What is Auditory Verbal Therapy?

AVT is one of a range of communication approaches including Total Communication, Oral approach, Sign Bilingualism and British Sign Language. It is very important that parents are given information on the different options so that they can make an informed choice about the best approach for their family. AVT is a listening and spoken language approach that focuses on learning through audition.

Auditory Verbal Therapy is a specialist parent coaching programme that aims to support parents to help their child learn to listen, build understanding of language and talk with their hearing aids or cochlear implant. An Auditory Verbal approach supports the child to make maximum use of listening in their everyday lives, to communicate, socialise and learn.

During Auditory Verbal sessions, parents or carers are guided to use AV techniques in activities and through play to develop their child’s listening and language, and support their social & emotional development. Ideas to carry over techniques at home help families to make the most of everyday opportunities to help their child to listen, talk and learn.

Regular assessment every 6 months forms an integral part of the programme, and results and goals are shared with the local team as part of a collaborative working approach.

An Auditory Verbal Therapist is a qualified Teacher of the Deaf, Speech & Language Therapist or Audiologist who has completed post graduate training to become a certified Auditory Verbal Therapist (sometimes called Listening & Spoken Language Specialist).

What are the key elements of the Auditory Verbal approach?

• Emphasises residual hearing and optimal use of hearing technology to promote listening

• Encourages the use of listening, conversation and spoken language to communicate

• AVT is a parent-centred approach; therapists coach and empower parents to use strategies to develop spoken language through listening

• It is an early intervention programme with the aim of stimulating auditory brain development during the critical early years

• Activities are planned to support typical development in the areas of listening, language, play, social development & early learning

• The philosophy of the approach is that deaf children have the opportunity to be integrated within a mainstream learning environment

How does AVT help?

We know that babies need very early access to meaningful auditory information and speech to develop the auditory areas of the brain. This in turn facilitates the development of listening and spoken language. A baby with a significant hearing loss has limited & delayed access to this early auditory brain stimulation. Early fitting of hearing technology is therefore very important for families who want their child to develop spoken language.

Hearing technologies are very effective but they have limitations. A child using hearing aids or cochlear implants will miss auditory information at a distance or in noisy environments. The child needs to be taught how to pay attention to auditory information through listening to develop their auditory brain. They also need access to a rich spoken language and social environment, with enriched auditory input to support early listening and spoken language.

Adding a family-focused, listening and spoken language early intervention through AVT helps to maximise the effectiveness of hearing technology and supports the development of age appropriate speech and language. This in turn helps to develop literacy and academic skills.

What evidence is there that AVT is effective?

AVT is widely used as an early intervention approach with deaf children and their families in North America and Canada. The government funds AVT for families in Australia, New Zealand and more recently in Denmark. In the UK, only 5% of pre-school deaf children can access AVT. The charity AVUK is the largest provider of AVT in the UK, and offers training to professionals to increase the number of therapists working across the UK.

Evidence from studies looking at the outcomes for deaf children who used a listening and spoken language approach highlight significant benefits of Auditory Verbal Therapy, with the majority of children who completed the programme achieving age appropriate spoken language.