Newsletter No. 534

# 5 3 4 | 1 9 . 0 3 . 2 0 1 9 04 孩 童牙牙學語,第一個學會的單字是「媽」(maa1), 由雙唇音m和長元音aa組成。發音時,孩童雙唇由 閉合張開,舌頭壓低,氣流呼出,一字背後,孩童要 協調不同構音器官,經過反覆嘗試才習得。然而,說話能力 並非人人與生俱來,有孩童因先天或後天不足而難言,也有 成年人因為意外、疾病而失語。無論是哪一種溝通障礙,都 得求教專業人士—言語治療師。 中大醫學院耳鼻咽喉—頭頸外科學系言語治療科有見社會 需求愈趨殷切,2018年9月開辦兩年全日制「言語語言病理 理學碩士」課程,從三百多名申請人中錄取了三十多名,為 業界培訓人才。這個課程包含醫學、語言學和電子工程學內 容,涵蓋語言、語音、吞嚥、流暢、聲線和輔助溝通系統六大 範疇。 一年文憑 兩年碩士 言語語言病理理學碩士課程收生時,首選已完成一年兼讀 制的「溝通障礙與科學專業文憑」的學生。課程主任 李月裳 教授(上圖)解釋:「坊間都會被言語治療師的光環吸引,但 在世界各地,都有修讀這科的學生因抵受不了學習壓力而有 情緒問題,退學率很高。我們希望學生在修讀文憑的一年時 間,已淺嘗學科內容,並了解自己是否適合做言語治療師,才 決定是否委身。」 除了在理論課中使用電子教學和翻轉課堂教學法外,臨床 實習也是課程的核心部分,學生要進行至少三百小時臨床實 習,接觸廣東話和普通話的個案。李教授說:「課程獨特之處 是學生可以選擇專修『進階專題臨床實習』,接觸一些複雜 病案,例如裂顎兔唇、高功能自閉症、聽力障礙,以及進行內 窺鏡吞嚥檢查等,從而全面認識各種溝通障礙。」 以聽障者為例,他們植入人工耳蝸恢復聽覺後,要循序漸進學 習辨聲,由先分辨無聲和有聲,到大小聲、高低音,最後才辨 別字音。出現進食或飲水困難的長者,言語治療師便會鍛鍊其 舌頭和咽喉等肌肉,改善其吞嚥能力,免其受插喉餵食之苦。 言語治療師要斷症,便要運用測試工具。言語治療科過往開 發一系列電腦輔助評估工具,例如於2015年夥拍電子工程學 系、語言學及現代語言系,開發出測試聽覺感知的「香港粵語 聲調辨識測驗」和「香港粵語口語雙字詞辨識測驗」,分別 W hen babies start babbling, most often the first word they utter is ‘ma’, which consists of a bilabial ‘m’ and a long vowel ‘a:’. To pronounce it, babies part their lips and lower their tongues, allowing air passage from the mouth. Uttering such a simple sound requires babies to coordinate different articulators and practise repeatedly. But innate and postnatal defects will impede this development. Accidents and diseases will also rob adults of this basic ability. A speech therapist’s job is to help tackle the different kinds of communication disorders. In view of the soaring demand for speech therapists, the Division of Speech Therapy under the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, launched a two-year full-time Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology programme in September 2018 and admitted 30 students out of more than 300 applicants. The interdisciplinary programme with input of medicine, linguistics and electronic engineering covers six domains including language, speech, swallowing, fluency, voice and multi-modal communication. ‘1 + 2’ Study Mode This postgraduate programme offered by CUHK distinguishes itself from its kinds with the ‘1+2’ study mode. Priority is given to applicants who have completed the one-year part- time Postgraduate Diploma Programme in Communication Disorders and Sciences. ‘The image of a speech therapist is so glamorous that many students are drawn to it. But the dropout rate is high around the globe because the stress is unbearable to many. We hope that our students could have a taste of the subject during their diploma study to decide whether they are really cut out to be speech therapists before enrolling in the full-time master’s programme,’ explained programme director Prof. Kathy Lee (photo above). While e-learning and flipped classroom are used in theory classes, students must complete at least 300 hours of clinical practice handling Cantonese and Mandarin cases. ‘The edge of our programme is that students may 測試粵語聲調和雙字詞語,憑測試結果科學化地判斷患者的 溝通障礙類型和程度。學生在這個課程中也可學習應用這些 測試工具。 實戰考試評成績 成績評核方面,這個醫學院轄下課程採用了醫科執業試常用 的「客觀結構化臨床考試」。學生須依序通過十個試題站, 每站測試一種臨床技巧,例如斷症或建議治療方案,學生向 模擬病人問症或觀看影片後作答。 現時世界各地言語治療師奇缺,在美國言語治療師與人口比 例為1:2,290,香港是1:20,000,內地更達1:1,300,000。香 港政府將於2019 – 20學年起為中小學開設言語治療師常額 職位,每兩家學校便可增設一名言語治療師,若現時全港約 一千家中小學校全面參與,便要僱用五百人;上年度財政預 算案亦撥款為安老院舍提供言語治療服務,可見不同界別對 言語治療師的服務需求日增。 由小孩到長者,由言語障礙到吞嚥困難,縱然服務對象和性 質不同,但有一共通點:療程漫長,患者要反覆練習,言語治 療師也要因應患者的進展,用無比的耐心和彈性調節療程, 與患者甚至其家人建立互信關係。工作艱巨,但就是因為難 為,言語治療師才配得起這個光環。 聽說無障礙 Speech Therapy 言語治療科舉辦社區活動,為接近二百個家庭提供言語治療篩查 The Division of Speech Therapy organizes the Speech Therapy Screening Day and serves around 200 local families 言語治療 重建溝通 Clearing of the Forest for Better Communication

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