For AV therapy to be effective it is important for the child to have supportive and encouraging parents or carers who will celebrate their child’s achievements. The people who know their child best are the parents or carers and they must be able to share their expertise of their child with their Auditory Verbal therapist and incorporate the Auditory Verbal strategies into their everyday life, each and every day.

An accurate diagnosis of the hearing loss together with the most appropriate and optimally programmed hearing technology (hearing aids or implantable devices such as a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA), cochlear implant (CI) or auditory brainstem implant (ABI)) are also essential components to get right at the start of the Auditory Verbal programme. Parents and carers must be confident with their child’s hearing technology and the child must be happy to wear their hearing technology consistently.

Lastly, early intervention is vital if a child is to develop the language and communication skills they need to be ready to start schools alongside their hearing peers.