Our impact News Latest information about our services Update on 5 April 2022 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We will be continuing to offer telepractice and in centre appointments for our families subject to availability. Families should continue to observe AVUK’s COVID protocol and if anyone in your party is suffering from COVID symptoms, please do not attend our centres and let us know so we can reschedule your appointment. Appointments for the Summer term were emailed to families. If you haven't already done so, please remember you need to contact us to confirm the dates you have been sent. If you have not received your dates, please check your spam folder and let us know straight away if you need us to resend them to you. We thank you for your continued support during these unprecedented times. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 26th April, 17th May, 21st June and 14th July at 8pm. This is a free event for parents of children under the age of 5 years with permanent hearing loss who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf Want to find out more about Auditory Verbal therapy and developing spoken language through listening? Join us for a free 30-minute webinar on 27th April where we will share principles and video examples and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions directly to an Auditory Verbal therapist. We have free spaces available in our online two-hour course on managing challenging behaviour on 7th July. This course will focus on tips and recommendations to manage challenging behaviour in preschool children with hearing loss. We have a few spaces left on our Autumn foundation course, which is designed to equip you with the practical skills needed to accelerate spoken language development through listening in pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. If you are a speech and language therapist, teacher of the deaf or audiologist based in the UK, you may be eligible for a bursary to meet the costs of your training. For more information contact [email protected]. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR COURSES Update on 9 March 2022 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We will be continuing to offer telepractice and in centre and appointments for our families subject to availability for the remainder of the spring term. Families should continue to observe AVUK’s COVID protocol and this will be reviewed again in April. Appointments for the summer term, beginning after Easter will be sent to families week commencing 21 March. We thank you for your support during these unprecedented times. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 22nd March at 8pm. This is a free event for parents of children under the age of 5 years with permanent hearing loss who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf Want to find out more about Auditory Verbal therapy and developing spoken language through listening? Join us for a free 30-minute webinar on 24th March where we will share principles and video examples and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions directly to an Auditory Verbal therapist. We have spaces in our Autumn foundation course, which is designed to equip you with the practical skills needed to accelerate spoken language development through listening in pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR COURSES Update on 21st January 2022 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We will be increasing the number of incentre appointments from January 31st following the Government’s latest announcement on easing restrictions. The health and safety of our staff and services users remains of paramount importance as we transition to our new hybrid model of working with staff splitting their time between home and incentre working and we will review again at the half term break. For families who have requested incentre appointments, we will be in touch with you directly to confirm arrangements for your sessions. We thank you for your support during these unprecedented times. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 15th February or 22nd March at 8pm. This is a free event for parents of children under the age of 5 years with permanent hearing loss who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf For speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists, take part in our popular webinar, parent-coaching in early intervention on 10th March 2022. Use the code COACH20 to get a 20% discount. We also have spaces in our Easter foundation course, which is designed to equip you with the practical skills needed to accelerate spoken language development through listening in pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. You can also apply for our Spring advanced course, which is designed for professionals who have successfully completed AVUK’s foundation course, Working Through Audition, or similar foundation course, and who wish to develop their Auditory Verbal practice further. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR COURSES Update on 5th January 2022 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme Following a further review of the Government guidelines and advice regarding Covid measures today, 05 January, and the significant impact on our organisation's ability to deliver services if a number of staff were simultaneously taken ill, we have decided to continue to carry out therapy appointments remotely via telepractice for the remainder of January. We will be in touch with families directly if you were due to be seen in-centre this month. We will carry out a further review of the situation and latest guidance on 27 January in order to notify families of arrangements for February's appointments and we look forward to seeing families face-to-face as soon as we are able to do so. In the meantime all of the team would like to thank you for your ongoing support and understanding. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 20th January at 8pm. This is a free event for parents of children under the age of 5 years with permanent hearing loss who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf We are holding a free 30-minute webinar for professionals to meet an Auditory Verbal therapist on 20th January at 1pm. During this webinar we will share principles and video examples and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions directly to an Auditory Verbal therapist. We have several online training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists. For professionals, take part in our popular webinar, parent-coaching in early intervention on 27th January 2022. Use the code COACH20 to get a 20% discount. We also have spaces in our Easter foundation course, which is designed to equip you with the practical skills needed to accelerate spoken language development through listening in pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. You can also apply for our Spring advanced course, which is designed for professionals who have successfully completed AVUK’s foundation course, Working Through Audition, or similar foundation course, and who wish to develop their Auditory Verbal practice further. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR courses Update on 17th December 2021 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well and looking forward to the holidays. Please note that AVUK's centres will be closed and all staff on leave from Friday 24 December to Monday 03 January inclusive. In light of ongoing concerns around Covid measures over the holiday period, and to avoid any confusion at the start of January we have taken the decision not to reopen our centres immediately after the holidays and all therapy appointments from 04 – 07 January inclusive will be offered via telepractice. We will review the situation during that week and update everyone accordingly and look forward to seeing families face-to-face as soon as we are able to do so. Our approach as an organisation has always been to put the health and safety of our staff and service users at the heart of our response to the everchanging Covid situation and we are very grateful for your continued support and understanding. Update on 30th November 2021 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We hope you are all keeping safe and well. Since the beginning of the pandemic, our approach as an organisation has always been to put the health and safety of our staff and service users at the heart of our response to ever changing circumstances. Following the latest Government announcements on Omicron, we will continue to deliver the vast majority of our sessions via online platforms, such as Zoom and MS Teams and will have a reduced number of face to face appointments in our Bermondsey and Bicester centres over the next three weeks. We will be in touch with families directly if your appointments are affected. Appointments for the Spring term (January-Easter 2022) were emailed to families on 24 November. If you haven't already done so, please remember you need to contact us to confirm the dates you have been sent. If you have not received your dates, please check your spam folder and let us know straight away if you need us to resend them to you. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 7th December 2021 at 8pm. This is a free event for parents of children under the age of 5 years with permanent hearing loss who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf We have several online training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists. For professionals, take part in our popular webinar, parent-coaching in early intervention on 27th January 2022. Use the code CYBERMONDAY21 to get a 20% discount. We also have spaces in our Easter foundation course, which is designed to equip you with the practical skills needed to accelerate spoken language development through listening in pre-school aged children with hearing loss and their families. You can also apply for our Spring advanced course, which is designed for professionals who have successfully completed AVUK’s foundation course, Working Through Audition, or similar foundation course, and who wish to develop their Auditory Verbal practice further. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR courses Update on 20th July Latest information for families and professionals who use our services For families currently on our programme We hope you are all keeping safe and well. As we approach the end of term, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your flexibility and support throughout the year as we have all adapted to the unprecedented circumstances of the last 15 months. We are looking forward to seeing many of you at 6pm on Thursday evening (22nd July) at our celebration event and it’s not too late to join us – just send an email to [email protected], who will share the Zoom link with you. This is an opportunity to meet other AVUK families and share ideas and experiences with each other. We will focus on the use of books and our therapists will talk about how reading with your children can boost their language development. So, it would be great if you could please bring along your child's favourite book to share with the group. We will also be celebrating the families that will be graduating from the programme this term. Next term: Appointments, bursary renewals and invoices We are pleased to be able to offer a hybrid approach to appointments from September with some families opting for telepractice appointments only; some with in centre appointments only and the majority with a mix of sessions in centre and through online platforms. We will continue to review our approach and welcome your feedback. If you haven’t already done so, please make sure you have confirmed your appointment dates for next term and submitted your bursary renewal paperwork to us before the end of this week. You will be receiving your annual invoice via email during the first week of August along with instructions on how to pay / set up a payment plan with us so if you have any questions or concerns about your appointments or fees then please contact Emily ([email protected]) or Amy ([email protected]) straight away and we will be happy to discuss with you. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 22nd July or 15th September at 8pm BST. This is a free event for parents of children who are deaf under the age of 5 years who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with children who are deaf We have several new training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists available through online platforms. For professionals, take part in our popular webinar on developing speech & language through book sharing on 5th October, developing verbal humour on 11th November and Parent-coaching in early intervention on 27th January. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR WEBINARS Update on 15th June Latest information for families and professionals who use our services We hope you are all keeping safe and well. Following the latest Government announcement, we’re continuing to offer a limited number of appointments from our Bermondsey and Bicester centres, subject to the Government guidance around social distancing and travel restrictions. We will still be delivering the vast majority of our sessions for the remainder of the summer term via Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. We know that some families may wish to continue with all of their sessions online; others may be keen to resume in-person appointments at our centres and some may wish to have a combination of appointments from home and in our centres. We continue to be in contact with families to discuss the right approach for them now and for future appointments. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 30th June, 22nd July or 15th September at 8pm BST. This is a free event for parents of deaf children under the age of 5 years who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal therapy (AVT). BOOK YOUR PLACE For professionals working with deaf children We have several new training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists available through online platforms. For professionals, take part in our popular webinar on sensory play on 9th July and developing verbal humour with deaf children on 11th November. We’re also planning some free events for professionals so make sure to check our events page for the latest updates. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR COURSES AND WEBINARS HERE Update on 19th April Latest information for families who use our services We hope you are all keeping safe and well. From 19th April, we are planning to offer a limited number of appointments from our Bermondsey and Bicester centres, subject to the Government guidance around social distancing and travel restrictions. We will still be delivering the vast majority of our sessions this term via Zoom, MS Teams and Skype. We know that some families may wish to continue with all of their sessions online; others may be keen to resume in-person appointments at our centres and some may wish to have a combination of appointments from home and in our centres. Our therapists will be in touch with each of you individually to discuss your preferences going forward. We will do our very best to accommodate your preferences whilst keeping the health and safety of our staff and all of those who use our services, at the forefront of our minds alongside the Government guidance. Captain Tom’s 100 challenge taking place between Friday 30 April and Monday 3 May. You may have already heard about some of the things that people are planning to do. You could walk 100 laps of your garden just like Captain Tom, swim 100 lengths, read 100 books, say 100 words or sing for 100 minutes. There are no rules (apart from Government guidelines on the roadmap out of lockdown) and it's open to everyone. People can support any charity and we’d love for you to support our work at AVUK if you can. Sign up now and let us know your 100. Update on 23rd February Latest information for families and professionals who use our services We hope everyone is safe and well. Following the latest Government announcement, our centres remain closed so family appointments will continue via telepractice and online platforms. We will continue to review the Government guidelines issued on both a national and local level regarding the re-opening of our centres in London and Bicester during the summer term. The health and well-being of our team and everyone who uses our services remains of paramount importance. You should receive your appointment card for the summer term via email on or before 8th March. For families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy You can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom this evening (23rd February at 8pm GMT). This is a free event for parents of deaf children under the age of 5 years who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal therapy (AVT). Book your place For professionals working with deaf children We have several new training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists available through online platforms. For professionals, take part in our popular webinar on sensory play on 9th July and our free telepractice webinar for those working with deaf children on 15th April. We are also running a new course for professionals working in nursery education including nursery managers, nursery teachers, learning support assistants and SENCOs on 22nd April. Parents are welcome too. This is a very practical course that will equip the participants with ideas and strategies to use in everyday practice. Find out more about our courses and webinars here Update on 4th January Latest information for families and professionals who use our services We hope everyone is safe and well. Our new term begins today and we look forward to welcoming you back to your sessions, following the Christmas break. In light of current Government restrictions, we will continue to deliver our family programme and training services, through online platforms. All families should have received their appointments for this term during December. If you need to contact us then please call us on 01869 325000 or email us at [email protected]. The health and well-being of our team and everyone who uses our services remains of paramount importance. We will continue to review the Government guidelines issued on both a national and local level regarding the re-opening of our centres in London and Bicester. Families currently on the programme For those that haven't already got back to us to confirm the appointment dates you were sent for this term then please do get in touch as a matter of urgency this week (email [email protected] or call us on 01869 325000). Also just to remind families that are paying their fees for the year in 3 instalments that the second payment is due tomorrow (5th January 2021). We would love you to join us for our celebration event on Thursday 21st January at 5.30pm. This will be an opportunity to celebrate everything your children have achieved during the last few months. There will be a chance to meet other families and celebrate those children who are graduating from the programme. We hope that you can join us! Book your place here. For professionals working with deaf children We look forward to welcoming back those who are training with us in 2021. We have several new training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists available through online platforms. Find out more about our courses and webinars here. Update on 15th December Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Following the latest Government advice on restrictions from Wednesday 16th December, we will continue to deliver our family programme and training services, through online platforms. We are contacting families that have in-centre appointments booked for next week so that we can reschedule. If you need to contact us then please call us on 01869 325000 or email us at [email protected]. The health and well-being of our team and everyone who uses our services remains of paramount importance. We will continue to review the Government guidelines issued on both a national and local level. Please note that Auditory Verbal UK will be closed during the festive period from midday on 23rd December 2020 and will reopen at 9am on 4th January 2021. Update on 1st December Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Following the latest Government advice on restrictions from Wednesday 2nd December, we will continue to deliver our family programme and training services, through online platforms. Appointment cards for the spring term starting in January are being sent out via email this afternoon. If you have not received your details by tomorrow afternoon, please check your spam folder and contact [email protected]. The health and well-being of our team and everyone who uses our services remains of paramount importance. Our centres will be open for a limited number of priority appointments and we will continue to review the Government guidelines issued on both a national and local level. Families interested in finding out more about Auditory Verbal therapy can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist via Zoom on 14th December This is a free event for parents of deaf children under the age of 5 years who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal therapy (AVT). You will have a chance to meet one of our senior Auditory Verbal therapists who can answer your questions about AVT and find out more about our family-centred programme at Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK). Our next online session is taking place on 14th December at 11am. Find out more here. For professionals working with deaf children We have several training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf, audiologists and education staff. With sessions on developing humour and supporting deaf children’s listening and spoken language in mainstream education, you'll be sure to come away with some new and exciting techniques and theory to use in your practice. Find out more about our courses and webinars here. Update on 3rd November Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Following the Prime Minister’s press conference on 31st October 2020, we will continue to deliver our family programme and training services, as now, through online platforms. We will temporarily close our centres in Bermondsey and Bicester for AVUK visitors as of Thursday 5th November. The health and well-being of our team and everyone who uses our services remains of paramount importance. We will aim to re-open the centres for priority appointments as soon as we are able to and will continue to review the Government guidelines issued on both a national and local level. Parent evening on 19th November We hope to see many families joining our event for parents on Thursday 19th November. The evening is open to any family who has been, or is currently, on the programme at Auditory Verbal UK, although it will be most useful to those with pre-school children. If you are a parent of a pre-school child and are beginning to wonder about what to expect when they start school this event is for you! During the evening you will hear first-hand from some of our AVUK children about their experiences of navigating primary school, and have an opportunity to ask their parents questions too. Book your place here. Families interested in finding our more about Auditory Verbal therapy can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist on 25th November This is a free event for parents of deaf children under the age of 5 years who wish to find out more about how you can develop listening and spoken language through Auditory Verbal therapy (AVT). You will have a chance to meet one of our senior Auditory Verbal therapists who can answer your questions about AVT and find out more about our family-centred programme at Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK). Our next online session is taking place on 25th November at 8pm. Find out more here. For professionals working with deaf children We have several training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists. With sessions on parent-coaching, and developing humour, you'll be sure to come away with some new and exciting techniques and theory to use in your practice. Find out more about our courses and webinars here. Update on 14th October 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement on 12th October, we will continue to deliver our family programme and professional training services through Zoom, MS Teams and Skype for the rest of the autumn term. Although our centres have been recently reopened in line with COVID-Secure guidelines from which we have delivered a limited number of sessions in the past fortnight, the safety of our staff and our service users remains of paramount importance. For the time being, all staff will be working from home and we will only offer in-centre appointments in very limited circumstances. Any families with in-centre appointments will be contacted by the team on the day to confirm or reschedule as necessary. This position will be reviewed on a weekly basis and in line with local and national guidelines. Parent evening on 19th November We are delighted to announce an online event for parents on Thursday 19th November. The evening is open to any family who has been, or is currently, on the programme at Auditory Verbal UK, although it will be most useful to those with pre-school children. If you are a parent of a pre-school child and are beginning to wonder about what to expect when they start school this event is for you! During the evening you will hear first-hand from some of our AVUK children about their experiences of navigating primary school, and have an opportunity to ask their parents questions too. Book your place here. Families interested in finding our more about Auditory Verbal therapy can meet an Auditory Verbal Therapist on 20th October We are delighted that so many families have joined our free Q and A sessions with our Auditory Verbal Therapists. These online sessions provide the opportunity for families to find out more about our Auditory Verbal UK programme and the development of listening and spoken language. Our next online session is taking place on 20th October at 8pm. Find out more here. For professionals We have several training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists. These webinars will be taking place from November 2020 - February 2021 and will be hosted by an LSLS (Cert) Auditory Verbal therapist. With sessions on parent-coaching, and developing humour, you'll be sure to come away with some new and exciting techniques and theory to use in your practice. Due to demand, we have also added an additional Foundation course in April 2021. Find out more about our courses and webinars here. Loud Shirt Day on 23rd October And finally, Loud Shirt Day takes place on October 23rd. We hope that you will wear your brightest clothes and get LOUD to give more deaf children the opportunity to learn to listen and talk. This year we've teamed up with our Australian and New Zealand counterparts so we can get LOUD across the world. Find out more here. Update on 24th September 2020 Latest information for families who use our services In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement on 22nd September, we will continue to deliver our family programme and professional training services through Zoom, MS Teams and Skype for the rest of the autumn term. Although our centres have been recently reopened in line with COVID-safe guidelines from which we have delivered a limited number of sessions in the past fortnight, the safety of our staff and our service users remains of paramount importance. For the time being, all staff will be working from home and we will only offer in-centre appointments in very limited circumstances. This position will be reviewed on a weekly basis and in line with local and national guidelines. Update on 15th September 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Families on the programme This week, our new term has started and we are delighted to welcome back our families to the programme. We will still be delivering the vast majority of our regular sessions via Zoom, MS Teams and Skype at least until the end of October but we will be offering a limited number of appointments from our Bermondsey and Bicester centres, subject to current Government guidance around social distancing and travel and clinical needs. As a charity, we do our best to ensure that finance is not a barrier to families accessing their AV programme. If, for any reason, your household income has recently changed or is about to change then do let us know. You may be entitled to additional support and you can find details of our bursaries here. Stuart Robertson, has recently joined our team as our Director of Finance and Operations and will be very happy to answer any questions you may have regarding your programme. His email is [email protected] Families interested in finding our more about Auditory Verbal therapy We are delighted that so many families have joined our free Q and A sessions with our Auditory Verbal Therapists. These online sessions provide the opportunity for families to find out more about our Auditory Verbal UK programme and the development of listening and spoken language. Our next online session is taking place on 20th October at 8pm. Find out more here. For professionals We are delighted to have supported over 700 professionals who have taken part in our recent online sessions, which have included weekend and evening dates to allow as many people as possible to attend. We have recently announced more training opportunities for speech and language therapists, teachers of the deaf and audiologists. These webinars will be taking place from September 2020 - February 2021 and will be hosted by an LSLS (Cert) Auditory Verbal therapist. With sessions on sensory play, parent-coaching, and developing humour, you'll be sure to come away with some new and exciting techniques and theory to use in your practice. Due to popular demand, we have also added an extra date for our Foundation course in April 2021. Find out more about our courses and webinars here. We’d also like to welcome the speech and language therapists and teachers of the deaf from across the UK and Europe who have started their Foundation and Advanced courses this month. Finally, a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported our work in recent months. Your donations and support is enabling us to support families across the UK in these unprecedented times. We will continue to provide updates or any changes to our services on this page, as well as on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Stay safe, The AVUK team Update on Friday 7th August 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Families on the programme Thank you so much for all the support and feedback you have given the AVUK team this term. We hope you continue to stay safe and well as we go into the summer break. During August we will be making adaptations to our Bermondsey and Bicester centres to enable us to offer a limited number of face-to-face appointments during the autumn term; these appointments will be arranged on an individual basis in discussion with your therapist. If you have not yet confirmed your appointments or responded to the Operations team’s request regarding your bursary funding then please would you do so as a matter of urgency. We have introduced additional options for payment for the new year and we are pleased to confirm that that, thanks to the very generous support of our funders, we have been able to hold our fees for the fourth consecutive year as well as continuing to subsidise the cost of the programme through our bursary scheme. Please don’t hesitate to contact Rachel French or Paul Butler if you have any questions. Rachel and Paul can be contacted on 01869 325000 or [email protected] We will also be hosting a session for parents who wish to find out more about what we do on Wednesday 2nd September at 8pm. Attendees will have a chance to meet Noel Kenely, one of our senior Auditory Verbal Therapists who can answer any questions that parents may have. This information session is open to all parents of babies and preschool children who want to find out more about our family-centred early intervention programme. Please do share the details with other families who may wish to join. For professionals We have a variety of webinars planned in the coming months and some more free ones for health and education professionals. Topics include sensory play, parent coaching and humour in children with hearing loss. We are also running our very popular course on supporting deaf children in mainstream education in September. Places are filling up fast and you can find out more here. Please keep an eye on this page for further updates. Update on Tuesday 7th July 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services As restrictions begin to ease we will continue to support our families and professionals in the best way we can while maintaining their safety and that of our staff. From September until at least the end of October, we will continue to deliver the majority of our regular sessions online. We are planning to offer a limited number of appointments from our Bermondsey and Bicester centres, subject to the Government guidance around social distancing and travel restrictions. Appointments are available for new families via online platforms and do get in touch if you would like to have an initial chat by calling 01869 325000 or by completing the form on our website. We will also be hosting a session for parents who wish to find out more about what we do on Tuesday 21st July at 8pm. You can register here. Auditory Verbal UK are looking to collect feedback from families on the programme regarding telepractice sessions. Our aim is to investigate the relationships between your experiences of teletherapy and your child’s progress. Please complete the experiences of telepractice survey and the scale of parental involvement survey. Families currently on the AVUK programme For those families that are returning next term, you should receive your provisional appointments this week via Doodle. If you don’t receive them by Friday 10th July then please email [email protected] straight away. To celebrate everything our AVUK children have achieved in the last few months we’re holding a celebration event on Wednesday 15th July at 8pm for any family who has been or is currently on the programme at AVUK. There will be a chance to meet other families and celebrate those children who are graduating from the programme at the end of July, as well as hearing from a couple of children who came to AVUK when they were younger and who are now in junior and secondary school. For professionals We have a variety of webinars planned in the coming months and some more free ones for health and education professionals. You can find out more about these sessions Here Topics include sensory play, parent coaching and humour in children with hearing loss. We are also running our very popular course on supporting deaf children in mainstream education in September. Places are filling up fast and you can find out more here. Thank you We are so grateful to everyone who has supported our work over the past few months. All charities are facing uncertain times due to the pandemic and there is a predicted shortfall in the charity sector for the year of £12.4bn. If you are able to support AVUK with a donation, no matter how small the amount, or if you want to set up a regular gift, you can do this by donating now. Your donation will be supporting AVUK to make a difference in the lives of our children and their families. It would be extremely kind of you and much appreciated. Please keep an eye on this page and our family Facebook page for further updates. Update on Thursday 4th June 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services All of our sessions continue to be delivered via online platforms until further notice. We are also able to offer appointments to new families via online platforms and are happy to arrange an initial call over the phone. Please call 01869 325000 or complete the form on our website. Our staff continue to work from home and we are looking at ways we can open our centres when it’s safe and appropriate to do so. Auditory Verbal therapists Sarah Hogan and Emma Burton will be hosting another free Q&A session for families on our programme on Wednesday 10th June at 8pm. We will also be hosting a session for parents who wish to find out more about what we do on Tuesday 16th June at 8pm. For professionals, we have free Q&A webinars about the use of telepractice for professionals working with Preschool deaf children. These sessions are for teachers of the deaf, speech and language therapists and audiologists. These will take place on Thursday 18th June at 11.30am and 2pm, Wednesday 24th June at 3pm and Thursday 2nd July at 11.30am via Zoom. One last thing... Even though the 2.6 challenge is over, you can still find fun ways of supporting AVUK and all the deaf children and families who need our support. You could set yourself a challenge to run, walk, or cycle and ask your friends and family to sponsor you. You can also set up a page on our website so people can donate directly to us – it couldn’t be easier. Check out our website for more ideas. And if that all sounds a bit frantic, you could still help us to help even more deaf children and not even put on a sweat. Did you know that you can buy your Amazon purchases through Amazon Smile and every time you order Amazon will donate to Auditory Verbal UK, at no cost to you. Please keep an eye on this page and our family Facebook page for further updates. Update on Monday 11th May 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services Following the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday (10th May), all of our sessions will continue to be delivered via online platforms until further notice and our staff will continue to work from home. We are also able to offer appointments to new families via online platforms. Senior Auditory Verbal therapists, Estelle Gerrett and Sarah Hogan will be hosting another free Q&A session for families on our programme on Wednesday 20th May at 8pm. We will also be hosting a session for parents who wish to find out more about what we do on Tuesday 19th May at 8pm. For professionals, we have released further dates for our free session for teachers of the deaf, speech and language therapists and audiologists on the theme of starting out with using telepractice, sharing top tips and strategies on Thursday 21st May at 3pm and Tuesday 2nd June at 11.30am via Zoom. This month we are also running two workshops for professionals who work with young deaf children. In these workshops you will be able to explore ways of supporting parents to use the play time they have with their child to build their brains for interaction and language, without the need for excessive use of electronic toys or screens. There are limited spaces and you can find out more and register your place here. Please keep an eye on this page and our family Facebook page for further updates. Update on Tuesday 21st April 2020 Latest information for families and professionals who use our services We are delighted to be welcoming our families back for the summer term this week. All of our sessions will continue to be delivered via online platforms until further notice. We realise that families across the country may be facing changes to their financial circumstances. As a charity, we do our best to ensure that finance is not a barrier to families accessing their AV programme. If, for any reason, your household income has recently changed or is about to change then please email [email protected]. You may be entitled to additional support and you can find details of our bursaries here. We have also put together some information about other organisations that may also be able to offer financial support (not just for your AV therapy) and you can find details on our website here. Our daily activities can be found on our family portal and on our social media. If you are considering AVT and would like to get in touch for an initial appointment which can be carried out via Skype, Zoom or Facetime, please call us on 01869 325000 or complete the form on our website. We will be hosting another free Q&A session for families on our programme on Wednesday 29th April at 8pm – you can register here. We also have a free session for teachers of the deaf, speech and language therapists and audiologists on the theme of starting out with using telepractice, sharing top tips and strategies on Tuesday 28th April at 11.30am via Zoom. You can register here. Our professional training is continuing through our online platforms and if you would like more information about our short courses which can be tailored for your team and delivered through online platforms, please contact [email protected] or [email protected] Update on Thursday 9th April 2020 Latest information for families who use our services We hope you are all staying safe and well. We know that uncertainty can be a difficult place to be so we’ll keep you updated on a few of the steps along the way. Our senior Auditory Verbal therapist, Noel Kenely, hosted our first live Q&A to support families of deaf children on our programme. We were really pleased to bring our families together in an online format and delighted with the feedback that we received from those who attended. Our next Q&A for our families will be taking place on Wednesday 29th April at 8pm. You can find out more here. We know that families may be facing many different challenges now and in the coming months so we’ve put together a list of UK benevolent and emergency funds that may be able to support you during this time. We will be adding to this list as more funds become available. Update on Friday 3rd April 2020 Latest information for families and professionals using our services We hope you are all keeping safe and well in these unprecedented times. We have been working hard at AVUK to enable all of our family services to continue through a range online platforms and delighted to hear the positive feedback from those of you who have experienced your AV sessions through Skype, Zoom and Microsoft teams over the past three weeks. Because of the ongoing situation regarding Covid-19, we will be continuing to deliver our appointments via online platforms until further notice. If you haven’t yet tried telepractice or have any concerns about how it works, please do talk to your therapist and have a look at the page on our website which explains how it works and provides examples of parents who have been accessing sessions in this way for some time. Each weekday we are also posting a fun activity to help develop your child’s listening and speaking skills. Check out our family portal page with our activity of the day and worksheets. We know that families may be facing many different challenges now and in the coming months so if you are concerned about any aspect of your AV programme or would welcome the opportunity to talk to our family support officer, please do get in touch with us. For professionals, we’ve tailored our upcoming Auditory Verbal clinical excellence network (CEN) to share strategies and experience of delivering therapy at a distance. You can find out more here. We all hope to welcome you back to our centres soon and in the meantime hope that you and your family stay safe and well. Please keep an eye on this page and our family Facebook page for further updates. Update on Friday 20th March 2020 Guidance for families and professionals using our services We are very grateful to everyone who has contacted us and continues to provide support to AVUK in these unprecedented times. We have continued to monitor official advice and the safety of our staff and of all those who use our services has been paramount. On Monday 16th March, our staff began working at home and are continuing to deliver our services through online platforms. Our centres in Bermondsey and Bicester are closed and will remain closed until further notice. We have been delivering on-line sessions to families on our programme and those who are training in Auditory Verbal practice via a range of online platforms, including SKYPE, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Like many of our counterparts around the world, we have been delivering family sessions and professional training via telepractice for a number of years and our team has experience in delivering our services in this way. We will also work with families to find other ways to keep in touch. We will be in touch with our families shortly about appointments for next term which begins after Easter. If you are not currently on the programme but would like to find out more about Auditory Verbal therapy, please do get in touch with us by calling 01869 325000 or completing the form on our website here: https://www.avuk.org/forms/family-enquiry. We are able to offer initial appointments through SKYPE or other online platforms. Please keep an eye on this page and our family Facebook page for further updates. Update on Thursday 19th March 2020 Loud Shirt Day will be postponed until 23rd October 2020 We have taken the decision to postpone our Loud Shirt Day due to take place on 5 June 2020, in light of the Coronavirus pandemic and the significant challenges that schools, business and individuals will be facing in unprecedented times. Our focus for the coming weeks and months at Auditory Verbal UK will be on supporting the families of deaf children on our programme and the health and education professionals that we work with, through our telepractice services. The date of Loud Shirt Day 2020 will therefore be October 23rd and it will coincide with the event hosted by our Australian and New Zealand counterparts. On that day, we hope that you will wear your brightest clothes and get LOUD across the world to give more deaf children the opportunity to learn to listen and talk. We have updated Loud Shirt Day website, so please do check this out. We wanted to thank you for registering your interest for this year’s event and we very much hope that you’re able to still support us on 23rd October 2020. We are very sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause, and thank you for your understanding. Update on Monday 16th March 2020 Postponed – evening for parents on 25th March 2020 It is with much regret that we are postponing the event for parents scheduled for 25th March 2020 in London. The health and well-being of our staff and all those who use our services or attend our events is of paramount importance. In light of the increase in coronavirus cases and given that we work with a number of families with compromised immune systems and health conditions, we have taken the decision to ask families not to travel where possible and as of today, we are also delivering our services via telepractice. We will be back in touch as soon as we’ve been able to rearrange the event and very much hope that you will be able to join us on a future date. We are very sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause, and thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]. Update on Friday 13th March 2020 Updated Guidance on coronavirus (COVID-19) for our families and visitors to AVUK Auditory Verbal UK continues to actively respond to government advice regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and its fast-moving developments. The health and well-being of our staff and all those who use our services is of paramount importance. Over the last two weeks, we have put in place additional and precautionary measures in our centres and for our staff. In light of the increase in cases and given that we work with a number of families with compromised immune systems and health conditions, we have taken the decision as an organisation to offer the majority of our regular therapy sessions online via Skype for an initial period of 14 days. This will take effect from Monday 16th March 2020. We will be contacting families individually to arrange Skype sessions. We will continue to review this position. We have created this webpage with current information for our families - please familiarise yourself with this information as it will be updated frequently and please continue to adhere to all official government advice with regard to COVID-19. Thank you for your cooperation. Please contact us if you have any questions. Government & NHS advice on COVID-19 Find out how to protect yourself or check if you need medical help on the NHS website See the government's advice on how to wash your hands properly See the government’s latest information and advice for the public on the outbreak of coronavirus for the current situation in the UK and abroad Manage Cookie Preferences