VIETNAM DEAF EDUCATION PROGRAM
for teachers, families, and children with hearing loss

Check out our latest video about the foundation and our work in Vietnam:  

OVERVIEW

There are over 180,000 children with hearing loss under the age of 18 in Vietnam. For these children to develop listening, spoken language, and cognitive skills, they must have early access to sound (hearing aids and/or cochlear implants) and to trained professionals who can help foster their auditory and language development.  With such support, these children can then aspire to broader education and employment opportunities in Vietnam and have greater potential for leading independent, contributing lives in their hearing communities. There is savings to society as well with the reduction in need for lifelong state disability support.

OPPORTUNITY

Vietnam only recently began providing education and resources to professionals, teachers, and families who work with or have children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The framework of audiological support is in its early stages of development and speech therapy, early intervention, and auditory-verbal education are still relatively new concepts.

OUR SOLUTION

The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss is collaborating with Vietnam’s Thuan An Education Center to conduct a multi-faceted Deaf Education Program. It features teacher training, professional development, audiology support, and hearing aid distribution initiatives.  The multi-year program is designed to empower teachers and professionals with the expertise and tools they need to train each other and best serve children with hearing loss and their families in Vietnam.

TEACHER TRAINING

The teacher training component is focused on educating teachers and families about how to help children with hearing loss between 0-6 years of age develop listening and spoken language skills. The Vietnamese deaf education community has requested more training in this area of deaf education.

A contingent of American professionals in audiology, speech language pathology, auditory-verbal education, and early intervention lead the summer intensives at Thuan An Center. Teachers from 35 deaf schools located in 20 provinces throughout South Vietnam travel to the Center to engage in the one-month training event. The schedule includes lectures and practicum by day for teachers, evening sessions for parents, and individual consultations with families - all designed to help children acquire listening and spoken language skills. The Foundation and Thuan An Center held the first training event in Summer, 2010. The workshop involved 90 teachers and 25 families from Hue to the Mekong. They are now preparing for Summer 2011's event which will include both returning and new participants.

MOBILE MISSIONS

The Mobile Mission program complements the summer teacher training workshops at Thuan An Center. A team of international experts travel to the contingent of 35 participating deaf schools throughout the year to provide in-classroom coaching support, audiology training to teachers, professionals, and families, and hearing testing and hearing aid fitting for children. The first Vietnam Mobile Mission is scheduled for January 2011.

POTENTIAL IMPACT

One teacher of the deaf typically works with 10 children in Vietnam. Since we are serving 90 teachers at 35 schools, our program will directly benefit 900 deaf and hard of hearing children. In lockstep with the quote: "Give me a fish and I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. Teach me to teach others to fish and we can feed the world", teachers who attend the workshop will share their learning with others, making the benefits exponential. This is a model we will expand to other developing countries in the future.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Please click on the links below to read news coverage about this project:

Hearing Loss Magazine - March/April 2010 (pdf)

Northwest Asian Weekly

Voice of America (Vietnamese)