What is an Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert AVT®)?

An Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert AVT®) is a qualified Teacher of the Deaf, Audiologist, and/or Speech and Language Therapist who has undergone three years of post-graduate training to qualify as a listening and spoken language specialist (LSLS Cert AVT®). This is an international accreditation certified by the AG Bell Academy. 

Why become an Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert AVT®)?

LSLS Cert AVT® is an international qualification that states you are expert in coaching parents to help develop their deaf child’s spoken language through listening. This role is hugely rewarding. Ultimately, an Auditory Verbal Therapist gives parents the confidence that their children will develop the lifelong communication and social skills they need to access the full range of educational, social and vocational opportunities in life.

Having an international qualification means that you are able to work almost anywhere in the world without the need for further training or qualifications. The Auditory Verbal approach is well established in North America and Australasia. This approach to helping children learn to communicate is in its infancy in Europe, Africa and Asia which means that, as an LSLS CertAVT®, your skills in delivering therapy and in delivering training to other professionals will be very much in demand. Qualifying in the UK will enable your Local Authority to provide Auditory Verbal therapy as part of their core offer of local services.

What is required to become an Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert AVT®)?

To become an Auditory Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert. AVT®), you must first have a degree in either audiology, speech and language therapy or be a qualified Teacher of the Deaf, and have a license, certification, or appropriate credential necessary to practice audiology, speech and language therapy, or work as a Teacher of the Deaf in the UK.

• Candidates must complete at least 80 hours of post-graduate study in Strategies for Listening and Spoken Language. 
• Candidates must also complete a minimum of 700 clocked hours of supervised therapy directly to parent/child and at least 10 hours of observation of at least two different LSLS Cert AVT®s. Candidates must work with an LSLS-certified mentor for three years prior to taking the LSLS written examination, submitting 20 videos of their practice for formal assessment by their mentor.
• Candidates must complete 150 hours in activities related to AVT e.g. school visits, communication assessments. 

Click here for a comprehensive list of requirements for becoming an Auditory Verbal therapist (LSLS Cert AVT®) from the AG Bell website.  

How do I become an Auditory Verbal Therapist with Auditory Verbal UK?

We provide training for professionals wishing to become Auditory Verbal Therapists. Our training package provides the 80 hours of post-graduate study required to become a Cert AVT® and can either be taken at our London centre or through distance-learning. Both our Foundation level  ‘Working Through Audition’ course and our Advanced level ‘Auditory Verbal Principles in Everyday Practice’ are accredited by AG Bell Academy. At the end of the training, professionals are ready to apply to the AG Bell Academy to sit the LSLS Cert AVT® examination to become a certified Auditory Verbal Therapist.

We also offer clinical supervision and mentoring for professionals working towards their 900 clocked hours of professional experience in providing therapy along AV principles (750 direct hours and 150 related activities). To register your interest in clinical supervision please complete the form here.

Please see our Foundation level - Working Through Audition and Advanced level - Auditory Verbal Principles for more information.

For latest training dates, click here.

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Locations

Our courses are available via our online classroom. For our online classroom, all you need is a laptop or desktop, a decent internet connection, and freely available software. 

Funding options

As a charity, we are often able to provide bursaries for individuals to attend courses or to deliver training in specific topics at your place of work. So please do get in touch by emailing [email protected] if you would like more information on how we can help.