CHENNAI: Saraswathi Narayanaswamy, who for 50 years has worked towards helping the deaf 'hear' and speak, died in Chennai on Thursday night following a brief illness.
The 78-year-old was a pioneer in early identification and intervention of deafness in children. Balavidyalaya School for Deaf, the school she founded in 1969, which provides free education to hearing impaired children, is currently celebrating its golden jubilee. The school has now grown to over 7,000 square feet, with 16 classrooms, 70 children and 20 teachers.
“Since early intervention in children is key to developing speech, we admit children as young as three months and train them in speech language skills so they can join mainstream education,” said Saraswathi in an earlier interview with the Times of India. The school has helped more than 500 children over the years.
Among those Saraswathi has trained is Swetha Machanavajhala, senior product manager, Microsoft, who created the company’s Hearing AI app, making the auditory world inclusive.
“My hearing loss is more than 100db which puts me in the profound hearing loss category,” said Swetha, ahead of the golden jubilee celebrations. “But people are shocked when I disclose it. I owe my speaking ability to my alma mater Balavidyalaya.”
Saraswathi said the motivation behind setting up the school was her years of struggle as mom to a child with hearing loss. “I was left with no help in training my child. I formulated my own teaching method for my child and worked along with him, until he started speaking like any other child,” she had said.
“I believe a deaf child can speak if identified and intervened below the age of three years,” she had said.
Saraswathi is survived by her son Srinivasan and daughter Meera Suresh, honorary principal of Balavidyalaya.
The 78-year-old was a pioneer in early identification and intervention of deafness in children. Balavidyalaya School for Deaf, the school she founded in 1969, which provides free education to hearing impaired children, is currently celebrating its golden jubilee. The school has now grown to over 7,000 square feet, with 16 classrooms, 70 children and 20 teachers.
“Since early intervention in children is key to developing speech, we admit children as young as three months and train them in speech language skills so they can join mainstream education,” said Saraswathi in an earlier interview with the Times of India. The school has helped more than 500 children over the years.
Among those Saraswathi has trained is Swetha Machanavajhala, senior product manager, Microsoft, who created the company’s Hearing AI app, making the auditory world inclusive.
“My hearing loss is more than 100db which puts me in the profound hearing loss category,” said Swetha, ahead of the golden jubilee celebrations. “But people are shocked when I disclose it. I owe my speaking ability to my alma mater Balavidyalaya.”
Saraswathi said the motivation behind setting up the school was her years of struggle as mom to a child with hearing loss. “I was left with no help in training my child. I formulated my own teaching method for my child and worked along with him, until he started speaking like any other child,” she had said.
“I believe a deaf child can speak if identified and intervened below the age of three years,” she had said.
Saraswathi is survived by her son Srinivasan and daughter Meera Suresh, honorary principal of Balavidyalaya.
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