Auditory Verbal Therapy

• Abigail Hitchins
• Anita Grover

AVUK and BATOD Foundation

This MESHGuide has been designed by the staff at Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK). The guide is designed to provide an overview of the landscape of paediatric deafness, a description of the Auditory Verbal (AV) approach and up-to-date domestic and international research on the spoken language outcomes of children with hearing loss attending AV therapy.  It also includes practical applications, case studies and relevant training opportunities for Teachers of the Deaf and other health and education professionals.  This guide is aimed at health professionals and researchers working with children with hearing loss, although some information may be relevant for families.

The content of this MESHGuide aims to increase awareness and understanding of the AV approach and to inform policy and practice in the UK.

The authors of this Guide will work to continually develop and improve its content and actively welcome comment from all readers on how improvements might be achieved.

In this guide we use the term ‘deaf’ to denote hearings loss of 40 dBHL or greater.

We have provided evidence for the information collated above with a full reference list including research published in peer reviewed journals.

The collected information and advice is intended to inform parents and professionals working with parents who wish to follow a listening and spoken language approach to communication.

There are various online forums for Auditory Verbal therapists on platforms such as Facebook. The governing body of Auditory Verbal therapists is AG Bell.

There are various online forums for Teachers of the Deaf and parents of deaf children, in the UK and other parts of the world.  BATOD manages an email forum

To keep in touch with other developments, please register to join the MESHConnect general online community. https://khub.net/group/connect-ed