Parents of newly-identified children who’re profoundly deaf, have a lot going on. Not least, they must make hearing and communication choices on behalf of the children, and decide how the family is going to communicate in general.
Recently, the US state of Florida passed legislation for parents to be told of all the possible communication options for deaf children. This includes the listening-and-spoken language (auditory-verbal, also known as “the oral”) method, about which some parents seemingly were not being informed:
Read: Communication choices for deaf children
Here is a chart with the four communication options for families with children who are deaf.
What is auditory-verbal therapy (AVT)?
Auditory-verbal therapy is a specialised teaching approach for a child to learn to use the hearing they get from a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, for understanding speech and learning to talk. Parent coaching has a big role in this process.
AVT encourages babies and children to be mainstreamed from the start, with their hearing peers. The youngsters learn spoken-language structures from everyday interaction in these inclusive environments while developing their own self-monitoring skills to use in their local schools and communities.
Typically, parents in AVT programs don’t tend to learn sign language, but use their spoken language to interact and communicate with the children. Similarly, visual communication modes like sign language or cued speech are not part of an AVT program, but gesture may be used as a back-up to affirm meaning during spoken conversations.
More Reading
- Teaching Deaf Children To Listen And Speak
- The Sky’s The Limit, When Parents Are Informed (bilateral hearing)
- What Exactly Does Oral Deaf Education Involve?
- How Policy Can Lag The Grassroots Reality
- Listening And Speaking: A Link To Reading And Writing?
- Children Can Filter Background Noise With Practice
- Classroom Technology ‘Has The Children Talking’
