14 per cent of Pakistanis affected by feeding and speech disabilities

A programme for training trainers in the healing of speech, hearing impairment and emotional behaviour difficulties is on at the Ziauddin Medical University.

The media were invited on the fourth day of the workshop to meet the trainers from overseas on Tuesday. The workshop is concentrated around Talk Tools and Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS). It has been organised by the College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences.

Briefing the media, Amina Siddiqui, principal of the college which falls under the umbrella of the Ziauddin University, said that it was the first time that such a programme was being held in Pakistan.

The programme, she said, was instituted in 2005 and the ninth batch of graduates had passed out in 2019. Siddiqui said the programme was centred around strengthening feeding skills and alternative augmentative communication. She said that 14 per cent of the country’s population were affected by feeding and speech disabilities.

The college deals in a wide spectrum of disorders, including disorders which are the result of accidents. Renee Roy Hill from Texas, USA, specialises in oral placement therapy and systematic muscle training for speech. She deals in feeding disorders too.

The media folk witnessed a training session being conducted by her. The subject was a baby girl of around four or five who was suffering from feeding and speech disorders. What was most noteworthy and admirable about the curative technique was a demonstration of extreme love and patience which won over the little child so that she didn’t make a fuss and was very cheerful throughout the treatment.

Amina Siddiqui said that Pakistan stood at number three in the world as far as cleft palate was concerned. She said cleft palate rectification surgery was also going on in Pakistan.

The other two trainers were Louise Maggs and Christina Horne from the UK. Both of them were consultants with an organisation, Pyramid, dealing with such disorders.

Louise Maggs, clinical director at Pyramid, talked about the efficacy f the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication Systems). The technique, she said, consisted in showing a picture to an affected child. Then, he would be asked to describe it. Then overtime, he would begin to speak and utter more sentences than in the beginning.

Both Louise Maggs and Christina Horne said that such techniques also helped improve the condition of the victims of Downes Syndrome.

Talking about slow learners, they both agreed that a punitive approach to the rectification of slow learning was the most counterproductive technique and that creating a fright was anything but productive.

Christina was a teacher in a school where dealing with such disorders was her job but now she is a consultant with Pyramid, an organisation that deals exclusively with such disorders.

As for their impressions of Pakistan, they had a highly positive image of the country and said that they were really struck by the hospitality of the people and had shopped for lots of curios and things typical of the country.

News Desk adds: Amina Siddiqui said: “An individual who is perfectly fine or intelligent can also come up with inability to speak clearly, to speak fluently, stammering, inability to eat, chew and bite, children and adults both can have such issues. There could be neurological cause for it or sometimes it could be natural without any cause.

“There is no genetically transferred like generation to generation but yes they have a wide range of reasons for having them. Patients having such disorders would either have difficulty in speaking or sometimes complete silence means no speaking at all.”

Renee Roy Hill said, “We have a systematic approach to dealing with muscles-based disorders. We work on developing and feeding skills because that’s where muscles development starts in babies. We have many exercises and activities to help and buildup muscles.”

“It’s a global problem which is already seeking training for years. The more people get awareness the more change we will see. Parents of infants who know there is disability with their children should contact therapist immediately because delaying for four to five years will become a bigger problem for the family,” she further stated.

Addressing the workshop as trainer, Louise Maggs said if people get awareness timely they are more likely to seek help and get diagnosis. In the UK, patients are increasing significantly for the past 15 years. Maternal malnutrition is one of the causes for various abnormalities and disabilities.