Listening to speak

The child learns to speak through listening to natural sounding speech – visual cues are not encouraged. Instead of compensating for the impaired sense, Auditory-Verbal Therapy maximises it with the support of appropriate amplification.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy aims to accelerate the natural way a child would develop language. This means that they learn to speak through listening as hearing children do. Other therapies use visual cues to encourage language. However parents in auditory-verbal programmes do not have to learn sign language or cued speech. More than 90 percent of parents of children with hearing impairments have normal hearing (Moores, 1987). Studies show that over 90 percent of parents with normal hearing do not learn sign language beyond a basic preschool level of competency (Luetke-Stahlman & Moeller, 1987). Auditory-verbal practice requires that caregivers interact with a child through spoken language and create a listening environment, which helps a child to learn.

A child can develop language in the most natural way (using the auditory mode), once the residual hearing receives appropriate amplification. This may be from binaural hearing aids, FM system, acoustically tuned ear-moulds or cochlear implants. These devices allow children to learn to speak through learning (auditory learning) instead of becoming visual learners.