education was a major factor driving most of their colleagues away from the discipline. She, therefore, appealed to government to adequately remunerate and equip special educators to enhance teaching and learning.

Present was the Faculty Officer, Mr. Kweku Arhin and some national service personnel of CCDR.