Beate Krueger is an Auditory Verbal Therapist working with families and their deaf children in Berlin at the only Government funded institution offering Auditory Verbal therapy in Germany.

She recently qualified as a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert AVT) after completing AVUK’s foundation course and advanced course.

Beate said: “I am absolutely delighted to have qualified as an Auditory Verbal Therapist, only the third in Germany. I’m really excited to continue working with families with deaf children to support them as they continue to learn how to listen and speak, and I want these families to believe in what they and their children can achieve.”

Auditory Verbal therapy is a family-centred specialist approach to developing spoken language through listening for deaf children. It supports pre-school deaf children learn how to make sense of the sound they receive through their hearing technology, like cochlear implants and hearing aids, and develop spoken language so they can learn to talk like their hearing friends. 

Beate found out about Auditory Verbal therapy while working as a speech and language therapist with cochlear implant patients in 2004 and with the support of Jacqueline Stokes, the founder of Auditory Verbal UK, completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Auditory Verbal therapy offered by the Ashton University in Birmingham together with AVUK.

After a conference in Madrid in 2019, hosted by the AG Bell Academy - the international accrediting body for Auditory Verbal Therapists worldwide - she finally decided she wanted to be a LSLS Cert. AVT and enrolled on the Advanced training course run by charity AVUK.

Despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Beate completed the advanced course and passed the AG Bell exams qualifying as an LSLS Cert. AVT at the beginning of 2024.

She added: “I cannot thank everyone enough for the support I have had including friends, family, colleagues and of course the trainers and mentors at AVUK. The course is a high-quality training programme and as well as supporting deaf babies and children I am determined to encourage more professionals to find out more about the wonderful benefits of Auditory Verbal therapy and perhaps become the next professional to qualify.”

Auditory Verbal UK is an internationally accredited training provider and provides training to UK and international professionals in the Auditory Verbal therapy approach so that more deaf babies and children can access Auditory Verbal therapy close to where they live.

Find out more about AVUK’s training programme here

Recent research by AVUK, backed up by international evidence, shows that 80% of children who attend an Auditory Verbal therapy programme for at least two years achieve the same level of spoken language as their hearing peers, rising to 97% of children without additional needs. The majority of these children are attaining educational outcomes on a par with hearing children and attend mainstream schools.