But now the B D Tatti (Annavaru) Memorial Charitable Trust’s deaf and dumb residential school at Laxmeshwar in Gadag district too acts as an overall disability help centre in North Karnataka. It provides information regarding disabilities and their treatment, conducts awareness programmes and works for the betterment of society.

The B D Tatti Deaf and Dumb School of Laxmeshwar has now started pre-school training too, for the benefit of hearing impaired children and their mothers. The objective of this training is to prepare children with hearing impairment for normal schools.

While 3-year-old children with hearing impairment are trained in language skills, their parents are trained to communicate effectively with their children. The training module is designed on the premise that intensive communication with hearing impaired children assists them in learning the language skills fast.

According to Trust Chairman Dr S J Tatti, children in the age group of 3-5 years are trained as most language learning happens before the age of 6 years.

The Trust, in an effort to cover as many hearing impaired children as possible, conducts 10-day training programmes once every quarter for the benefit of parents who are unable to attend regular training programmes.

In fact, the Trust plans to build a separate wing for pre-school training in the school campus next year. The school has, till date, developed 240 signs in using and handling computers.

Teachers from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Mumbai will be attending the training programme this month.