First Voice Members
Our member and affiliated organisations include:
Members
Hear and Say
Telethon Speech & Hearing
The Shepherd Centre
NextSense (formerly RIDBC/Taralye)
Can:Do 4Kids, Townsend House
International Affiliates
The Hearing House, New Zealand
Auditory Verbal UK, United Kingdom
Carel du Toit Centre, South Africa
For more information on becoming a member click here
Early intervention & other services
First Voice members provide early childhood intervention services to children living with deafness or hearing loss in Australia, New Zealand and across the globe. First Voice members support the majority of children under six with hearing loss in Australia and the vast majority of families who have chosen a hearing and speaking future for their children. This is one of the largest cohorts of children receiving early intervention services for hearing loss in the world.
Some of our members also provide hearing screening and adult related services.
How our members work
Our member and affiliated organisations operate on a multi-disciplinary team model with a strong focus on family-centred practice. Our centres work with a range of specialist health and education professionals, including:
- cochlear implant surgeons
- paediatric audiologists
- speech pathologists
- certified auditory verbal therapists
- teachers of the deaf
- psychologists, child and family counsellors and social workers
- occupational therapists
- specialist kindergarten professionals (including kindergarten and early childhood teachers, assistants and inclusion aides) and special education teachers.
Hear and Say
Queensland
A leading paediatric auditory-verbal and cochlear implant centre, Hear and Say has been teaching children who are deaf or hearing impaired to listen and speak since 1992. Its head office is located at Ashgrove and regional families are serviced by centres in Toowoomba, Cairns, Townsville, Nambour and the Gold Coast. The centre also provides telepractice (outreach) services to families in regional and remote areas.
Telethon Speech & Hearing
Western Australia
Established in 1967, Telethon Speech & Hearing is a long established non-profit organisation that teaches children with speech and language or hearing impairments to listen and speak. Located at Wembley, the centre offers a range of services, including playgroup, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and pre-primary programs. It also provides support programs for school-aged children with hearing loss.
The Shepherd Centre
NSW and ACT
The Shepherd Centre teaches deaf and hearing impaired children how to listen and speak. Established in 1970, The Shepherd Centre provides a range of services to over 500 families across six centres in NSW (Newtown, Liverpool, Macquarie, Wollongong, Macarthur) and the ACT, as well as outreach support across Tasmania. The centre also works with families in rural and remote areas and overseas via its residential workshop and correspondence programs.
Can:Do 4Kids, Townsend House
South Australia
Can:Do 4Kids, Townsend House was formed in 1874 to provide support and services to children, young people and their families, who are blind, Deaf, have low vision, are hard of hearing, or have sensory needs. We work together to help them communicate better, connect easier, and live their best lives. These services are delivered by a range of qualified specialists including speech pathologists, occupational therapists, audiologists, teachers, psychologists and more. Can:Do 4Kids also incorporates the Cora Barclay Listening and Spoken Language Program. Founded in 1945 and formerly known as the Cora Barclay Centre, it is Australia’s oldest listening and spoken language service for children who are deaf or hearing impaired. We’re proudly South Australia’s oldest children’s charity, and while a lot has changed since our early days, one thing has remained the same: our can do attitude.
NextSense
Australia
NextSense (formerly RIDBC) is Australia’s largest non-government provider of education, therapy and cochlear implant services for children and adults with vision or hearing loss, their families, and the professionals who support them. The range of specialist services available at NextSense is unique in Australia and benefits thousands of children, adults, families and professionals each year. These services are delivered by a broad group of highly qualified professionals including teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, audiologists, orthoptists, psychologists, social workers, technology consultants, physiotherapists, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeons and more. Using in-person sessions combined with modern technology, NextSense connects children, adults and families across Australia to the expert education, therapy, cochlear implant, and vision or hearing support services they need.
The Hearing House
New Zealand
The Hearing House teaches deaf and hearing-impaired children to listen and speak. Located at Greenlane in Auckland, the centre provides an auditory verbal therapy program that enables children to speak clearly and naturally like their hearing peers. These programs are also supported by audiology services, a preschool, parent support, a transition to school program and an industry training program.
Auditory Verbal UK
United Kingdom
At Auditory Verbal UK we want all deaf babies and children to have the opportunity to listen and speak as equals alongside their hearing peers. We work to raise expectations and outcomes for deaf children, as well as increasing awareness, understanding and access to Auditory Verbal therapy by providing services directly to families and sharing our expertise with health and education professions so that many more families can access Auditory Verbal therapy close to where they live. Founded in 2003, Auditory Verbal UK has grown to be the leading provider of Auditory Verbal therapy in the UK. Our charity and its leaders have won numerous sector awards and continue to collaborate with organisations working in the field in the UK and worldwide.
Carel du Toit Centre
South Africa
The mission statement of the Carel du Toit Centre is straightforward and easy to understand for parents who feel discouraged by the discovery of their child’s deafness. We believe, and know, that children with hearing loss have the same capacity as children with normal hearing, to learn to speak. We believe that children with hearing loss must be exposed to day-long listening through the use of appropriate hearing-aids or a cochlear implant. A hearing environment is created at the Centre, the same as for normal hearing children, where the child with a hearing loss will learn to speak by learning to listen in a natural environment. Listening experiences and natural interaction create an intensive speech-development environment, which leads the child to linguistic competence. This process continues throughout the school years, laying a solid foundation for life.