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 和孩子们开心玩耍

“妈——妈”“妈妈”，随着李溶溶的发音，5 岁的萱萱重复着这个词。萱萱的头顶有一个圆形的电极，连接着耳机，只有依靠这套人工耳蜗她才能听到声音。在李溶溶的帮助下，已经有几百个像萱萱这样的听障孩子学会了像同龄人一样说话。

随着康复治疗技术的发展，已经有越来越多的听障儿童可以通过人工耳蜗听到声音。但对于一生下来就没有接触过语言环境的他们来说，听得见和会说话还有本质的区别。28 岁的李溶溶，大学里学的是和她现在的工作毫无关联的建筑专业。2009年，一个偶然的机会，她来到中国湖北省武汉市江夏区一家儿童康复中心当志愿者，第一次接触到了这些不会说话的孩子。从那以后，她就下决心留在这里，当一位儿童语言康复教师。当时这个决定让父母很不理解，因为他们已经给她找好了从事建筑行业的工作，工作不累，收入也高，但李溶溶说，觉得这里的孩子需要自己，也想留下来帮助他们。

Li Rongrong teaches a student how to speak in a class patiently 课堂上，李溶溶耐心地教孩子发音

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 在食堂给孩子们准备午饭

教听障孩子说话是一件艰苦的事情。由于从小对语言没有任何概念，普通孩子一遍就能学会的词，他们需要重复千百遍。为了让孩子锻炼口腔肌肉，李溶溶把胡萝卜黄瓜之类的食物切成小丁，让他们不停地咀嚼，吃饭时也会让他们练习自己吃下去的食物的发音。她在孩子的嘴唇周围贴上果丹皮，用甜甜的味道引诱他们伸出舌头舔，让舌头多活动。她还会让孩子摸自己的声带，体会发声的时候声带的振动。她根据孩子的兴趣，设计了很多小游戏，让他们在欢乐中自然地发出声音。

李溶溶是一个爱美的女孩，在康复中心，她也会把自己打扮得漂漂亮亮的，因为她相信这样孩子们也会更喜欢他们的老师。她还会把教学的视频通过抖音发上网。今年5月，李溶溶发布的一组听障教学视频在网上走红，单条点赞量最高达到20.8 万。网友们盛赞，她是听障孩子的“天使老师”。