EURO-CIU NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2023
First trip abroad for Anastasiia – teacher for the deaf – from Kyrgyzstan to Vienna
“When the plane slowly approached Vienna, I couldn’t believe it,” says Anastasiia with bright eyes and full of expectations. It is the first trip out of the country for the 27-year-old therapist. She has an invitation from the Lehnhardt Foundation for an internship for a week and she has many questions in her luggage.
How is the treatment of hearing impaired and deaf children organized in Europe, specifically in Austria? Is there a nationwide neonatal hearing screening? What about early intervention? Are hearing impaired children entitled to get a hearing aid or maybe even two? When they are diagnosed as deaf, do they get a cochlear implant or even two? What about post-operative care, technical support and rehabilitation? Who pays for all this?
In her home country, the situation for hearing-impaired children is by no means satisfactory. In most cases, hearing impairment is recognized far too late. It is the parents who often only notice with irritation after two or three years that their child does not react to acoustic stimuli and does not start to speak. They are then often put off by paediatricians, they have to be patient, it will all work out.
The neonatal hearing screening has been in the pilot phase for a year through a project of the Lehnhardt Foundation with GIZ and also through an initiative of UNICEF.
Neither the government nor insurance companies pay for hearing aids, cochlear implants or rehabilitation. The result are long waiting lists for donors like the Ministry for Religious Affairs from Qatar, the German organization “Ein herz für Kinder”, the Turkish TIKA project and some private sponsors.
Anastasiia learnt that Neonatal Hearing Screening has been mandatory in Austria for decades.
At the University Clinic in St. Pölten she could familiarize herself with the organization of the CI program by a multidisciplinary team: criteria for patient selection (including single sided deafness), freedom for parents to select the CI from one of the three current manufacturers, 6 – 7 fitting sessions during the first two post-operative years and rehabilitation including music therapy.
In Vienna, Anastasiia spent a day with Ulrike Rülicke, a very experienced audio therapist who applies the natural auditory oral approach working with children and adults. Her institution is called “dazugehören” – which translates into “to belong” but the German word includes “hören” and has a semantic meaning. Ulrike´s focus is on counselling parents, supporting them to understand what is essential for the development of their child at a given time and to foster interaction. She very rarely uses the word “no” and emphasizes that “Language only arises when I exchange information and enter into a dialogue.”
In Vienna, Anastasiia also visited VOX (Center for hearing impaired) and ÖCIG (Austrian Cochlear Implant Society).
VOX offers technical support for hearing aids and cochlear implants, counselling people for situations in daily life, in their job or during their studies. They cooperate with therapists, clinics and other organisations. One of their aims is to change the legal situation and to introduce stationary rehabilitation following the German example, where CI recipients can spend 12 weeks in a specialized CI rehabilitation centre paid for by the insurance companies.
ÖCIG has been in existence for 30 years, members counsel children and adults, help to prepare documents for insurance companies and recently focus on two projects: “Listen up!” (a campaign to increase awareness for hearing impairment) and “Easy Rehabilitation” (development of a concept for stationary rehabilitation).
On her last day in Vienna, Anastasiia met Dr. Monika Lehnhardt-Goriany and her husband Michael.
One of the main topics was Telemedicine, internal documentation and work structure.
The internship helped Anastasiia to get new ideas, to better understand the organisation of post-operative rehabilitation and the cooperation between therapists and clinics.
“I now look at my work from a different angle and I want to apply and adapt many techniques to local circumstances in Kyrgyzstan, understanding the purpose of new and old tasks.” says Anastasiia before she has to leave.
