This July our clinical lead Rosie Quayle, alongside AVT intern Frances Clark, attended the Alexander Graham Bell (AG Bell) Symposium in Baltimore, USA.

The AG Bell Association for listening and spoken language is an international charity and its academy is the certifying body for auditory verbal therapy.  Frances attended the symposium to sit an exam, and to meet AG Bell’s CEO Emilio Alonso-Mendoza at their headquarters in Washington DC.

Rosie attended the symposium to present alongside Sylvia Rotfleisch, a leader in the field of AVT.  Sylvia trained under AV pioneer Daniel Ling and now works as an auditory verbal therapist in Los Angeles whilst also lecturing nationally and internationally.  Rosie and Sylvia presented on ‘Back to Basics: The ABCs of AVT’, the ABC standing for audition, babies and communication. The practical workshop’s focus was inspired by the increasing drive towards electronic toys and tablets in AVT, and how in light of this we continue to make sure that we are using the latest research to improve the core ‘basics’: working through audition, making therapy functional and co-working with parents.

Rosie shared her thoughts on this years’ event:

“The AG Bell Symposium is a fantastic opportunity, both to share what we have been doing in the UK, and to learn from other centres across the world, many of whom have been active in the field for many years. Particular highlights this year included a presentation by Yale researcher Ken Pugh on what the latest brain imaging is telling us about how children learn to read; hearing about social skills programmes from Hear and Say; and learning new ways of measuring listening progress from the Shepherd Centre. The symposium is an opportunity to share best practice with therapists from around the world and continue our drive to ensure our work is informed by the latest research and outcomes, so that we can help the children we support to continue to be fabulous listeners, speakers and achievers.”