In April Auditory Verbal Therapist Liz Hamilton will be taking on the London Marathon for charities Auditory Verbal UK and Tourettes Action – two causes close to her heart.

As Liz continues her training journey to the start line in London on April 27^th, she shares her experience of discovering Auditory Verbal therapy and becoming an Auditory Verbal Therapist at AVUK.

After qualifying as a Speech and Language Therapist in 1999 Liz worked for the NHS in the community in Bradford.

During her degree she was given the opportunity to work with deaf children, which she loved and almost immediately after qualifying she continued to train to specialise in supporting children with hearing loss.

Liz explained: “To see a young child progress from just detecting speech, to understanding and then using spoken language is such a rewarding experience. “

After becoming a highly specialist speech and language therapist in 2001, Liz continued her career supporting deaf children both in the community and at a school for the Deaf in Bradford before joining the Yorkshire Auditory Implant Service full-time in 2005.

Her role at the Implant Service as a Principal Speech and Language Therapist was to assess deaf babies and children for suitability for cochlear implants and to support the children and their families following their implant operation.

“It was a privilege to work within the multidisciplinary team, supporting families from the early stages of diagnosis through to the implant operation, and helping the child to develop their listening and communication skills,” she said.

As part of her role Liz worked with rehabilitation colleagues at the Manchester Cochlear Implant Centre many of whom are trained Auditory Verbal therapists. Despite being initially sceptical about Auditory Verbal therapy and how it supported deaf babies and children to learn to listen and talk, Liz signed up for a Foundation Course in Auditory Verbal therapy for professionals and was immediately convinced.

She explained: “The course content was immediately relevant to the children and families I was working with. It broadened my understanding of what a deaf child could achieve and inspired me to adapt my practice to better support these families.”

On completing the foundation course, Liz added: “As a therapist who had worked with deaf children and their families for a long time prior to completing the Foundation Course, the knowledge and skills I gained completely changed my practice for every child on my caseload. This was true regardless of whether the family was attending specific Auditory Verbal therapy sessions or not. The course offers a fantastic, in-depth knowledge base and parent-coaching skills that can be applied to all areas of work with deaf children.”

Liz continued her training with the Manchester team and fully qualified as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Auditory Verbal Therapist in 2018 – one of only 34 currently in the UK and joined AVUK in 2023.

She said: “With such a small number of Auditory Verbal Therapists in the UK I wanted to really use my skills and expertise to support as many deaf children and babies as I could to achieve their potential.

“Only around 10% of deaf children can currently access an Auditory Verbal therapy programme and I feel proud that I am one of a very small number who can offer this early support.

It is vital that more specialists train in Auditory Verbal therapy so more deaf children and their families have the opportunity to access the programme which supports them to learn to listen and speak.”

Support Liz by donating to her JustGiving page