What does an AVT (Auditory Verbal Therapy) session look like?

Location: at our Christopher Place Centre in Euston, London (See ‘Contact us’ for address and directions)

Duration: 1 hour (45 minutes of therapist/parent/child interaction and 15 minutes of therapist/parent discussion)

Expectations of the parents: Parent presence and participation are required during every AVT session. Parents learn and practice skills and strategies to facilitate their child’s spoken language development on a daily basis, and are educated in areas relevant to their child’s hearing, amplification and developmental needs. Parents are coached in ‘why’ each activity is selected and ‘how’ each auditory verbal therapy (AVT) activity works. At the end of the AVT time, outcomes are discussed and as a partnership, home targets are selected. Past home targets are reviewed and queries, concerns and progress discussed.

Expectations of the child: If its not fun, its not working. Auditory verbal therapy (AVT) activities are play based and designed to appeal to the child’s level of development and personal interests. AVT targets are selected according to the typical patterns of audition, speech, language and cognition development.

Auditory verbal therapy (AVT) Review and Assessment: Periodically, the parent/family learning checklist is reviewed to reinforce the lead role the parents and family play in supporting the child’s progress. Standardised speech and language assessments are administered annually and as necessary to devise individual education plans, monitor progress and evaluate the effectiveness of the service.
Liaison: External liaison occurs with audiological, medical and educational teams to ensure the child receives the best possible access to sound in all early learning environments.