Auditory Verbal Therapy / Listening and Spoken Language Therapy

Aural (re)habilitation therapy is provided for pediatric patients that follow the principles put forth by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AGBell), which is the certifying body for Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS).

 

The following list of principles was taken directly from the AGBell website:

Principles of LSLS Auditory-Verbal Therapy (LSLS Cert. AVT™)

1. Promote early diagnosis of hearing loss in newborns, infants, toddlers, and young children, followed by immediate audiologic management and Auditory-Verbal therapy.
2. Recommend immediate assessment and use of appropriate, state-of-the-art hearing technology to obtain maximum benefits of auditory stimulation.
3. Guide and coach parents to help their child use hearing as the primary sensory modality in developing listening and spoken language.
4. Guide and coach parents to become the primary facilitators of their child’s listening and spoken language development through active consistent participation in individualized Auditory-Verbal therapy.
5. Guide and coach parents to create environments that support listening for the acquisition of spoken language throughout the child’s daily activities.
6. Guide and coach parents to help their child integrate listening and spoken language into all aspects of the child’s life.
7. Guide and coach parents to use natural developmental patterns of audition, speech, language, cognition, and communication.
8. Guide and coach parents to help their child self-monitor spoken language through listening.
9. Administer ongoing formal and informal diagnostic assessments to develop individualized Auditory-Verbal treatment plans, to monitor progress and to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans for the child and family.
10. Promote education in regular schools with peers who have typical hearing and with appropriate services from early childhood onwards.

*An Auditory-Verbal Practice requires all 10 principles.

The term “parents” also includes grandparents, relatives, guardians, and any caregivers who interact with the child.

 

Principles of LSLS Auditory-Verbal Education (LSLS Cert. AVEd™)

A Listening and Spoken Language Educator (LSLS Cert. AVEd™) teaches children with hearing loss to listen and talk exclusively though listening and spoken language instruction.

1. Promote early diagnosis of hearing loss in infants, toddlers, and young children, followed by immediate audiologic assessment and use of appropriate state of the art hearing technology to ensure maximum benefits of auditory stimulation.
2. Promote immediate audiologic management and development of listening and spoken language for children as their primary mode of communication.
3. Create and maintain acoustically controlled environments that support listening and talking for the acquisition of spoken language throughout the child’s daily activities.
4. Guide and coach parents to become effective facilitators of their child’s listening and spoken language development in all aspects of the child’s life.
5. Provide effective teaching with families and children in settings such as homes, classrooms, therapy rooms, hospitals, or clinics.
6. Provide focused and individualized instruction to the child through lesson plans and classroom activities while maximizing listening and spoken language.
7. Collaborate with parents and professionals to develop goals, objectives, and strategies for achieving the natural developmental patterns of audition, speech, language, cognition, and communication.
8. Promote each child’s ability to self-monitor spoken language through listening.
9. Use diagnostic assessments to develop individualized objectives, to monitor progress, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching activities.
10. Promote education in regular classrooms with peers who have typical hearing, as early as possible, when the child has the skills to do so successfully.

 

(Adapted from the Principles originally developed by Doreen Pollack, 1970)
Adopted by the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language®, July 26, 2007.