BATOD recognises that some ToDs use the term 'hearing-impaired' synonymously with deaf.

Developments in Romania

Mihai Scafaru, Asociatia ‘Sprijin pentru Deficientii Senzoriali’ Brasov

The history of integrated education for hearing-impaired children in Romania is a recent one and owes much to the vision and perseverance of Mihai Scafaru. Mihai is originally a teacher of English who became drawn into deaf education through involvement with a British Red Cross initiative in 1990. The 'Improving Services for hearing-impaired Children in Romania' project was carried out with the help of several British experts in the education of deaf children - David Bond, Peter Watkin, Wendy McCracken, Dot Donaldson, to name but a few. Their expertise, professionalism and enthusiasm impressed Mihai, who spent time travelling throughout Romania with them, visiting existing Schools for the Deaf. Four regional courses in Audiology and the Education of Deaf Children were run for the benefit of teachers working within these segregated settings and follow up courses continued until the programme ended in 1993.

At this point Mihai was asked by the Inspector for Special Education in the Romanian Ministry of Education to set up a kindergarten unit for hearing-impaired children, to be attached to a mainstream setting within Brasov. Brasov is Romania's second city, with a population of 40,000, and is situated in the central part of the country, 160 km NW of Bucharest, within the Carpathian Mountains. Education for all Romanian children begins at the age of three when they are sent to kindergarten. Many of them remain as boarders from Monday to Friday although families who live close enough can take their children home overnight whenever they choose.

Mihai visited many kindergartens within Brasov before eventually choosing Kindergarten 34 as a suitable location. His next job was to visit the County Children's Hospital to find out how many hearing-impaired children within the county had not been sent to one of the existing Romanian special schools. He was alarmed by the large number - forty-eight - and wrote letters to all the parents inviting them for a short discussion. Twenty-six parents turned up and all admitted that the reason they would not send their children to special schools was the necessity of travelling long distances to other towns - the nearest School for the Deaf is in Sibiu, some 140 km away. When told of the intention to set up a Unit for Hearing-Impaired Children within a local kindergarten all volunteered immediately to bring their children - and so the Unit was started.

The aim of the Unit was to identify children by the age of three, when they would be starting full time education, ‘and give them a chance to hear the sounds of speech and then teach them to use these sounds properly in order to communicate with other children’. Initially within the Unit setting but with the hope that many of them would manage to go to their local mainstream school by the age of six or seven. Because of the residential element, children recently fitted with hearing aids would be under Mihai's close supervision for most of the week.

Contact was maintained with David Bond and the European Deaf Children's Trust, who provided professional help and guidance. Two teachers were sent to Brasov, Ruth McAree and Helen MacDonald, to organise a short in-service course for the staff in the kindergarten. They brought with them books, a video, TV set and trailer, although the latter was never able to be used due to Romanian customs formalities! Following the course, Mihai and two other teachers from the Unit were invited to visit provisions for deaf children in Scotland. Mihai extended his stay to include visits to the Royal Schools for the Deaf in Margate and Manchester, the University of Manchester and the Starkey factory where ear-moulds for the Romanian children used to be made. He also travelled throughout Northern Ireland observing mainstream and specialist provision - and so the cross fertilisation of ideas continued.

For the first two years of the Unit's life Mihai kept permanent contact with the ENT doctors at the County Hospital. Neil Walker (Senior Advisory Teacher and Audiologist, SENSS) had previously trained Angela Schiopu, the nurse in charge of hearing testing, and she had some impression materials available for making temporary ear-moulds. This speeded up the time by which children could start to benefit from their aids as previously impressions had to be sent to Bucharest, taking more than a month to be returned.

Within the first two years some of the children managed to go to their mainstream schools after the initial input from the Unit. Mihai's job evolved into peripatetic work, too, to meet the needs of these children - a new role within the Romanian education system. However, as news of the Unit's successes spread an increasing number of adults started to seek help from the centre and this prompted Mihai and his staff to set up a Charity Association. In Autumn 1995 the Association 'Support for the Sensory Impaired' was established. The initial aim was to provide help for the visually impaired as well but this finally became too big a job and the focus has had to remain on supporting the hearing-impaired.

In just a few years the centre has evolved beyond its initial parameters. The aims of the Association and the centre have burgeoned to include: testing hearing; fitting hearing aids; offering educational programmes for hearing-impaired children and adults; providing counselling support for parents; advice for teachers in mainstream schools; maintenance of an extensive library on deaf issues and to run short courses, originally set up by Ruth and Helen, to initiate parents, educators and teachers in working with hearing-impaired children.

Perhaps the final words should go to Mihai, whose dedication and vision have wrought many changes in provision for deaf children in Romania: "In 1995 a group of teachers and their students came to visit our kindergarten in the name of School Aid Romania, an association of seven schools from Northern Ireland. Their leader, Richard Wallace, and the rest of the staff donated an audiometer, two auditory trainers and materials for impression taking, tubing etc. They have returned each year and in January brought with them new hearing aids for the children in the kindergarten, batteries, money to improve food allocation for the children and many other things to make our children happy. They even painted many walls in the kindergarten, creating a beautiful environment. Judith Stelfox would always come with them to help me with impression taking which she would take to Manchester and have the earmoulds returned within three weeks. We must still function like this… It is my greatest wish to have a modern Resource Centre to provide educational and technical help for hearing-impaired children all over the county of Brasov.

Thanks to the good results achieved the School Inspectorate of Brasnov County have now officially recognised us as 'The Centre for the Psycho-pedagogical Rehabilitation and Integration for the Sensory Impaired'. Though our results prove the good work we have been doing all this time and children and parents are very happy and content with their new status in society, the centre is still unique in Romania. We would like to see such a centre in each major city of Romania. How many hearing-impaired children are there across Romania that we are unaware of, their parents unwilling to send them to distant schools for the deaf? Unfortunately, the funds allocated by the Romanian Ministry of Education for hearing-impaired children are severely limited and it will take more than a lifetime of hope and hard work to achieve."

Contact Associatia 'Sprijin pentru Deficientii Senzorali' Brasov, Str Aurel Vlaicu, NO 26B, Brasov, cod 500178 Romania Mihai Scafaru

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