Buhay oral school for hearing-impaired closing rites set

MANILA, Philippines - The Maria Lena Buhay Memorial Foundation, Inc., the country’s first oral school for the hearing-impaired will hold its 22nd closing program on March 31, at the Blue Ridge B Barangay Hall.

At 8:30 a.m. a Thanksgiving Mass will be celebrated by Rev. Fr. Siegfried Omayao, chaplain of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel in Camp Atienza. A short program will follow.

Cathy Guballa, a parenting columnist who is into grief education and counseling, will give an inspirational talk. Ken-Ken Parrocha, who graduated as Valedictorian from grade school three years ago and was mainstreamed to a regular school for normal-hearing children, will also give a short speech. Former students of the Buhay oral school who have learned how to talk who have graduated or were mainstreamed to regular schools, will be the special guests. The school’s Rhythm Band will perform and the students will present a modern dance and a choral recitation. Mika Capistrano, a Grade 2 pupil, will sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Ervin Alas, Nursery, will recite a short poem.

The oral school teaches its hearing-impaired students to talk. It cultivates their potentials and develops their communication skills as well as their physical, intellectual, social and spiritual growth in the normal hearing world.

Enrollment for the Summer Enrichment Program for hearing-impaired children is on-going. The school is located at 25 Starline Road, Blue Ridge B, Quezon City with tel. nos. 6471270 and 6471076. Leticia Nietes-Buhay, a well-known speech therapist, is the founder and executive director. She is assisted by a team of teachers specially trained in the oral method, led by Marie Emilie Avanzado-Paras, academic coordinator.