Welcome to the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language

The AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language offers professional certification for Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS™) as either Auditory-Verbal Educators (LSLS Cert. AVEd™) or Auditory-Verbal Therapists (LSLS Cert. AVT™). To be eligible for LSLS™ certification, professionals seeking certification must meet high-level requirements for formal education, supervised practicum, professional experience and post-graduate study/continuing education. Professionals seeking certification must be mentored by a LSLS certified professional for at least three years before qualifying to take the LSLS Written Exam for certification.

The mission of the Academy is advancing listening and talking through standards of excellence and international certification of professionals.

The AG Bell Academy website is designed to provide information and resources for professionals seeking certification as a listening and spoken language specialist (LSLS Cert. AVEd or LSLS Cert. AVT), LSLS certified professionals and the families whom they serve as well as anyone else interested in learning more about the LSLS certification or working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing use listening and spoken language.

What do LSLS do?
LSLS professionals help children who are deaf or hard of hearing develop spoken language and literacy primarily through listening.

LSLS professionals focus on education, guidance, advocacy, family support and the rigorous application of techniques, strategies and procedures that promote optimal acquisition of spoken language through listening by newborns, infants, toddlers and children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

LSLS professionals guide families in helping their children develop spoken language through listening and coach them in advocating their children’s inclusion in the mainstream school. Ultimately, parents gain confidence that their children will have access to the full range of educational, social and vocational choices in life.



Parents and employers can verify that the teachers, speech-language pathologists and audiologists they work with have maintained certification as a LSLS. The LSLS Registry provides up to date certification information and contact details for LSLS professionals.

Interested in Becoming a LSLS Cert. AVEd or LSLS Cert. AVT?
Please click here to request an application and we'll send you a link to download the application packet.

2012 LSLS Certification Exam Dates and Locations:
Based largely on feedback received in a survey of 2012 exam site preferences, the AG Bell Academy has confirmed the following dates and locations for the LSLS certification exam:

• June 27, 2012 in Scottsdale, AZ (prior to the AG Bell Convention)
  Application deadline: April 12, 2012
 
• October 20, 2012 in Wood Dale, IL (Chicago area)
• October 20, 2012 in New York, NY
  Application deadline for both October exams: August 9, 2012

International exam dates will be announced as they are confirmed.

2012 Application Deadlines
Applications for the June 2012 exam must be received by the Academy by Thursday, April 12, 2012
Applications for the October 2012 exam must be received by the Academy by Thursday, August 9, 2012. 

The AG Bell Academy cannot confirm receipt of applications. If you would like to know whether or not your application was received, you may choose to send your application using a service that can confirm delivery.