Hearing impaired children graduate from The Shepherd Centre after a year learning speech skills via video call

Harry Rupil is a typical five-year-old — full of energy and chatter.

He peppers his parents with questions, urging them to push him higher on the swing and talking animatedly about the rainbow cake they are going to eat later.

But Harry is not exactly like other five-year-olds — he spends a little under an hour every week with a speech pathologist.

It is a routine he has kept up since infancy, when he was diagnosed as profoundly deaf.

Cochlear implant life-changing for Harry

When Harry was first diagnosed, his parents Cailin and Marc Rupil had no idea what the future would look like for him.

Mr Rupil said he expected his son would have limited language skills, like a member…