Our 2021 Position Paper uses the latest international research to outline the current landscape of the Auditory Verbal approach and paediatric deafness. It includes how social policy, hearing technology and early interventions have advanced; raising the potential for deaf children to learn to listen and speak alongside their hearing peers.  

In this paper we explore the global picture of Auditory Verbal therapy and what more we can be doing to make this intervention accessible to families across the UK. 

The paper highlights work at AVUK which demonstrates that with an investment of £21.5m over the next 10 years, we can provide a sound future for deaf children and unlock an economic benefit of £152m, rising to £11.7 billion over 50 years. With children at risk of falling further behind as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic there has never been a more important time to invest in early and effective support for deaf children in the UK.     

 

Over the last 21 months, the majority of our Early Intervention has been via telepractice. We have been delighted to see that the effectiveness of AV intervention has been rated very highly by parents and therapists alike and that the children on the programme continue to make excellent progress with their listening and spoken language development. Many families have joined the programme since March 2020 and together we have been able to bring the AV strategies to families who have only ever accessed their programme remotely. While we are looking forward to playing and learning together in person, it is reassuring to know that effective early intervention for children with hearing loss is still a reality. 

Sarah Hogan, Senior Auditory Verbal Therapist and Bicester Clinical Lead

Download the Position Paper

If you have any questions about our research, please get in touch with Sarah Hogan, on [email protected]