Hearing aid plea loud and clear

By FRANCESCA MOLD health reporter

Joshua Foreman is silver-tongued when it comes to beguiling the Prime Minister.

The 9-year-old from Takapuna was born profoundly deaf. But a hearing device implanted under his scalp at the age of 2 has enabled him to learn how to speak at an advanced level for a child his age.

At the official opening of an Auckland preschool for children with cochlear implants, Joshua put his language skills to work by beseeching Helen Clark to continue financing the technology so others could benefit.

"Can you please give other children the chance I have," Joshua told the "big boss."

The Government pays the $26,000 cost of a cochlear device and surgery.

The preschool, Hearing House, raises money to teach children to talk through listening rather than lip-reading or sign language.

It cares for about 29 children, some of whom have normal hearing.

The Prime Minister said the services Hearing House provided were vital from a humanitarian point of view but also because they produced a long-term saving by helping children to study in mainstream education and live independently.

"I'm very confident the children you are working with here will just zoom off into life," she told those at the opening.

The Greenlane preschool was set up in 1998 to provide therapy for children with implants.

The technology involves a microphone behind the ear sending sounds to a micro-computer carried on the back or in a pocket. The computer identifies sounds and sends them to a receiver implanted under the scalp.

Liz Fairgray, New Zealand's only certified auditory verbal therapist, said children could then be taught to identify sounds and develop speech.

Joshua, who attends King's School in Remuera, has weekly therapy sessions but his skills have developed to the point where he will need help only once a month from next year.

Hearing House co-founder Sir Patrick Moore said it was vital that hearing difficulties were picked up early in life so nerves and the brain were still receptive for cochlear implants.

The implants and therapy provided gave children the chance to become taxpayers rather than beneficiaries.