These are the questions that comes to the mind of parents while deciding on cochlear implantation for their child. Auditory verbal therapy is specialized type of therapy designed to teach a child to use the hearing provided by a hearing aid or a cochlear implant for understanding speech and learning to talk. The goal is that children with hearing loss can grow up in regular learning and living environments that enable them to become independent, participating, and contributing citizens in mainstream society.
The child’s hearing journey begins about a month after surgery. The outside part of the cochlear implant called a 'speech processor' is turned on for the first time by an audiologist specially trained to program cochlear implants. Children's reactions vary greatly. Some very young children don’t seem to react at first, while others cry from surprise, and yet others are amused.