On March 11th, the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) hosted a training session in pediatric audiology conducted by professionals from the Brazilian Academy of Audiology (ABA), as part of a project carried out in partnership with the Hear the World Foundation, an international institution focused on expanding access to audiological services in low- and middle-income countries.
Speech-language pathologists from the multidisciplinary team of maternal and child health services and health services for people with disabilities at ISD, as well as professionals from UFRN, participated in the training. The activities were carried out at the Anita Garibaldi Center for Education and Research in Health and at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), ISD units located in Macaíba.
The practices covered during the training involved pediatric audiological diagnosis and the fitting of pediatric hearing aids, based on the follow-up of users from the Audiology care pathway of the Specialized Rehabilitation Center (CER) and the neurodevelopment and early identification and stimulation services of the ISD Maternal-Infant Outpatient Clinic.
The session was led by speech-language pathologists representing ABA: Beatriz Mendes, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), and Kátia Almeida, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Santa Casa de São Paulo (FCMSCSP).
“This training is a very important initiative to improve the performance of speech-language pathologists who work with children's hearing health and directly contributes to improving the care offered to children with hearing impairments. In the CERs (Centers for Rehabilitation and Hearing Impairment), this has an even greater impact, as it expands our capacity to carry out assessments and follow-ups in a more qualified manner, strengthening network care and early auditory rehabilitation,” says Gizele Nascimento, speech-language pathologist preceptor at ISD and one of the participants in the program.
Hear the World operates in Brazil with a focus on strengthening the hearing care network, training professionals, and supporting referral centers such as ISD, Centro SUVAG, and CERAE. Training programs like this are part of a project aimed at reducing regional inequalities and promoting sustainable care models, integrating technology and public policies to ensure early diagnosis and intervention.
About ISD
The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) is a Social Organization of the Federal Executive Branch, supervised by the Ministry of Education, with the intervention of the Ministry of Sport. It encompasses the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience and the Anita Garibaldi Center for Education and Research in Health, both located in Macaíba. The ISD's mission is to promote education for life, forming citizens through integrated teaching, research, and outreach activities, as well as contributing to a more just and humane transformation of Brazilian social reality.
