The Shepherd Centre teaches deaf and hearing-impaired children to listen and speak using their residual hearing with the use of an appropriate listening device such as hearing aids and cochlear implants.

The Shepherd Centre was the first organisation of its kind in Australia and was established in 1970 by Dr. Bruce Shepherd AM and his late wife Annette.

Today, it is one of Australia 's leading providers of Auditory-Verbal Therapy, helping over 200 children and their families each year.

The Shepherd Centre runs an Early Intervention Program and Cochlear Implant Program in five centres in NSW and ACT, and a Residential Workshop Program and a Correspondence Program for children and families from rural and remote areas of Australia and overseas.

Our aim is that by the time deaf and hearing-impaired children are school-aged, they will have developed spoken language to the level of their hearing peers, enabling them to attend fully integrated mainstream schools. Over 90% of the children who come to The Shepherd Centre achieve this goal.

By developing spoken language, children who are deaf or hearing-impaired are able to fully participate in the hearing world and in doing so, reach their full potential. The children that The Shepherd Centre help have a greater range of opportunities available to them in later life.

In the last decade, enrolments on our programs have more than doubled. We receive approximately 28% of our funding via government sources and rely on the balance of vital support and generosity from the community to continue our life-changing work.

For more information please visit www.shepherdcentre.com.au