Once parents progressed beyond the initial difficult stages, and the intervention program including amplification and
therapy was established, the overwhelming majority described a high degree of satisfaction with the audiology and
therapy services provided. Parents in this study were enrolled in family-oriented services focused on oral communication
development (14 auditory-verbal and 3 oral) at community, hospital, or home-based clinics. All received clinical or home-based therapy services, where a therapist guided the parent on language stimulation during individualized child/parent rehabilitation sessions, a hallmark of auditory-verbal therapy (Estabrooks, 2006). Distance to service was a concern for some parents, particularly those from rural or large metropolitan areas who were required to travel to a clinic for some or all services. Six of the 17 families reported commuting time of 45 min or more to reach the clinical therapy program. It is also noteworthy that a few parents of children who used hearing aids expressed the view that the focus on cochlear implants in hospital clinics led to a perception that their child’s less severe hearing loss was somehow less important.