Auditory Verbal Therapy: Guide

Other Approaches

Early support, and equitable access to the support, should be available for all deaf children whether their families wish to communicate with spoken language, sign language or both. It is important that professionals support families, as soon as their child’s deafness is identified, to gain the necessary knowledge, information, and experiences to make fully informed decisions; families and professionals work together to ensure optimal, language-rich environments for communication and language learning and development; and professionals provide early skilled and specialist support. In addition, all deaf children should have the opportunity to explore their deaf identity, as well as the D/deaf community, culture, language, shared experiences, and the richness these can provide. AVUK supports informed choices for families because there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to supporting language and communication development for deaf children, and different children thrive with different approaches. For families who choose both sign language and spoken language, it’s essential that children have access to both skilled, high quality  British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken language support to get the best start in life and flourish at school and beyond.  

For an overview of different communication options see:
Support for deaf children aged 0-5 years MESHguide. 

Or read more on the NDCS website to access information about choosing a communication approach