Deaf boy, 10, wants to help others after auditory-verbal therapy helped him communicate

  • ITV Cymru Wales reporter Alexandra Hartley has the story.

A deaf 10-year-old boy is calling for auditory-verbal therapy to be more widely available for deaf children in Wales.

Auditory-verbal therapy is a method for teaching deaf children to listen and speak using hearing technology.

Nathaniel Darian, 10, from Penarth, along with Harrison Steeple, 26, visited the Senedd on Tuesday, 16 July, to call on MSs to invest in the future of deaf children after both were supported with their hearing through this therapy.

Nathaniel loves sports, and his mother says the therapy has allowed him to participate with his peers. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

Currently, fewer than 10% of deaf children can access the therapy despite 84% of adults believing it should be available through the NHS.

However, in Wales there are no qualified auditory verbal therapists.

In order to receive the therapy, Nathaniel's mother Siobhan recounted how they had to travel from Wales to Oxford every two weeks for three years for hour-long appointments.

She said: "Deafness is a disability but with the right support deaf babies and children like Nathaniel can achieve their potential."

Nathaniel's mother Siobhan says things need to change for other Welsh families with deaf children. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

She added: "Thanks to the amazing cochlear implant technology and the specialist auditory verbal therapy programme he is reaching his academic targets as he should. The charity Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) played an important part in helping make our dreams for Nathaniel's speech and listening come true.

"But things need to change for other Welsh families with deaf children now. Awareness, ambition and investment are all so low and this is just not fair.”

Harrison explained how the therapy allowed him to pursue his love of music, saying: "It is thanks to the determination of my parents to get early and effective support for me with auditory verbal therapy that I don’t feel being deaf has held me back in any way. I love music, can play guitar, and saxophone and have a huge passion for sport especially surfing."

AVUK’s Hear Us Now campaign is calling for urgent investment to enable all deaf children, whose families want them to learn to listen and talk, to access auditory verbal therapy through existing public services close to where they live.

According to the charity's figures, more than 80% of deaf children (rising to 97% of children without additional needs) who attend an auditory verbal therapy programme for at least two years achieve spoken language skill on a par with their hearing peers.

Despite this, 90% of deaf children who could benefit from auditory verbal therapy are unable to access it.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Auditory verbal therapy targets developing spoken language through listening, it is not suitable for every deaf child. Health professionals will select the appropriate treatment mode for the individual.

"The decision to select and use any particular treatment approach or intervention is a clinical decision, made following expert assessment and discussion with all those involved in the care of that person and their family as relevant."

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