What is Auditory-Verbal Therapy?
Recent advancements in audiology have made it possible for deaf children to have access to sound from an early age. However, most deaf children who receive a cochlear implant or hearing aid will also benefit from interactions that pay special attention to perceiving and making sense of sound. This is at the core of Auditory-verbal therapy (AVT). It is also at the core of most early years and speech and language interventions, which AVT has successfully managed to use with deaf children.
Traditional AVT is based around a therapist coaching parents regularly. This might be an ideal scenario. However, many families don't have access to a therapist, can't afford it or, even if they do have access to a therapist, they would like to have an overview of the programme. This course is for those families. It can also be interested for professionals who are thinking of becoming a certified AVTtherapist and would like to know more about the rationale behind it.
What you will learn
In this course you will learn the core components of auditory-verbal interventions. You will be able to distinguish which phase of auditory-verbal development your child is in, and to apply the most useful interaction techniques for that phase.
You will be able to track your child's progress, with clear guidelines for what to look for, what to do, and useful tools to keep track of your work and your child's progress. You will also get useful resources to refer to in your daily life.
With this course you will have a deep, clear and structured insight into all the key components of an Auditory-verbal programme, so you will be able to give your child the best opportunity to develop their listening and hearing, even if you don't have access to a Therapist. This course is ideally suited for parents with young children with any degree of deafness, who are receiving audiological support (with a hearing aid, cochlear implant, BAHA, etc). AVT gets the best results with children up to 6 years approx., but the techniques described can be beneficial for older children too. It may also be useful for families who are waiting to start an AVT/aural rehabilitation program, and for those who are already enrolled in one and would like to know the principles more in depth.
Structure of the course and advice
The program is divided into 3 clear sections: introduction, principles for interaction and guides for focused auditory work.
It would be best to do this course with another family, or to get the whole family involved in it, as the journey is long :)
Disclaimer
All the contents from this course come from months of research into the practice of auditory-verbal therapy, plus additional research on early years language development and audiological intervention, and of course my own experience working with young children and their families. Imust also say that the techniques of interaction will be familiar to anyone working with young children, or for speech and language therapists, as they are based on well-established principles to support language intervention with different populations. Deaf children have the difficulty of having a reduced auditory experience, but they need the same core elements to learn to listen and speak as children with typical hearing. The milestones of listening development in young children who receive good quality auditory input and stimulation will be similar to typically hearing children, but with the delay of having a late start due to their access to sound, and possibly a longer duration for each of the stages.
The editing of some of the videos was slightly abrupt. Any improved editions will be included here and students will be notified about them.
