Academic development is an important part of growing up as a child. It allows us to grow and build our personalities, and most significantly, it offers purpose to our lives. It adds value to our spirits and assists us in realizing and enhancing our inner potential. Education and intellectual progress are not only a privilege, but also a requirement. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children have a difficult time receiving and processing auditory information. As a result, in achieving academic success, they might have to face a few more hurdles.
There are therapies for such children that are aimed to assist them to improve their hearing and speaking skills, allowing them to learn and stand out on equal ground with other children.
How is the ability to listen crucial for developing a solid language foundation?
Deaf children require advanced technology to listen, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants. They also require technology to stimulate the auditory cortex, which is responsible for hearing. Because of neuroplasticity, the auditory cortex needs to be stimulated early in a child’s life, ideally before the age of three and a half. This explains the significance of listening. Speaking is linked to hearing; not being able to hear properly interferes with their ability to speak, as it is difficult for them to regulate the volume, pitch, or sound of their voices.
Thus, Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) is intended to teach critical listening skills through age-appropriate exercises that aid in the acquiring of speech and language processing tools.
The role and significance of Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT):
Auditory Verbal programs such as the ones offered at Brainnovation work to ensure that the best technology is provided and that parents are given strategies to improve their children’s listening skills. As a result, children are better able to develop listening and speaking skills, giving them the same opportunities and an equal start in life.
The child develops a listening attitude through play-based sessions using the Auditory-Verbal approach so that paying attention to the sounds around them becomes automatic. Hearing and listening are essential components of communication, play, education, and, eventually, work. All the information from these sessions is applicable in everyday life. This means that at home, parents can turn routine tasks like setting the table or reading a story into learning opportunities.
Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) also aims to improve the child’s social skills and theory of mind, or the ability to recognize how their mind differs from others. This helps them make and maintain friends at school. Working intensively with the child in their first few years contributes to the requirement of much less additional support for the rest of their life. Therefore, Auditory Verbal Therapy is recommended to be an initial step taken on behalf of a child with hearing problems.
The Function and Benefits of Speech Therapy:
Auditory verbal therapy (AVT) and speech therapy are two types of early intervention programs that help children communicate with others. Both are very popular among deaf or hard-of-hearing children, but they have important differences, including why they exist and how they work.
Speech therapies are intended to assist children in communicating more clearly and effectively, as well as to avoid Articulation errors (a mispronunciation of speech sounds), language delays, and disfluency (stuttering). It boosts self-esteem, independence, the ability to comprehend and express ideas, thoughts, and feelings, and language skills, and ultimately improves the quality of life.
Speech therapy can treat childhood speech disorders or adult speech impairments caused by stroke, brain injury, or other conditions.
While some speech disorders improve with age, others may necessitate long-term speech therapy. If your speech disorder was caused by a medical condition, your speech and language skills may improve as you recover from the underlying issue. Speech therapy has helped millions of people improve their language and communication skills. Speech therapy for children is most effective when started early and practiced at home or with skilled professionals.
Both Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) and Speech Therapy play important roles. However, improving a child’s auditory reception is the first and most important step in assisting him to perform well academically. An important fact that is integrated into all the sessions conducted at Brainnovation with our children.
