ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 2012

NISHQUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SPEECH & HEARING

Greetings!

Our team brought this newsletter on time as promised!. Congratulations Swapna, Sapna and Silvy!. Thank you for your efforts!

The highlight of this edition is the first batch of graduating students in B.Sc. Computer Science (HI). Congratulations! Being the first exclusive batch of deaf and hard of hearing students who earned their University degree after three years of hard work, we are proud of their achievement and we wish them well for a bright future! The upcoming ‘Degree Show’ by the final year Fine Arts degree students is slowly taking shape in the painting studio and sculpture workshop of the Fine Arts department. We are planning the Show to be at the end of May, just before their graduation. It will be a proud moment for us, as our students display their creative talents in public. They are getting ready to move out and take on life with its challenges and opportunities. Some have plans for higher studies while others want to join the work force. We will be eager to see how they bloom outside of the confines of academics and the protective mantle of the parents.

We had excellent results for our second semester BASLP students. With 20 'first class' in a class of 25, they have come out with flying colors. We hope to sustain similar performance in the coming semesters too. The last batch of 'year scheme' BASLP is in the final few months. They will go for internship after their exams in March/April. We wish them well in their future endeavors!

On January 16, we started an Indian Sign Language Level ‘A’ class for 30 of our staff. There are three sessions everyday. Additionally the degree students are given sessions on Satur-days to expose them to ISL signs which are different from the regional sign language. We hope to provide training in sign language on a continuing basis for our students, staff and outside public in the coming days. We have to work out the details.

In January, the construction of the new academic building started in full swing . We hope to have the first two floors ready for the next academic year.

We have tried to highlight a few other events on campus in the following pages. Enjoy! Please feel free to write your comment on the contents or layout at nishinfo@nish.ac.in. We hope to promptly bring out the future issues also.

As we look forward to a fruitful and fulfilling 2012, we invite you to join us in our journey to serve people with disabilities across the state and beyond! Thank you for your interest in NISH.

Dr. Samuel N MathewExecutive Director

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Minister & Subject Committee.... 2

Talk by Dr. Jerry L Northern 2

Anurag Behar visits NISH 2

Art Exhibition by .......... 2

Research grant 2

New Chairperson for ........ 2

Meritorious Achievement 2

Republic day celebration 2 Workshop on Strategic ...... 3

CRE Program 3

ISL class commenced 3

Conferences and ............. 3 Review Authority............... 3

NISH Pace Setter 3

Camps & clinics 3 Correspondence programme 3

XVII National Deaf Athletics ....... 4

Module to Augment .............. 4

Rejuvenating Trip to ....... 4

Infotainment for the ............ 4

Degree (HI) students visited.... 4

Global Reach Out Initiative 4

Emphasis on Sports ........... 4

“Empower to Enrich, Include to Integrate”

PAGE 2QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

Research grant

Dr. Padmaja M, ENT Consultant and Ms. Praveena Davis, Senior Audiolo-gist were awarded a grant to conduct a research study that has implications for ‘genetic counseling’ and its far reaching effect on reducing deafness. The study titled, “Understanding the DFNB mutation map in Autosomal recessive Non-Syndrome Deafness from Kerala”is for Rs.13.9 lakhs and will be done over a period of 3 years.

It was a moment of pride when Kerala University announced the result of the first batch of BSc (Computer Science) (HI). It is the first ever degree program for the deaf and hard of hearing in India. Eight of them have graduated with distinction and ten of them scored first class.

Shebin Y F, Lijo Joseph and Kannan T R secured the first, second and third ranks respec-tively. Shebin Y F Lijo Joseph Kannan T R

Meritorious Achievement

Minister and Subject Committee visits NISH

The 13th Kerala Legislative Social Welfare Subject Committee visited NISH on 3rd January 2012. The visitors included Ms.Jayalakshmi, Honourable Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Tribes, Youth Affairs, Museum and Zoo (Vice Chairman of the Subject Committee), Mr.Anwar Saddath M.L.A. and Mr. Chittayam Gopakumar M.L.A (member of the committee)

The Subject Committee observed various activities of NISH and visited different departments. The Executive Director, Dr. Samuel N. Mathew gave a briefing on the history and the present activities of NISH. Hon. Direc-tor and Planning Board Member, Shri. G. Vijaya Raghavan was also present during the visit.

Anurag Behar visits NISHThe Vice Chancellor of Azim Premji University, Anurag Behar along with Professor Santhakumar visited NISH on December 1, 2011. During his inspiring speech to the students, he spoke about being positive in life. Mr Behar reflected that at Wipro they have found people with disabili-ties were far more better at work than their normal peers, as they were more dedicated and loyal. Mr Behar also spent some time to answer the questions of the students.

Talk by Dr. Jerry L Northern NISH organised a talk by Dr. Jerry L North-ern on “Frontiers in Pediatric Audiology Research" on 26th January 2012. Dr. Jerry is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he served as Head of the Audiology Clinical Services for more than 26 years. He is considered as the father of Pediatric Audiology and is a Founding Member of the American Academy of Audiology and served as the National Organization’s third President.

Art Exhibition by Fine Arts StudentsSARANG, an exhibition cum sale of artworks was organised at ‘Atrium’ of Bhavani Building in Technopark, Trivan-drum on December 14, 2011.

The event was organised by UST Global - Trivandrum as part of their CSR activities. It included the sale and exhibition of paint-ings, drawings, sculptures and craft items made by the fine arts students from NISH. Through the day there were visitors who bought a number of paintings - small and big. Some of the students drew caricatures on the spot.

This was the second art exhibition of our students’ work at Technopark in partnership with UST Global. The earlier exhibition was conducted in August 2011.

Republic day celebrationThis was the first time when the national flag was hoisted in Nish campus celebrating the 63rd Republic day. Executive Director Dr. Samuel N Mathew hoisted the flag at 8 am in the presence of the students and teachers. According to him, the country in its 63rd year as a republic has devel-oped in every field and we at NISH should strive hard for the satisfaction of the common man. Whoever comes to NISH should go back with the happy, satisfied mind and that should be taken care of by the members of NISH family.

Dr.PADMAJA M

Ms.PRAVEENA DAVIS

Ms. Sarada Muraleed-haran served in 2011 as the Chairperson of the NISH Project Board in her capacity as the Secretary (Social Welfare). Thank you,

Ms. Muraleedharan for your support and leadership. Dr. K.M. Abraham, Principal Secretary (Higher Education) has been given the additional charge of Social Welfare and hence will serve as the Chairper-son from February, 2012. We heartily welcome Dr. Abraham to the NISH family and we hope we will continue to enjoy the special consideration for our good initiatives.

Ms. Sarada Muraleedharan

Dr. K M Abraham

New Chairperson for NISH Project Board

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

Workshop on Strategic Management of Swallowing DisordersNISH organised a one day workshop on Strategic Management of Swallowing Disor-ders on 26th November 2011 at Travancore Hall, Technopark, Trivandrum. The workshop focused on relevant issues related to Dysphagia. This workshop provided necessary insights into swallowing problems in patients with neurological condi-tions & head and neck cancers, with an e m p h a s i s

on the assessment and management protocols through video presentations & demonstrations.

Ms. Gayatri Hattiangadi, Ag HOD, Dept. of AST, TNMC & BYL CH Nair Hospital, Mumbai was the resource faculty. 150 participants including students, ENT Specialists, Oncologists, Physiotherapists, Speech pathologists, Radiation therapists and Nursing practi-tioners attended the workshop.

Correspondence programme

NISH relaunched its correspondence education programme for the parents of the young hearing impaired children. 25 parents from Parappanangadi deaf school have already joined in the programme. Ms. Sapna K, Preschool teacher coordi-nates the program.

Review Authority for Research (RAR)

The Review Authority for Research (RAR) has been constituted at NISH. Dr Samuel N Mathew, Executive Director will serve as the Chairperson for this team. The other members are:

•Dr Padmaja representing the medical expertise•Dr. Suja Kunnath representing ASLP•Dr. Anne Varghese representing Psychol-ogy and Social aspects

Any research study done at NISH or by NISH staff will have to be submitted first to the RAR beforehand and the team will review the same and suggest modifications or corrections as required. This will stream-line the research and is expected to increase the quality of research at NISH.

CRE ProgramA three day CRE program organised by NISH from December 20 to 22nd 2011.

The topic for the Continuing Rehabili-tation Education program was Acous-tical and Perceptual Analysis of Voice and Speech. Around 50 participants attended the program.

Conferences & Paper Presentations

Lijidas L S, Aswathy C and Anne Varghese presented papers at the National Seminar on Psychological Counselling: Practice, Problems and Prospects (NSPC-2012), held on 6th and 7th of January 2012.

Ms Sreena, Ms. Arya and Ms. Sreebha served as resource persons to Curriculum devel-opment centre , Kalamassery on “Class room management of hearing impaired” Ms Praveena Davis was the invited speaker on the topic “Ageing and Audition- An effective clinical practice” for WISHCON, Calicut on 20th November 2011.

Dr. Suja K Kunnath, was the invited speaker on the topic “Recent trends in speech language and hearing science” at Indian Pediatric Association conference, Kollam on 20th November 2011 Ms Reesha and Ms Lakshmi Mohan served as resource persons for CRE program at Balavikas, Trivandrum on child language impairments on 30th December 2011

Camps & clinics

Senior Citizen Camp was conducted from 30th November to 1st December 2011 at NISH and 44 persons were tested .

NISH Pace Setter

Mr.VIJAYAKUMARLab Assistant

Ms. VINITHA GEORGELecturer

At NISH we serve others, and this program intends to recognize a person who did something above and beyond their usual call of duty. This is simply to say, "You set a good example for others. We salute you". Any staff can nominate any of their colleagues whom they think is worthy of mention. The person who nominated would be kept anonymous.

Dr.PADMAJA MENT Consultant

Ms.PRAVEENA DAVISSr. Audiologist

DECEMBER

2011

JANUARY

2012

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Thirty members of the staff joined the Indian Sign Language course started at NISH on January 16,2012. Mr.Neeraj Agarwal from Indore is the sign language instructor. The degree students (HI) are also attending the classes on Saturdays. The new venture will surely help the teachers, staff and students to use Indian sign language correctly without mistakes. The uniformity of the signs will make the classes much more easy to understand in the coming days.

ISL class commenced

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

Degree (HI) students visited Wipro, Kochi

Global Reach Out (GRO) Initiative

Global Reach Out team visited Nish on Decem-ber 27, 2011 and this is the second collabora-tive effort with NISH, to bring together Ameri-can and Indian delegates. They had leadership training on self awareness, basic skills on empowerment, business basic skills, and more. GRO Initiative hopes to be the catalyst for an international community of deaf role models through team- building activities, workshop development and leadership enrich-ment. Ten students were selected from Nish and they worked with them. The American and Indian delegates conducted colourful programs including ‘Amazing Race’ and an Open House at the front lobby of Nish on January 7, 2012.

The fifth semester students of the Computer Science Program and Fine Arts Program visited Wipro Office at Infopark, Kochi on December 8, 2011. An exhibition cum sale of the art works of Fine Arts students was conducted. The Computer Science students were given an opportunity to visit their labs. There was also a presentation on Wipro's history and evolution to its current status.

The team who participated in the 72nd Kerala University Inter-Collegiate Atheltic Meet 2011-12 held at the University Stadium, Trivandrum from 23rd to 25th November, 2011.

The first MACS batch completed the course on December 22, 2011. It was a matter of pride that six students of the Macs got selected by Wipro.The final project of the first batch was an oppor-tunity to prove their innovative abilities. The whole class was divided into four groups and each group was given a topic and they were asked to present the project in PowerPoint Presentation. The presentation was done on 21st December, 2011, in the presence of teachers and students. The group who did ‘Developing a Sign language Course’, emerged as the winner. The winners were given one week training in Test House, Suntec and UST Global and a cash prize of Rs. 1000 each. The winner team included Lijo, Vinod, Jebu, Vimal, Krishna, and Ritto.

PAGE 4

XVII National Deaf Athletics ChampionshipThe 17th National Deaf Athletics Cham-pionship was held at Jamshedpur from 10th to 14th January, 2012. Three of our present students and two of our former students participated in the events at various levels and secured prizes.

At the Junior level, Mohammed Shameem , BSc (CS) 2nd sem. won Second prize in the High jump, Long jump, 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay events. At the Senior level, Jibin Kuria-kose BSc (CS) 4th Sem. was part of the gold winning team in the 4 x 100m relay. Jibin Kuruiakose and Animon S BFA 6th sem. also won third prize in the 4 x 400m relay event at the senior level.

Rejuvenating Trip to Kumarakom Infotainment for the preschool kids

The staff tour was a funfilled rejuvenating trip to Kumarakom, enjoying the beauty of the Vembanad Lake, Pathiramanal, a famous tourist spot and relishing the typical Kerala cuisine in the House boat! 42 members of the staff were present for the tour.

A study tour was conducted for the preschool children on January 20, 2012. The students were given opportunity to understand the importance of using quality vessels when they were taken to ‘Family Plastics’, Manvila. They were also taken to bread factory and the kids had a funtime at Veli Park.

Module to Augment Communicative Skills

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SPEECH & HEARING, KARIMANAL P O, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA , INDIA www.nish.ac.in email : nishinfo@nish.ac.in ++91-471-306-6666

Emphasis on Sports and Games in 2012

Sports training for our graduate and postgraduate students started at the Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE), Kariavattom on the 4th of February, 2012 from 9.30am - 12.45pm. Twenty eight students attended the programme including ten girls and eighteen boys. Dr.Anne Varghese, Sr. Psychologist, NISH coordinates the program.