This is again a repost from Manila Bulletin. It seems that the government, or at least the House of Representatives, took notice about the dilemma of educating the Filipino deaf. 
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By BEN R. ROSARIODecember 11, 2011, 4:37pmMANILA, Philippines — A party-list lawmaker Sunday urged government to include sign language studies in the elementary education curriculum to make communications more accessible to some four million hearing impaired (HI) Filipinos.
Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon Partylist) stressed that proficiency in sign language will also give young Filipinos an edge in actively participating in revolutionary information and com-munications technology (ICT) aimed at bridging the communications gap that has disadvantaged hundreds of millions of HI individuals throughout the world.
Herrera-Dy addressed the appeal to the Department of Education (Deped) shortly after keynoting the recent launching ceremonies for the Signals for Hand and Oral Understanding Training (SHOUT) program in Quezon City.
The lady solon explained that the SHOUT program, a project initiated by the Rotary Club of Quirino-QC, has piloted a sign language training for ordinary elementary school students at the Batino Elementary School in Project 2, Quezon City which also conducts regular special education classes for HI students.
Jointly sponsored by the RCQQC and BH Partylist with the cooperation of the Division of Quezon City Schools, the SHOUT program has initially enrolled 25 Grade IV and V students to learn the sign language and allow them to communicate with HI students of the school.
“With this project, we hope to widen an HI individual’s sphere of communications which current limited to their fellow HI’s and their relatives,” explained Herrera-Dy.
The partylist solon revealed that the SHOUT program will complement the Video Relay Service (Call Center) Training Program that her partylist organization launched in Makati last August.
She pointed out that the VRS has been developed by a leading ICT firm to help persons suffering hearing and speech difficulties communicate normally with other people.
The VRS includes sign language proficiency training and video relay computer program education, which are the main components of call center services for the deaf.
Herrera-Dy noted that VRS centers have started mushrooming in the United States and other countries that have strong government programs for persons with disabilities.
She also cited the RCQQC headed by Gil Basco and Batino principal July Villapa for supporting the project.
There are efforts to integrate the deaf community into the mainstream of Philippine society. The goal is to empower them and urge them to be productive citizens. At the same time, they are taught skills to help them with their daily survival.
More programs are being pursued to reach out to the deaf community. Aa three-day annual sign language convention was held in Manila, Baguio City and Davao City recently.
The Ascension of Our Lord Parish Church, in Lagro, Quezon City is offering Basic Sign Language course, a three-month course which has 12 sessions. Each session, held every Sunday, runs for four hours, with a total of 48 class hours. Part of the course is another 24 hours of exposure that will be required from each of the students which they will earn during church visits.
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I’d like to share this poster about encouraging people to join the Gualandi Mission for the Deaf. I got this from Fr. Peter Miles Sollesta, one of my co-board members of Philippine National Association of Sign Language Interpreters. :-)
Gualandi Mission for the Deaf Poster
Very rare do I post schools for the deaf using oral method of teaching because as you may have already noticed, I lean towards the sign language side. But for this one, I really need to repost it because of the wonderful work their institution have achieved these past 25 years. This article written by Angelo Garcia which was posted on the Manila Bulletin is about the first and one of the few successful oral schools in the Philippines, Maria Lena Buhay Foundation. Enjoy!
MUSIC TO THEIR EARS — This group of musicians (above) may look ordinary but they are all deaf.MANILA, Philippines — After almost 25 years, Maria Lena Buhay Memorial Foundation, Inc. (MLBMFI) founder and executive director Leticia Buhay proudly says that the school’s graduates are now productive citizens of society, despite their hearing impairment.
“We have a graduate who is now an entrepreneur and owns a chain of coffee shops. Another one, who graduated as valedictorian, now teaches at a prestigious school. Another one has his own graphic design company,” Buhay shares.
This success, Mrs. Buhay says, can be attributed to the fact that they have taught their hearing-impaired students how to speak. MLBMFI is the first oral school in the country for the hearing impaired.
“We believe that every hearing impaired child has the capacity to learn how to talk. We already have proven that in our 25 years of service,” she says. “For me, it is harder to teach a class of five hearing impaired students than 40 hearing students. Mas mahirap kasi, you have to keep on repeating they only hear the word for the first time, especially the younger level. But as a speech therapist, the moment a hearing impaired utter a word, umaapaw ang aking kaligayahan. That’s what gratifies us all.”
Today, the non-profit, non-stock school has become one of the most valuable institutions in the field of special education.
FULL COMMITMENT
MLBMFI was founded in June 1987 in honor of Mrs. Buhay’s daughter, Maria Lena or Lenlen, a Psychology student of Ateneo de Manila University who passed away due to cancer.
A speech therapist, Buhay gave in to the request of her patients’ parents to put up a school where their children could learn how to speak.
“The parents felt that since natututo na ‘yung anak nila how to speak, ayaw na nila sa sign school. Ayaw din naman nila sa regular school kasi there are 40 or so students baka mag lag behind. So they needed something special for them,” she recalls.
After planning, the school initially had 10 students and three teachers, including Mrs. Buhay. But by the end of the school year, the school already had a total of 26 students. Year after year, they added grade levels until they completed all levels from pre-school to high school. Since it was a non-profit school, they had to rely on sponsorships, donations and the tuition fees from students. Those who couldn’t GARCIAafford receive tuition subsidy.
When things became too busy and the responsibility too heavy for her, Buhay started getting sick. She was advised to close the school if she wanted to live longer.
“My children asked me to stop. But no, my commitment is there and I enjoy what I was doing. So I resigned from my job as a university professor to devote my time to these children. I was 50 then. I bargained with my children, we could open the preschool and grade school and call off the high school. Kasi the time when they reach Grade 6, nakakapagsalita na sila, many of them were mainstreamable. So lumiit na enrolment namin,” she recalls.
Today, the school caters to only 25 students from preschool to Grade 7 since they limit the number of students per level. They also accept full and partial scholarships, depending on the available sponsorship.
OPTION TO TALK
Mrs. Buhay says that one of the school’s main accomplishments is that they have shown parents of children with hearing impairment that there is another option other than just sign language.
“We made people aware that there is another option to help hearing-impaired children and not just to help them how to sign. In other words, there is an option to learn how to talk,” Mrs. Buhay explains.
She says that it is important that when a child is diagnosed with hearing impairment, he or she should immediately undergo speech therapy. The first five years of a child’s life is the most important period in speech and language acquisition.
“Normally a child at six months can already babble. But if after that period, the child has not spoken, there is a cause for alarm already. Speech is talking by ear. If the sounds do not enter your ear, if you do not hear anything, you will not be able to speak. That is why the children have hearing aids to magnify the sound. So parents can bring the child to a diagnostician for immediate intervention,” she advises.
Since MLBMFI students know how to speak they are able to communicate properly and they can do almost everything a hearing child can do. In fact, the school has its own rhythm band. A group of hearing impaired students can play different music instruments!
“We develop them holistically. We develop them socially, we bring them around town. We teach them basic skills like cooking. And they enjoy other activities like playing and listening to music,” she says.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE TALKING WORLD
Mrs. Buhay says that although the students may not speak clearly like hearing people can, the important thing is that they can be understood. One of the advantages of a speaking person with hearing impairment is gaining employment. Since they can communicate, they have bigger chances of being employed.
“If a hearing impaired person is able to talk, his chances of being employed will be greater. There are certain organizations and companies that employ hearing impaired,” she says.
“We have to accept it that this is a talking world. A great majority of us talk, only a few sign. If they are able to talk, it is easier for them to be mainstreamed and take their place, normally, in society where everybody talks. Your chances will be greater,” she says.
She admits that she doesn’t know what the future holds for them but because of her dedicated teachers and staff, she is sure that MLBMFI’s legacy will continue, even for the next 25 years.
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This is a repost from the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated December 5, 2011.
Ency Encinares was brought up in a family of musicians. His mother sings, his father is a trumpet player and a brother is a music teacher.
From this sonata-filled environment, one would expect his time and talents to lean toward more music.
But Encinares prefers sharing his Sundays with a soundless community as a deaf-mute teacher.
“For me, real music is the service that I give to our deaf-mute brothers and sisters,” he said.
Every Sunday, Encinares spends at least three hours teaching sign language, mostly to parents or relatives of deaf-mute children at the First High School for the Hearing Impaired in barangay Basak, Cebu City.
For five years he has offered his service for free, showing that no person is too busy to do volunteer work.
During weekdays, he works as an executive assistant at the Coalition for Better Education (CBE), one of the partners of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation. On Saturdays, he pursues postgraduate studies in business administration.
“No matter how busy I am, I always make sure that I don’t leave behind my volunteer work,” he said.
Five years ago, Encinares was approached by a deaf-mute man inside a mall who was asking for directions. He could barely understand the man. The encounter left an impact on Encinares.
He enrolled in a sign language class at the University of the Southern Philippines Foundation. When he passed the three levels of the course and earned a certificate of proficiency in sign language, Encinares decided to teach.
“At first, I was hesitant to study sign language because it looked hard to learn but I really wanted to help the deaf-mute community, so I persevered,” he said in Cebuano.
At home, the influence of a family inclined to music was keenly felt.
When a brownout would strike, for example, his father would make the children sing.
His father, a policeman, is a trumpet player in a group of musicians. His eldest brother is a music teacher at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, and another sibling plays various musical instruments.
“Every time we had a program in school, my class would usually top the intermission number. It’s quite a challenge to impart music to a soundless community, but it is also very fulfilling,” he said.
Encinares would have been a member of the award-winning University of the Visayas Chorale, but due to a conflict in practice schedule, he decided to let go and pursue his volunteer work with deaf-mutes and their family members.
“The smiles and the joy that radiate from their faces are my melody.”
“That’s the best music,” he said.
As a Jaycee member in his college days, Encinares was introduced to volunteer work, participating in community projects such as feedings and other outreach activities.
“So (volunteering) wasn’t really a hard thing to do. Music and teaching the deaf community are my passion. I was able to blend with them in the spirit of volunteerism,” he said.
The learning experience, he says, goes both ways.
As much as the deaf-mute community learns from him, they also contribute to his personal growth.
“I learned so many things by listening to them closely. I learned how expressive, interactive and talkative they can be. It made me more sensitive to people, especially to the deaf-mute, who needs a special kind of communication. This also made me a more responsible and cooperative person.”
The encounters have also underscored for him the value of communication.
“We who can talk should learn to communicate well to lessen miscommunication. Because I can talk and hear normally, I have learned not to take for granted my communication skills,” he said. Fatrick Tabada/Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.
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