Teachers of Deaf Children, Katie and Simon, recently returned from Surabaya, talk about their experiences.
The club meeting on 28 October was a joint meeting with the Rotary club of Mount Lawley. The clubs' members gathered to hear feedback from the Perth teachers, Katie Oakley and Simon Tomlinson, from the Telethon Speech and Hearing Inc. They recently returned from their mission to the Karya Mulia School for Deaf children in Surabaya, Indonesia. The purpose of their visit was to continue the link between the school and appropriate Australian professionals - facilitated by Rotary - so that further professional development and information could be provided to teachers and parents at the KM School. Part of the approach is to show the teachers simple things that can be done that do not require fancy programmes or special resources. Highlights of the visit included the passion and enthusiasm demonstrated by the school staff; the fact that the staff and students embraced the Lego Therapy Session that was presented to them and the hospitality extended by the school and local Rotarians. The next steps in the programme have been clearly defined. Katie and Simon stressed that long-term and ongoing engagement with the school is essential. What is now turning out to be of enormous benefit to all parties is that the learning experience is turning out to be two-way.
