Li Rongrong: The Angel of Hearing-impaired Children

Text by Chen Qian

Photos by Wang Yongsheng

“Mo—ther—Mother.” With the help of a cochlear implant, five-year-old Xuanxuan, who wears an outside component behind her ear, is capable of repeating what she hears from her teacher Li Rongrong.Under the guidance of Li, hundreds of hearing-impaired children have gained the ability to talk like normal kids.

With the development of rehabilitation technology, more and more hearing-impaired children are able to hear sounds via cochlear implants.Nevertheless, physically challenged children, even if with cochlear implants, still may not develop language if they have no language input.Li Rongrong, who is now 28 years old and a graduate of architecture school, worked by chance as a volunteer in a rehabilitation center for handicapped children in 2009 in Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, where she came into contact with hearingimpaired children for the first time.From then on, she was determined to stay at this center, teaching these children how to speak.Li's parents were at a loss with their daughter's decision, since they had already fixed her up with a decent job at a construction company, which was easy but well paid.Yet, Li Rongrong insisted that children in this rehabilitation center needed her.

Li Rongrong is playing with the children 和孩子們開心玩耍

“媽——媽”“媽媽”，隨著李溶溶的發音，5 歲的萱萱重復著這個詞。萱萱的頭頂有一個圓形的電極，連接著耳機，只有依靠這套人工耳蝸她才能聽到聲音。在李溶溶的幫助下，已經有幾百個像萱萱這樣的聽障孩子學會了像同齡人一樣說話。

隨著康復治療技術的發展，已經有越來越多的聽障兒童可以通過人工耳蝸聽到聲音。但對于一生下來就沒有接觸過語言環境的他們來說，聽得見和會說話還有本質的區別。28 歲的李溶溶，大學里學的是和她現在的工作毫無關聯的建筑專業。2009年，一個偶然的機會，她來到中國湖北省武漢市江夏區一家兒童康復中心當志愿者，第一次接觸到了這些不會說話的孩子。從那以后，她就下決心留在這里，當一位兒童語言康復教師。當時這個決定讓父母很不理解，因為他們已經給她找好了從事建筑行業的工作，工作不累，收入也高，但李溶溶說，覺得這里的孩子需要自己，也想留下來幫助他們。

Li Rongrong teaches a student how to speak in a class patiently 課堂上，李溶溶耐心地教孩子發音

Teaching those who are physically challenged is not an easy task.While a normal child is capable of learning the pronunciation of a word in one attempt, the hearing-impaired children, who have no idea of what language is, have to repeat the sound hundreds or even thousands of times.In order to exercise their tongue muscles, Li Rongrong cuts carrots and cucumbers into small pieces and asks the children to keep chewing.She rubs some sweetened rolls around the children's mouths as a tongue workout, since the kids will lick around their mouths and move their tongues more.She also lets the children touch her vocal cord in an effort to make them feel the vibrations when speaking, and manages to teach these disabled children through lively activities, devising several games for the kids in accordance with their own interests.

Just like many women her age, Li Rongrong is concerned with her appearance—she wears beautiful clothes to work, which she believes could make the children like her more.She also likes to post her teaching videos online.In May of 2019, several clips of Li Rongrong posted on Douyin (a popular short video platform in China) went viral, and the number of “Likes” one clip received was over 208,000.Most netizens praise Li for her love and kindness, calling her “the angel of hearing-impaired children.”

(Translation: Huang Mengyuan)

Li Rongrong is preparing the lunch in the school kitchen 在食堂給孩子們準備午飯

教聽障孩子說話是一件艱苦的事情。由于從小對語言沒有任何概念，普通孩子一遍就能學會的詞，他們需要重復千百遍。為了讓孩子鍛煉口腔肌肉，李溶溶把胡蘿卜黃瓜之類的食物切成小丁，讓他們不停地咀嚼，吃飯時也會讓他們練習自己吃下去的食物的發音。她在孩子的嘴唇周圍貼上果丹皮，用甜甜的味道引誘他們伸出舌頭舔，讓舌頭多活動。她還會讓孩子摸自己的聲帶，體會發聲的時候聲帶的振動。她根據孩子的興趣，設計了很多小游戲，讓他們在歡樂中自然地發出聲音。

李溶溶是一個愛美的女孩，在康復中心，她也會把自己打扮得漂漂亮亮的，因為她相信這樣孩子們也會更喜歡他們的老師。她還會把教學的視頻通過抖音發上網。今年5月，李溶溶發布的一組聽障教學視頻在網上走紅，單條點贊量最高達到20.8 萬。網友們盛贊，她是聽障孩子的“天使老師”。