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10/09/2015  |   1:45 PM - 3:00 PM   |  Andrew Foster Auditorium

Services for the hearing impaired in Peru

The present research addresses the current situation of the hearing impaired population in Peru. Even though the number is huge, no official estimates have been made. The services provided to these impaired individuals are almost inexistent. Children’s hearing loss is first detected by the parents when the children are eight. By then, the children have attended regular school but their low performance is usually associated with low cognitive abilities and the children are labeled as ‘dumb’. As vital as a hearing test is in developed countries, in Peru hearing tests are difficult to schedule and get. When the impaired children are diagnosed, precious years have been lost. Even if the diagnose is made the possibility of getting a hearing aid reaches a staggering zero percent. If the parents send the impaired children to school, newly diagnosed child will encounter in his class different ‘deaf’ children: those ‘diagnosed’ by their own parents, those of different ages grouped in the same class, those who once had a hearing test done but never had a hearing aid. Even attending elementary school is considered luck. The situation is compounded when the schools teach the child to talk without focusing on school content. The children are “treated” during school hours with therapy limiting the establishment of a language as a group and limiting the children’s cognitive skills. Interpreters are not a solution because in Peru Peruvian Sign Language is beginning to be established. Some of the interpreters have certain degree of education and others are just enthusiastic and supportive people. The Association of the Deaf does not play a major role because its members are engaged in petty arguments. The picture is: limited services that result in the isolation of the impaired person as an individual and the consequent isolation as a group.

• To know the state of the Audiology profession in Peru
• To have a better idea of the hearing impaired population in Peru
• To understand the urgency of the establishment of the Audiology profession in Peru

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Irene Garcia-Benavides (POC,Primary Presenter), Children's Rehabilitation Institute, irenetuitis@yahoo.com;
Irene Garcia-Benavides M.Ed., CCC-SLP, FEES is a board-certified Speech Language Pathologist with over thirteen years of clinical experience. Ms. Garcia-Benavides received her Bachelor's degree in Linguistics from Universidad Nacional l Mayor de San Marcos and her Masters of Communication Sciences and Disorders from the Peruvian Language and Hearing Center in Lima, Peru. Coursework for the Certificate of Clinical Competence was completed at Texas A & M Kingsville. Mrs. Garcia-Benavides' Bachelor's and Master's degrees theses researched the linguistic and educational situation of the hearing impaired population in Peru. She volunteers in research projects in Peru where she has been a Sign Language Interpreter for several years. As hearing impaired population is very diverse, she wants to be able to communicate with everyone. Her first years of clinical experience were obtained in Peru and then moved to the U.S. where she has worked as a Speech Pathologist in Texas for the last thirteen years.