At AVUK, the family of any deaf child who uses hearing technology, such as cochlear implants and hearing aids, including children with additional needs, can be given the opportunity to be supported in the Auditory Verbal approach, in order to develop listening and spoken language.

Our family programme starts with an initial six-month diagnostic window. During this period, the parents or caregivers, therapist and, ideally, the other professionals working with the child, will collaborate to determine whether Auditory Verbal therapy is appropriate. If not, the parents or caregivers will be supported in seeking alternative approaches.

Although the majority of children on AVUK’s family programme progress in their listening and spoken language skills, some children with additional needs may progress over an extended timescale. Around a third of the children currently on the AVUK programme who have additional needs are expected to continue to require additional support. Outcomes show that 1 in 2 deaf children with additional and often complex needs reaches age-appropriate language after attending the AVUK programme for at least two years, and those children who did not attain age-appropriate language after more than 2 years did, however, double their rate of spoken language development while on the programme. (Hitchins, A. R., & Hogan, S. C. 2018).