Following Grace’s graduation from the Auditory Verbal (AV) therapy family programme at AVUK her mum, Rhian share’s their story:

“It was a complete shock at first, with no family experience of deafness. Grace has an older brother, and I guess a mother’s instinct led me to know pretty instantly that I thought Grace was deaf within a few days of her being born. She was unwell, so there were other complications, but she wasn’t reacting to sounds, not flinching at loud noises...that kind of thing. The team at the hospital were amazing. They acted quickly and we were seen within a month at the Children’s Audiology unit, University Hospital of Wales.

“I think that was the most difficult experience to go through. When you’re told your child is profoundly deaf, you feel completely helpless.

“We were offered hearing aids for Grace to wear and regular support at the hospital, with weekly appointments for the ear moulds to be taken as her little ears grew and changed over a short space of time.

“I did some research myself back in 2020 – I hadn’t heard of AV therapy before, and I was desperately searching for something that would help my child develop her speech just like her hearing peers. My concern was that she wouldn’t be able to communicate with the hearing world or fit in all of those normal worries you have as a parent.

“I came across the AVUK website and was instantly impressed with the work they were doing with deaf children - to help them reach their goals before starting mainstream school. I had mentioned it to her Speech and Language Therapist about the service and unfortunately, there was no funding available; either through the local authority or NHS services so that option was put on hold.

“Her language and speech development wasn’t progressing as it should, and that’s when we came to the decision that she should have cochlear implants.

“Fast forward a little to December 2020 – we were contacted by the hospital and Grace was booked in to have her operation a month later in January 2021.

“A couple of months on and Grace was starting to wear her implants for longer than an hour a day - this took some time for her to get used to – learning again about the sounds around her. Sounds she had never heard before. Things like understanding me say her name all had to be re-learned.

“Her Speech and Language Therapist remembered me mentioning to her about AV therapy and told me that another family she was seeing had started AV therapy with their child and were getting some funding in Wales. I jumped at the chance and contacted AVUK directly. They set me up with a call with one of their AV therapists, and thankfully the rest is history.

“Our AV therapist at AVUK, Vicky has been absolutely amazing and has gone above and beyond to help us. She has the ability to explain how we as parents, can improvise situations into learning opportunities for Grace through play, be more patient allowing Grace to try and use her words to get what she wants and not answer for her, which as parents, we often automatically do for our children. We looked at language opportunities using various strategies. We encouraged Grace to use the power of her words; express her thoughts; ask questions about the world around her… and we managed to do this all by having our therapy sessions through video calls. Albeit, tough on occasions where Grace found it difficult to equalise her emotions, and her focus could sometimes be limited. But working from a home setting, Grace was relaxed in her environment.”

“Vicky also noticed that Grace has trouble self-regulating which is a sign of sensory integration issues. Again, she went above and beyond helping us to find a suitable Occupational Therapist in our area to assess Grace. Now we can understand our daughter’s needs better, and why she struggles to focus which isn’t just related to her hearing loss.

“After three years being supported by AVUK on their family-centred AV therapy programme Grace graduated on a wonderful day of celebration.

“Over the three years Grace’s rate of language acquisition on the program was double that expected of her typically-hearing peers.

“We are so incredibly proud of Grace and what she has achieved. It’s not only her speech which has developed so wonderfully but also her confidence. Simply being able to use her voice to express herself is amazing and a place I often wondered if we would reach.

“She happily engages with other children but also knows when she needs to take herself away. She is also incredibly proud to tell people she is deaf.”

“She has great support at school but we couldn’t have got here without AVUK. You do have to put the work in, but the beauty of the AV therapy programme is you are all part of a team – part of a family.”

“We know that Grace will continue to need support to further develop her communication skills, but I now know how to help her.”

“She is such a wonderful little girl who loves writing, colouring, drawing, dressing up, singing and dancing – just like her hearing friends – something I worried I would never be able to say. And I couldn’t be happier with what she has achieved.”

Rhian – Grace’s mum