A Sidcup family smashed their £5,000 fundraising target, giving back to the charity which helped their deaf son to listen and speak.

Callum Herholdt, 5, was born with hearing loss, but with the help of a specialist speech and language programme taught by Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) is now thriving at school, playing and chatting with friends.

His family set up 'Callum's Quest', organised through the couple’s business Blackfen Chiropractic Clinic, in September 2019 to offer another child the same opportunity, raising £7,735 for the cause.

Callum's mum Ingrid said: “When we first received Callum’s diagnosis we didn’t want to believe it and tried to blame the equipment or the test but once we came to terms with it we knew he would need some help.

When we found AVUK there was such a sense of relief that there was someone out there who could help us and help Callum having the same opportunities as other children his age.

“Listening to him and watching him enjoy his life is amazing and more than we could ever wish for.

"It’s all thanks to AVUK and their bursary scheme which made it a viable option for us as a family. We wanted to offer the same chance for another family.”

Callum Herholdt (5), had his hearing loss diagnosed as a baby and begun wearing hearing aids at two months old.

As hearing got progressively worse his started to research how they could prepare him for school.

The family came across Auditory Verbal UK at a Kent County Council deaf expo, enrolling Callum on a specialist speech and language programme from which he graduated at three-years-old.

Ingrid said: It’s amazing how kind and generous people have been. We have been overwhelmed but I think when you see what Auditory Verbal UK achieves through its therapy people really want to help.”

The AVUK specialist speech and language therapy programme aims at helping pre-school aged deaf children to learn to listen and speak.

Specially trained Auditory Verbal therapists use play-based parent coaching techniques to enable families to turn everyday activities into ways to improve their child’s communication skills.