Auditory-Verbal therapy

Auditory-Verbal therapy is a family centered approach enabling children with hearing impairment to learn to talk through listening. The vast majority of children born with hearing loss have some residual hearing which can be improved through the use hearing aids and cochlear implants. These hearing devices can maximise a child's potential to access sound across the speech spectrum so that listening, speaking and language skills can be developed to the fullest extent possible. However, being able to make sense of the amplified sound goes beyond merely detecting sound through hearing aids or cochlear implants, children with hearing impairment need help and encouragement to learn to listen. In the Auditory-Verbal approach listening skills are organised into a hierarchy of auditory difficulty from detection to comprehension and identification. Through the Auditory-Verbal approach the child develops a listening attitude so that hearing and listening becomes an integral part of communication, play and education. Parents are at the centre of this approach and take a full and active part in every session with the Auditory-Verbal therapist. Emphasis is placed on the child detecting and responding to voice. Parents are taught about how to highlight their voices so the child has the very best chance of detecting them. The development of auditory skills is fundamental to the development of receptive language which is also crucial to the process of learning to talk and communicate. The way the child communicates in everyday environments will be both auditory and visual. The emphasis on listening during individual sessions enables the child to become a skilled listener. Then in the more difficult auditory conditions of everyday life the child will be able to make optimal use of auditory cues in combination with all other visual cues available.

Principles of Auditory-Verbal Practice

• To detect hearing impairment as early as possible through screening programs, ideally in the newborn nursery and throughout childhood.
• To pursue prompt and vigorous medical and audiologic management, including selection, modification, and maintenance of appropriate hearing aids, cochlear implants or other sensory aids.
• To guide, counsel, and support parents and caregivers as the primary models for spoken language through listening and to help them understand the impact of deafness and impaired hearing on the entire family.
• To help children integrate listening into their development of communication and social skills.
• To support children's Auditory-Verbal development through one-to-one teaching.
• To help children monitor their own voices and the voices of others in order to enhance the intelligibility of their spoken language.
• To use developmental patterns of listening, language, speech, and cognition to stimulate natural communication.
• To continually assess and evaluate children's development in the above areas and, through diagnostic intervention, modify the program when needed.
• To provide support services to facilitate children's educational and social inclusion in regular education classes.

Contact

Telephone: (08) 8298 0973
Fax: (08) 8298 0948