The Centre for Deaf Studies is helping hard of hearing infants learn to communicate, to give them an equal chance when they enter school. With the help of our Chairman's Fund, they have now helped 650 children, over six years across three South African provinces.
Founded in 1998, the University of the Witwatersrand Centre for Deaf Studies in South Africa focuses on deaf education and assists the parents of hard of hearing children to deal with all the obstacles along the way. It provides formal study and workshops, conducts research, and provides support to families in order to ensure that children with hearing loss are school-ready.
The centre caters for deaf babies from birth to five years. Even though the programme's particular focus is on newborns to three year olds, no child is turned away, and short-term interventions are carried out for older children.
Our Chairman's Fund recently provided a R250,000 grant towards the centre's hearing and language opportunities parent education services (Hi-Hopes), which is the only home intervention programme in South Africa providing support for families of deaf or hard-of-hearing children.
The funding will be used for home visits, awareness materials, training of new trainers and four up-skilling workshops for existing parent advisers.
Our Chairman's Fund has been financially supporting the Centre for Deaf Studies at Wits University since its inception, and Professor Claudine Storbeck, Hi-Hopes' director, said that it has been crucial to supporting families of deaf or hard-of-hearing infants.