National Society of The Deaf / Persatuan Kebangsaan Pekak Malaysia
The National Society of the Deaf (NSD) was registered in 1961 as a tax-exempt NGO dedicated to improving the quality of life for all dead Malaysians.
Recently, however, separate organizations were set up for the purposes of helping deaf adults in overcoming their various special needs. This has enabled the NSD to focus its limited resources on the crucial issues of how deaf children should be helped to learn the verbal (spoken/written) language of their parents as their first language.
Dr.R.Orin Cornett devised Cued Speech in 1967 for the purpose of helping even totally deaf American children to lip-read spoken English as accurately as it can be heard. this is achieved by using special hand cues to eliminate all ambiguity from the process of lip
reading. Ironically, for reasons peculiar to the English language, Cued Speech has not attained the level of success which it so richly deserves, either in the USA or in any other country where English is the native language.
In 1988, the NSD began a project to determine whether 'Cued Speech in Bahasa Malaysia' - Pertuturan Kiu Bahasa Melayu (PKBM) - would have much better success in Malaysia than 'Cued Speech in English' has had in English-speaking countries.
Children who use PKBM can usually attain skill leves in reading, writting and arithmetic comparable with those of their hearing peers.
Provisions for preschool and primary school instruction had to be set up at the NSD's Cued Speech Centre in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur, because there is currentl no class in any national school which adopts PKBM as its medium of instructuion. All who are interested in the welfare of deaf children are welcome to visit the Cued Speech Centre on any working weekday should they wish to have a fuul appreciation of the rapid educational progress which PKBM makes possible for deaf children.
Even when speech cannot be clearly heard, PKBM makes clear language reception and expression possible. For this reason, language acquisition by deaf children through the use of PKBM is unaffected by any lack of intelligibility in their own speech or that of others. Furthermore, despite their constant use of hand cues, these deaf children nevertheless vocalize and continue to remain well motivated towards improving their speech skills, contrary to a belief strongly head in some professional circles.
As a member of the Ministry of Health's 'Commitee fro the Screening, Detection and Management of Hearing Impairment in Children' - in which the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Untility & Social Development are also represented - the NSD has been actively engaged in promoting the adoption of PKBM as the form of Bahasa Malaysia most practicable for the purposes of early language acquisition by deaf children. The NSD also strongly advocates its adoption as the medium of instruction for all deaf school children attending inclusive education programmes.
Meanwhile, approximately 70 children at the Cued Speech Centre, Kg.Pandan, are currently receiving instruction (in PKBM) at educational levels ranging from preschools to Standard 6 in the primary school. Donations to the NSD, whether large or small, would be most gratefully received and promptly acknowledged. These gifts are all tax deductable, and should be made out to:
The National Society of the Deaf 25A Jln Kampung Pandan 55100 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Tel : 03 9287 0739 Fax : 03 9287 0739