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The FAQs below should answer some of your questions about AVLI. For questions related to using AVLI's online store, visit the Store Help section of this site. If you have additional unanswered questions, please send us an email at info@avli.org and we'll get back to you as quickly as possible.
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What is the Auditory-Verbal Approach?
Auditory-Verbal Therapy helps children who are deaf or hard of hearing to learn to use amplified residual hearing, or electrically stimulated hearing (through cochlear implants), to listen, process verbal language, and speak. It involves training children to develop spontaneous speech and process language in a natural way through auditory pathways. The goal of Auditory-Verbal Therapy is for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to grow up in typical learning and living environments and to become independent, participating citizens in mainstream society.
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What is AVLI's mission?
AVLI's goal is to develop and disseminate cost-effective educational tools to help families, professionals, and paraprofessionals to meet the cognitive, language, and social development needs of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. These tools take the form of CD ROM courseware, Web-based distance-learning classes, and Family Activity Kits that focus on Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Going forward, clinicians and educators will be able to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for license/certification renewal through AVLI's educational offerings.
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What is AVI, and what is its relationship to AVLI?
Auditory-Verbal International, Inc (AVI) is a not-for-profit international membership organization whose goals are to heighten public awareness of the rationale and evidence for Auditory-Verbal practice, provide quality educational opportunities for parents and professionals, and ensure quality standards for Auditory-Verbal clinicians and teachers on an international level through a certification program.
To ensure that AVLI products reflect cutting edge research and best practices in the field of Auditory-Verbal Therapy, AVLI and AVI are sharing knowledge and resources to develop AVLI's distance learning tools. By successfully completing AVLI CD-ROM based courses, you can earn education hours toward AVI's certification requirements. (Education hours are credited upon completion of a short quiz related to each CD's content.)
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Can AVLI courses be used for continuing education units?
AVLI is working with certifying and licensing bodies to ensure its products offer comprehensive coverage of best practices in Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Successful completion of AVLI distance-learning courseware earns credit hours toward AVI's certification requirements. We anticipate that AVLI's CD-ROM-based courseware will also meet certification standards for continuing education units (CEUs) in the near future.
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How is AVLI funded?
AVLI receives funding from the following sources:
- Kauffman Foundation
- Ford Foundation
- Community Foundation of Tampa Bay
- Auditory-Verbal International (AVI)
- Revenue generated from the sale of AVLI products
- Corporate sponsorship
- Banyan Foundation
- Frank E. Duckwall Foundation
- Children's Board of Hillsborough County
- Verizon
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What are some of the best practices in Auditory-Verbal Therapy?
Early identification and treatment
The sooner children are identified as deaf or hard of hearing and begin Auditory-Verbal Therapy, the more effective the therapy can be. Recent research demonstrates that children born deaf or hard of hearing who are detected and enrolled in early intervention programs by the age of six months can develop language and speech equivalent to that of their normal hearing peers by 36-40 months of age. For this reason AVLI joins major professional associations (American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Audiology, American Speech and Hearing Association, and the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing) and federal agencies (National Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Bureaus of Maternal and Child Health) to advocate universal screening for hearing loss at birth. AVLI strives to develop and distribute cost-effective Auditory-Verbal Therapy training and education to Speech & Language Pathologists, Educators of the Deaf, and parents worldwide. Improved therapy results depend upon these resources being easily accessible to professionals, children, and their families.
Commitment and involvement of family members
Children receiving Auditory-Verbal Therapy require the full commitment of their parents and/or caregivers. The key to the Auditory-Verbal Approach is a parent's willingness to serve as the primary teacher and language model for his or her child by participating in weekly sessions with the child and the Auditory-Verbal Therapist. The parent also engages in daily at-home listening and language experiences with the child.
Regular monitoring of progress
A principal of the Auditory-Verbal Approach is that every session is diagnostic in nature. Auditory-Verbal Therapy includes an ongoing assessment process with modifications of the therapy plan occurring based upon individual needs. The therapist informally assesses the child's progress during weekly sessions, and children are monitored at least quarterly with formal, standardized tests to ensure optimal progress is occurring in a developmentally appropriate manner. Tests used to measure progress are standardized on the typical hearing population and assess all aspects of auditory-verbal communication skills, including:
- Receptive language
- Expressive language
- Articulation
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