In October, November and December CORAL offered a course called, "Therapy in the Home for Professionals, Technicians and Promoters." This course focused on providing tools to professionals working with children who use hearing aids and/or Mexican Sign Language (LSM) in order to facilitate the children`s development of both their residual hearing and ability to speak as well as communication by other means, such as with their hands.

This course trains teachers, doctors, nurses, technicians and health promoters who work with people with hearing loss in rural and indigenous communities. The aim is to create rich hearing and communication environments within their communities. Our staff and special guests shared knowledge and provided basic information about hearing loss, its causes and effects on language development and communication, and the various strategies to address it.

It is vital that professionals working in rural and urban health services possess the skill set needed to implement intensive and quality therapies. This enables them to in turn work with the parents of a child with hearing loss and be key disseminators of this practice, helping CORAL to reach more and more children with hearing problems, albeit indirectly.

Participants commented that the course should be taken by more professionals in the fields of health and education because it would encourage the formation of better interdisciplinary groups in communities and around the state for offering these children the attention they deserve. CORAL`s work has been greatly enriched by learning about the participants´ experiences and we are very pleased to have worked together for those three months.