UNC School of Medicine
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Auditory/Verbal Therapy
The principles of the auditory-verbal method are:
- To detect hearing impairment as early as possible through screening programs, ideally in the newborn nursery and throughout childhood.
- To pursue prompt and vigorous medical and audiologic management, including selection, modification, and maintenance of appropriate hearing aids, cochlear implants or other sensory aids.
- To guide, counsel, and support parents and caregivers as the primary models for spoken language through listening and to help them understand the impact of deafness and impaired hearing on the entire family.
- To help children integrate listening into their development of communication and social skills.
- To support children's Auditory-Verbal development through one-to-one teaching.
- To help children monitor their own voices and the voices of others in order to enhance the intelligibility of their spoken language.
- To use developmental patterns of listening, language, speech, and cognition to stimulate natural communication.
- To continually assess and evaluate children's development in the above areas and, through diagnostic intervention, modify the program when needed.
- To provide support services to facilitate children's educational and social inclusion in regular education classes.
Auditory-verbal therapy is available through CASTLE.