Speak up: Ziauddin University hosts three-day conference on communication disorders

The conference aims to raise awareness about various speech, voice and swallow disorders.

KARACHI: Ziauddin University Hospital is hosting a three-day conference on 'Communication, Voice and Swallow disorders'. The conference aims to raise awareness about various speech, language, voice and swallow disorders through workshops and panel discussion. Several speakers from India, USA, UK, Sweden and the UAE are participating in the conference.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony on Friday, Ziauddin University's Speech Language and Hearing Sciences visiting faculty Mahnaz Maqbool said that the world had gone past the days when children with unique dispositions were shunned inside homes. Speaking about the roles of speech therapists, she said that their responsibility was to help in the process of language acquisition. "Trust building between a therapist and the child is pivotal." She said that disorders can be diagnosed at an early age. "Signs of language disorder can be diagnosed as early as three months of age while autism can be diagnosed within 18 months."



She added that marriages between cousins also contribute towards hearing loss, for which children must be screened at an early age.

Speech Language and Hearing Sciences principal and assistant professor Amina Siddiqui reminded the audience of the importance to bring a positive difference in others' lives. "There are 23 million people across Pakistan who are suffering from communication disorders," she said, adding that the clinic at Ziauddin has inducted innumerable outpatient services and has screened 350 infants for speech therapy.

She said that even though challenges are many in the sphere of development in speech, Pakistan has made  a lot of progress in clinical research and expertise.

Pediatrician and co-founder of the Speech and Hearing Association of Pakistan (SHAP), Dr Ghaffar Billoo, shared his experiences prior to the formation of the first speech medical college for speech therapy at Ziauddin.

"It was a huge vacuum as despite having 120 medical colleges across the country, not one was for speech therapy." He suggested that every province should have a speech therapy college of its own and students from remote areas should be identified and made part of the programme.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2015.