Language Outcomes for Children of Low-Income Families Enrolled in Auditory Verbal Therapy

A common misconception about families in the UK who choose to participate in an Auditory Verbal (AV) approach for their child with hearing impairment, is that they are uniformly from affluent backgrounds. It is asserted that the good spoken language outcomes in these children are a product of the child's social background and family's values rather than as a result of the intervention. Auditory VerbalUK, a national charity offering individual programmes in AV therapy to families with children who are hearing-impaired, obtained funding to offer 'no cost' therapy to a group of 12 low-income families. There was a highly significant increase in the rate of language development for the group of 12 children over the period of intervention compared to the rate of language development at the start of the children's therapy (p< 0.001). Financial status of the family per se is not a factor that influences spoken language outcomes for families participating in AV therapy.