Auditory-Verbal

Concept: In this approach, deaf children are taught, primarily by the parents, to speak and to understand spoken language. The parents are provided guidance by a certified auditory-verbal therapist. In this approach, speechreading is usually not allowed and certainly not emphasized. SLPs may be used for additional speech work in this approach. Auditory-verbal approach is most often implemented by parents working with a private auditory-verbal therapist or by parents attending intensive workshops on auditory-verbal therapy. Mainstreaming from the start is a goal of auditory-verbal approach. Signs are not used.

Pros:

Offers excellent opportunity for deaf children to develop normal speech and to make optimal use of their hearing
"If healthy infants have adequate hearing, you can't stop them from acquiring speech. Providing adequate hearing for speech sounds may require a great deal of effort, but it can now be done with modern hearing aids or cochlear implants in almost all children." Daniel Ling, "Acoustics, Audition, and Speech Reception"
This option, more so than auditory-oral, educates parents on being the primary teachers and role models for speech and language development of their deaf child. In some auditory-oral schools, the parents hand their child over to the oral school teachers to do the work of teaching their child how to speak and listen, and the parents are largely left out of active involvement in this process. With the auditory-verbal approach, parents are the primarily ones who do the work of teaching their child how to speak and listen.
With recommendation to mainstream auditory-verbal children from the start with normal hearing children, the deaf child has as peer role models children with normal speech and hearing
By not using speech(lip)-reading, the deaf child has to rely entirely on their hearing. This approach has at least two benefits - it gives extra practice to and strengthens the ability to understand spoken language; it also allows the therapist or parent to be aware of audition problems which may have been missed if the child used speechreading to bypass the audition problem.
Offers opportunity for deaf child to communicate in a language - English - that parents are already familiar with
Some public school systems that have an auditory-verbal therapist on staff, such as St. Louis County Special School District, have a support team for the child on staff such as speech-language pathologists, audiologists and a child psychologist.

Cons:

Severe shortage of certified auditory-verbal therapists in Missouri
Parents may have to travel to out-of-state week-long training programs on this approach since such training is not regularly available in Missouri
Critics contend that if the child cannot succeed in this way, the time spent pursuing it leads to delay in language and problems with self esteem and adjustment
Requires that parents become intensely involved in working with their deaf child, something that some parents may not prefer

Studies:

While there is also some research evidence that some profoundly deaf children in mainstream school settings have delayed social skill development compared with similar children in center school settings, a study of 19 auditory-verbal children showed that 17 of the children had passing ratings in the area of behavior (1).
This study of 19 children included 5 children with severe hearing loss, 9 with profound loss 4 with moderate hearing loss and 1 with moderate loss in one ear and profound loss in other ear - 16 of these children read at or above the level of their normally hearing peers and the 3 children who read below grade level had reading levels that were within acceptable ranges for their classes (1)

(1) "Classroom Performance of Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Who Learned Spoken Communication Through the Auditory-Verbal Approach: An reviewuation of Treatment Efficacy", by Denise Wray, Carol Flexor, and Vanessa Vaccaro, Volta Review 99(2)

Current Status in Missouri:

As of 2000, there are only two certified Auditory-Verbal therapists in Missouri, one in private practice in the Kansas City area and one working for the St. Louis Special School District
Auditory-verbal therapists can be brought to your school or other location to provide in-service training to speech therapists, parents, and teachers of the deaf
Periodic "Daniel Ling" Workshops on the auditory-verbal method are sponsored by Auditory-Verbal International around the country
Week-long residential training programs are available in other states:
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Auditory-Verbal Center of Atlanta, Inc.
1447 Peachtree St., Suite 210
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-815-4321
 AVC email 
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Helen Beebe Speech and Hearing Center near Philadelphia, Pa.
220 Commerce Drive, Suite 320
Fort Washington Office Center
Fort Washington, PA 19034
215-619-9083
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Beebe Center email Beebe Center website

Also, some A-V Therapists can travel to provide intensive workshops at your site, such as:
Ellen Rhoades

Bolestra Center
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(813)932-1184
Bolesta center
7205 N. Habana Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33614
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Hear in Dallas, Inc. - Linda Daniel
References:
From the Listen Foundation, 3535 S. Sherman St., Suite 100, Englewood, CO 80110. Phone (303) 781-9440 or (303) 788-7766 -- Auditory-Verbal Training Program Handbook by Nancy Caleffe-Schenck $24.95, and a videotape - A Training Model for Auditory-Verbal Stages of Development by Nancy Caleffe-Schenck $49.95.
Educational Audiology for the Limited-Hearing Infant and Preschooler - an Auditory-Verbal Program, by Dorreen Pollack, Donald Goldberg, andNancy Caleffe-Schenck (3rd edition) from Charles C. Thomas Publishers, 2600 So. First St., P.O. Box 19265, Springfield, Il. 62794-9265 (paperback price - $66.95.
We Can Hear and Speak! The Power of Auditory-Verbal Communication for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, available from A.G.Bell Association for the Deaf (212) 337-5220.
Auditory-Verbal Therapy for Parents and Professionals, Warren Estabrooks, editor, from A.G.Bell Association for the Deaf.
Foundations of Spoken Language for Hearing-Impaired Children, by Daniel Ling, c. 1989, A.G. Bell Assoc. of the Deaf
Speech and the Hearing-Impaired Child: Theory and Practice, by Daniel Ling, c. 1976 A.G.Bell Assoc. for Deaf
National Organizations:
Web sites:
Auditory-Verbal International
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Auditory-Verbal International
2121 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 402
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 739-1049 Voice
(703) 739-0874 TDD
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Natural Communication, Inc.
A non-profit group in northern Ohio who support the auditory-verbal approach. Website has stores of many A-V children and examples of their speech.
Voice for Hearing Impaired Children

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