Auditory-Verbal Therapy

Ben began auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) sessions at a private therapy center a few weeks ago. Their mission is to empower hearing-impaired children through spoken communication. Although Ben is only five months old, we are attempting to develop his pre-listening skills by stimulating his auditory pathways as much as possible while he is wearing his hearing aids. He attends therapy for an hour and a half weekly. The therapy needs to be continued at home as often as possible by using sounds while going about the normal routine of Ben's day, and using sound-object associations during play. We are to look for any type of response that Ben might display. We are also continuing to give Ben positive feedback to any vocalization he makes. He has started to be very loud in his vocalizations, which we had heard that deaf babies sometimes do. He is so eager to communicate with us and loves playing and interacting with his brother and sisters. We have been told that the AVT we are doing now with Ben will make his post-CI activation therapy much more effective. The whole family will be involved in working with him, talking to him, and playing with him to help stimulate his auditory nerves and develop his listening skills. He just seems to be enjoying all the extra attention!