Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2018, 110 doi:10.1093/deafed/enx044 Advance Access publication September 27, 2017 Book Review BOOK REVIEW Estabrooks, W., MacIver-Lux, K., Rhoades, E. A. (2016). Auditory-Verbal Therapy For Young Children with Hearing Loss and Their Families, and the Practitioners Who Guide Them (1st edition). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing. Hardback. 602 pages. $79.95. For families who desire a spoken language outcome for their child who is deaf/hard of hearing, it is insufficient to simply immerse children in a listening and speaking environment. Instead, great intentionality in interactions to support listening and spoken language development are promoted through ongoing collaborative relationships between caregivers and professionals who facilitate development. Herein, lies the foundation behind auditory verbal practice. Auditory Verbal Therapy: For Young Children with Hearing Loss and Their Families, and the Practitioners Who Guide Them, is a comprehensive guide that families and practitioners who support young learners will find useful. While this is not a comprehensive guide to serving all D/deaf learners, it is a critically important resource for those who intend to support a child learning listening and spoken language—with 17 chapters spanning from the history and overview of how contemporary auditory verbal practice came to be, to the critical and foundational importance of brain development. Mirroring the collaboration that is so necessary to promote best and most effective practices in the field of deaf education, this text provides evidence of professional collaboration, even in authorship, with nearly 30 contributors representing a range of diversity in personal and professional experience. Authors strike the right balance of theoretical and academic evidence, actionable targets, and clear descriptions of the key principles of auditory verbal practice making it a useful study guide for scholars and practitioners pursuing their Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certification. It also serves as an excellent reference guide for those with a diverse caseload of deaf/hh children and clients. The text begins with the 2005 transfer from Auditory-Verbal International to the AG Bell Academy, the organization currently responsible for certification of practitioners, including certified Auditory-Verbal Therapists and Educators. The chapter on the history of auditory verbal therapy further describes the origins of contemporary professional practice. Four chapters focus on audiology and auditory technology, which provide requisite access to sound for learners within this approach. The substantial proportion of text on topics related to auditory access are reinforced by descriptions of milestones of auditory, speech, and language development. In addition to the anticipated chapters on strategies that promote listening, speaking, and cognition, readers will find one chapter dedicated to the important practice of caregiver coaching. Early career practitioners will likely appreciate the chapter on auditory verbal therapy in action, where authors present a framework for session planning. Case studies and exemplar session plans provide a rich reference for university faculty as well. Further chapters address the relationship of auditory verbal practice to special topics including: learners with complex hearing status or diagnoses, inclusion, professional partnerships, and emergent literacy. Perhaps one of the most valuable chapters is the last one— Family Journeys in Auditory-Verbal Therapy: Stories from Twelve Countries. Parents who chose auditory verbal services when their children were young describe their personal journeys, offering hope, and encouragement while representing diverse international perspectives. The varied regional, cultural, socioeconomic circumstances, and child age, ability, and hearing status, validate the universal application of this approach to those who choose it. This text is rich with citations that provide the opportunity for the reader to dig deeper, while it provides a palatable foray into auditory-verbal practices. Parents, students, early career professionals, accomplished practitioners who value current evidence-based practice, and those educators and therapists who may not yet have knowledge and skills to serve children who are deaf/hard of hearing learning to listen and talk, along with those seeking a comprehensive resource for children who utilize technology to learn to listen and talk will find value in this book which spans the history, the how and the why of the auditory verbal approach. Jenna Voss Fontbonne University © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com. 110 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article-abstract/23/1/110/4259026 by guest on 11 July 2020 Auditory Verbal Therapy: For young children with hearing loss and their families...by Estabrooks et al.