On Saturday May 9, 2009, TRC’s Nida Alavi attended a workshop held at Ziauddin Hospital in collaboration with AKU-IED. Ziauddin College of Speech Language Therapy (ZCSLT)’s Dr. Amina Siddiqui spoke to participants about how teachers in a mainstream classroom environment can support children with auditory disabilities.

Issues with hearing are extremely common among children and yet often go unnoticed. Furthermore, even with a diagnosis, children with auditory disabilities (who are completely capable of functioning effectively in a typical classroom) often do not have the benefit of teachers who understand their needs and can therefore facilitate their learning.

The workshop was interactive, both in contributions from the audience as well as the use of media like video clips. Furthermore, it was useful in comprehending how auditory disabilities can impact children within the classroom and therefore, how they can be supported in becoming independent learners.