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Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT)

Services

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) uses listening and spoken language as the primary means of communication for infants, toddlers, and young children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. This is provided by our founder, Alliete Alfano, PhD, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT and her staff in English and Spanish.

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Parents, caregivers, and family members actively participate in sessions, as they are the primary facilitators of their children’s listening and spoken language development.

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As one of the three practicing certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory-Verbal Therapists (LSLS Cert AVT) in the Miami area, Dr. Alfano trains her staff in AVT techniques and strategies in order to support families who have chosen listening and spoken language outcomes for their children with hearing loss.

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In addition to providing AVT services, Dr. Alfano also mentors clinicians who are interested in becoming a certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist. This can be done in person or via the internet using video technology, and in English or Spanish. Dr. Alfano has mentored aspiring AVTs in the US, in Europe, in Central America, and in South America.

For more information on AVT: 

​Visit the AG Bell Auditory-Verbal Therapy Website

Principles of Auditory-Verbal Therapy

  1. Promote early diagnosis of hearing loss in newborns, infants, toddlers, and young children, followed by immediate audiologic management and Auditory-Verbal therapy

  2. Recommend immediate assessment and use of appropriate, state-of-the-art hearing technology to obtain maximum benefits of auditory stimulation

  3. Guide and coach parents to help their child use hearing as the primary sensory modality in developing listening and spoken language

  4. Guide and coach parents to become the primary facilitators of their child's listening and spoken language development through active consistent participation in individualized Auditory-Verbal therapy

  5. Guide and coach parents to create environments that support listening for the acquisition of spoken language throughout the child's daily activities

  6. Guide and coach parents to help their child integrate listening and spoken language into all aspects of the child's life

  7. Guide and coach parents to use natural developmental patterns of audition, speech, language, cognition, and communication

  8. Guide and coach parents to help their child self-monitor spoken language through listening

  9. Administer ongoing formal and informal diagnostic assessments to develop individualized Auditory-Verbal treatment plans, to monitor progress and to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans for the child and family

  10. Promote education in regular schools with peers who have typical hearing and with appropriate services from early childhood onwards

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