Frances Clark on #MyFirstAVT

Frances Clark is a highly specialist speech and language therapist and audiologist. Frances has been working for AV^UK since 2013, training towards her LSLS cert AVT qualification. Below Frances shares her journey on why she decided to become an auditory verbal therapist, sharing her memories of the first time she witnessed an auditory verbal therapy session.

“I wanted to help. I wanted to give a voice to children who could not speak but were learning to hear.

I tried everything I knew and sometimes it worked, a little. I used lots of cows that mooed and many a worksheet. Many a child cried in boredom and inside I cried a bit too…

I decided to attend ‘Working Through Audition’ Auditory Verbal^UK’s introductory course into auditory verbal therapy. From Day 1, I was hooked. My practice changed immediately, I moved around the table, next to the child, so I could tell if they were really listening…

I couldn’t sleep after Day 1, as I knew I needed to learn more to truly make a difference. I told myself that if I still couldn’t sleep after Day 2, I could take this forward and train to be an Auditory Verbal Therapist. A month later, with little sleep, I decided to go the whole hog. By then my therapy involved the parents more and I’d learned how to play, really play, in a fun way that involved babies being bathed, water splashing over the table and having arguments with parents about who was going to have the green crayon.

After lots of hard work and a steep learning curve, I am now almost there; but what has been most inspirational is “The Journey” – a word used regularly at AV^UK but one that holds significance for all of the families and therapists. A word that takes us away from focusing on the outcome but celebrating the achievements as they come, which means that almost every session is a little party.”

 

Update on 27th August 2015: Frances passed her exam on the 26th August and is therefore now a fully qualified LSLS cert. auditory verbal therapist.