Emelie and her teacher feeding the horses. Photos: © Martina Braun, 2020

Recognize facial expressions and read lips

On May 20, 2020, the Kaywaldschule support association published a thank you to us on its Facebook page. This was preceded by a donation of face shields for the children, young people and teachers.

Martina Braun, deren Tochter Emelie in der Kaywaldschule zur Schule geht, nahm Kontakt zu uns auf und …

For people with a hearing impairment, life is currently even more difficult because the masks eliminate lip-reading. The face shields enable these people to continue to participate in daily life.

The face shields were therefore used with great success in the horse yard outdoor class: "Working with them was much easier for everyone than with a fabric mask," she says.

In this respect, these did not only make sense when filling the feed baskets with hay for the horses at the Nordheim Riding Club (... the outside class of the Kaywald School ...), but they would also be worn during the entire stable work, Martina Braun comments. "So also when sweeping, dunging, feeding...".

Emelie's teacher, Mrs Höhn-Mizo, also thinks the face shields are great, because "then my glasses won't tarnish and they won't slip like the stupid mouthguards", says Emilie.

The fact that the shields can be put on and taken off by the children themselves - which does not always work with normal mouthguards due to motor deficits - is a great advantage. Above all, the teachers and carers would be able to recognise the faces and facial expressions of the hearing-impaired and/or autistic children very well and also read lips.