The Cora Barclay Centre is a leading centre in Auditory-Verbal Therapy for children who wear hearing aids, cochlear implants or other hearing devices. The Centre provides early intervention services for 0-6 year olds and student support services for children up to the age of 18 years.

The aim of the Centre is to enable children who are deaf or hard of hearing to achieve their maximum potential using spoken language to communicate. The Centre strives to integrate children into the mainstream so they may have the same choices in schooling, occupation and lifestyle as their hearing peers, and be able to participate on equal terms in the broad community.

The Auditory-Verbal approach used at the Centre focuses on developing the listening skills of children in their earliest years, through the use of their hearing device, as the foundation for developing intelligible spoken language.

Our philosophy is to provide family-centred services. Our staff provide parents and primary caregivers with the necessary knowledge, skills and ability to work with their children in developing spoken language, managing hearing devices and advocating for their child’s needs. We also provide professional counselling and support as well as mentoring, friendship and support from other Cora Barclay families. It is our belief that when families are provided with good information, professional guidance and emotional support, they will confidently make the best choices for their children.

Our services and programs are delivered by highly qualified and trained professionals, including Auditory-Verbal Therapists, early childhood educators, teachers of the deaf, an audiologist and a family counsellor. The Centre is a foundation member of the SA Paediatric Cochlear Implant Program and our services are closely coordinated with those of government and other agencies. Services are provided at our new Centre in Melbourne Street, North Adelaide near the Women’s & Children’s Hospital and at school sites across the metropolitan area.

The Cora Barclay Centre is a charity that raises most of its resources itself, with the balance coming from government funding. Our own small fundraising team runs annual events such as Loud Shirt Day and Let’s Get Loud and various public appeals to raise the money necessary to pay staff salaries and to meet the operating costs of the Centre, so that services can be provided to all families at a minimal cost. A management team is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Centre, with a Board of Directors overseeing all activities.

The Cora Barclay Centre is for parents who want to learn for themselves how to support and teach their child to listen and speak now and in the future.