What seemed like a typical childhood infection turned into a harrowing eight-night stay in hospital for Otto and his parents, Tom and Abigail.

Otto, then just one and a half, became very ill and was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. While he responded well to antibiotics over the first few days, escaping the very real threat of brain damage or worse, when they finally got home his parents became concerned that his hearing had been affected.

Tom and Abigail explained: “It was clear that Otto had completely lost his ability to balance and after a few days at home we began to realise that he wasn’t hearing us or responding in the way that we had been used to. Our suspicions of profound deafness were confirmed the following week by the team at Great Ormond Street’

“Three and a half weeks after Otto contracted meningitis, he underwent Cochlear Implant surgery.”

It wasn’t until around six weeks after his implantation that Otto began showing signs that he could hear sound and at the same time the team at GOSH introduced the family to AVUK.

“We had great support from the audiology team at GOSH but felt that a more focused therapy made sense and so from January 2022 Otto started his AVUK journey, taking to the therapy in his typical enthusiastic way.

“For us the reassuring and positive approach was just what we needed after the traumatic experience we had been through.

“Otto made rapid and incredible progress in his speech and language and we saw his vocabulary, clarity and sentence construction improve on an almost weekly basis (as well as improvement in his balance!).  

“When he graduated after two years on AVUK’s Auditory Verbal therapy family programme aged four his speech was at the level of a 6 year old.”

“Otto had already endured so much and we wanted to take action to help him develop alongside his peers. Auditory Verbal therapy gave us the tools to integrate a more focussed version of speech and language therapy into our day to day lives to give Otto the best chance at achieving speech equivalent to his hearing friends. We genuinely believe it has given Otto the same chances as his age group and he is able to chat to his hearing friends and build real relationships within his childcare setting. 

“He has attended mainstream pre-school and in September will be starting reception in a mainstream school.

“Otto loves talking! We have a very chatty and noisy household and we talk about all sorts of things - dinosaurs is a current favourite topic. He absolutely loves stories and can recite many of his favourite books off by heart - which he does for his little sister, turning the pages at the right point in the story. 

“He is also very active and enjoys riding his bike, playing cricket in the garden and loves swimming. He is incredibly sociable and most mornings he wakes up and asks what his social calendar holds in store for him that day. We love hearing the conversations Otto has with his friends - we never feel like he's missing out or can't join in. 

“For anyone who wants to take an active and hands on approach to their child's speech development, Auditory Verbal therapy is definitely the best solution. Our daughter is only just two and is speaking with full sentences and we are sure it's because we also find ourselves using all the AVT strategies on her without realising it. 

“We will be eternally grateful to the NHS doctors and nurses for the way that they treated Otto during the acute phase of his meningitis, ultimately saving his life.  But we feel strongly that the Auditory Verbal therapy programme that AVUK provides is unmatched by anything that is provided by the NHS or local authority and it is not an overstatement to say that it is highly unlikely that Otto would be at the stage he is at today without the crucial Auditory Verbal therapy sessions.

“With support from the team at AVUK, we, as Otto's parents, are able to give him constant therapy every day without him even realising it. Every parent should be given this opportunity - to make an active contribution to their child's development. 

“This kind of therapy should be offered as a matter of course for any child with speech and language challenges in their crucial formative years.”

Tom and Abigail – Otto’s Parents.