In July 2009 my son was born at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore. As part of Singapore’s Universal New Born Hearing Screening program he underwent the hearing screening and failed.

We were given assurances by the nursing staff that this was common especially if the baby is ‘sleepy and jaundiced’. We dismissed any concerns and took our baby boy home. Those first few weeks and months were busy but we did notice that our son would startle at loud noise (i.e., when the door banged, when there was thunder) and would stop feeding to ‘listen in’ when I was on the telephone. All was well.

It took me four months to return to the hospital to repeat the screening test. Our son failed this hearing test a second time. Panic set in.

That day in November was the beginning of a very anxious period. Can our son possibly have a hearing loss? How can we fix it? New and foreign to Singapore, we struggled to find answers to these questions and urgent treatment for our son.

In our desperation to have our son hear, we rushed to the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York (part of North Shore LIJ Children’s Hospital). There we learned that our son had a moderate to severe, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Within three weeks of our arrival in New York, and at five month’s of age, our son began his ‘full-time’ wearing of hearing aids. Since that time we have dedicated ourselves to helping him listen, learn and speak.

The Inspiration For Singapore Little Hands Big Voices

In New York we were fortunate to meet other parents raising children with ‘atypical’ or ‘supported’ hearing. We learned from them, were greatly encouraged by them and were awed by the communication skills of their children. Our experiences abroad and our need to connect locally motivated us to start a parent support group here in Singapore. Jessica Sanchez launched the ‘Little Hands Big Voices’ meetup in New Mexico and we are the Singapore Chapter. Click on this link to find out more about the Singapore MeetUp.

With the help of a steadily growing network of dedicated parents and professionals here in Singapore, it is our hope to create a web destination containing local, relevant information for parents of children with atypical hearing here in Singapore. Singapore has excellent resources and skilled professionals that are dedicated to making a difference and helping our kids listen, learn and talk. It is our desire that this information be accessible to those who need it, when they need it most.

Help Us Help Others

I am new to the world of raising a child with a hearing loss and the information in this website is not exhaustive. I hope that this website motivates parents and caregivers supporting children with atypical hearing (and the professionals who support them)  to contribute relevant information and experiences. The Singapore Little Hands Big Voices site and the MeetUp will only be as good as we collectively make it.

For starters, I have chosen to focus on the availability of auditory verbal therapy resources in Singapore because this is what we have chosen for our son and because, right now, it is all I know. I would be delighted to receive information from others on alternative communication options and local support services and resources. Please contact us with any relevant information.

Thank You

The world is a wonderful place and wonderful people came forward to help us help our son.

We are indebted to Steve and Alexandra Cohen for their assistance. Their support is the inspiration for this site.

We are grateful (beyond words) for the timely professional advice and guidance we were given by the team at LIJ, headed by Dr. Lee Smith.

In addition, both the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Centre for Hearing and Communication were instrumental in helping us understand the work involved in helping our son to listen, learn and speak.

With the help of the many people that engaged with our son during this time, we were able to achieve an optimism that I would not have thought possible in such a short period of time. We think of you all often.