The Central Speech and Hearing Clinic Auditory Verbal Therapy Program

What is Auditory-Verbal?

In Auditory-Verbal practice there is an expectation that young children with hearing loss can use technically assisted hearing to learn to listen, to process verbal language and to speak. The goal of Auditory-Verbal practice is that children with a hearing loss can grow up in regular learning and living environments that enable them to become independent, participating, and contributing citizens in mainstream society. The Auditory-Verbal philosophy supports the right of every child born with a hearing loss to have the opportunity to develop the ability to listen and to use verbal communication in their daily lives. Adapted from Auditory-Verbal International, (1991).

An Auditory-Verbal program requires:

FULL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT: Auditory-Verbal Therapy requires the involvement of the entire family. In the clinical setting, while it may appear that the therapist is “teaching the child”, in reality the therapist is “teaching the parent(s)* how to teach their child to listen, hear and speak”. The parent is considered their child’s main teacher of spoken language as it is the parent that is with the child during the child’s waking hours.

FULL INTEGRATION: AVT encourages the placement of the child in the neighbourhood nursery school or pre-school, day care centre or primary and secondary school so that the child has access to the spoken language models of their hearing peers. AVT encourages integration into an environment that is rich in spoken language. AVT encourages placement in a regular school program.

INTENSIVE AUDIOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT: This ensures the child is able to maximally benefit from hearing aids or a cochlear implant.

USE OF AUDITION: AVT focuses almost exclusively on developing the hearing brain. AVT does not see the need to teach lip reading or speech reading. The research shows that children who develop their listening skills through audition are much more able to self monitor their speech production and therefore tend to have more regular patterns of speech.

A ONE-LANGUAGE APPROACH: AVT focuses on one language only – spoken language. It does not use sign language and would discourage the use of sign and spoken language simultaneously.

* Parent refers to a guardian/caregiver of the child.

Goldberg and Flexer (2001) presented an outcome survey of children raised in Auditory-Verbal programs. 93% of the respondents were severely or profoundly deaf. The questions in the survey revealed the following:

  1. Do you consider yourself part of the hearing world, the deaf world, or both?
    76% consider themselves part of the hearing world
    21% consider themselves part of both the hearing and deaf world 
    Less than 1% consider themselves part of the deaf world
  2. Nearly 90% had been fully mainstreamed in regular schools
  3. 72% used the telephone
  4. 94% went on to post-secondary education