BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: An important factor determining the efficacy of speech therapy for children with severe hearing loss is the type and the method of educating speech and language items. Recently, speech therapists pay more attention to synthetic therapeutic approaches. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of adding gestures to auditory verbal training (AVT) program in speech therapy for children with severe hearing loss. 

METHODS: This double-blind clinical trial study conducted on 66 children with severe hearing loss (two groups of 33 subjects). For education of 8 Farsi verbs, AVT method plus gestures were offered to study group and control group received just AVT program. Language scores were calculated by Farsi version of Newsha Test before and after intervention and compared in two groups. (IRCT201306027657N2)

FINDINGS: In intervention group, receptive score language of simple verbs were 2.52±0.51 and 4.28±0.39 before and after the intervention respectively (p=0.001). In control group, these values were 2.62±0.66 and 3.44±0.61 respectively (p=0.045). There was a significant difference between mean receptive score of the two groups after the intervention (p=0.032). In case group, expressive score language of simple verbs were 1.70±0.47 and 3.21±0.70 before and after the intervention respectively (p=0.001). In control group, these values were 1.62±0.51 and 2.19±0.29 respectively, (p=0.055). There was a significant difference between the two groups after intervention in expressive score (p=0.012).

CONCLUSION: Adding gestures to AVT program significantly changed the expressive score in 2–3 year old children with severe hearing loss. But, both the synthetic approach and the AVT had the same degree of positive effect for education of receptive language of simple verbs for these children.