Rosie first entered our lives 10 years ago when our baby son, William, was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. From the very beginning, Rosie took us under her wing and transformed not only William’s life, but the life of our entire family. She brought with her an incredible sense of kindness, clarity, and unwavering dedication. Her support extended far beyond the boundaries of any professional expectation—she truly cared about William’s outcomes, checking in on us regularly, guiding us with empathy, and mentoring us with a depth of knowledge that continues to inspire.
Rosie provided what I can only describe as a “Rolls Royce” service. She brought a level of attention to detail and diligence that ensured everything she did was of the highest quality. She continually aimed for excellence—always encouraging, always believing, always achieving. One of our most cherished memories is of the time our children made an ‘indentation’ (this was the target vocabulary along with some other words I can no longer remember) in a homemade chocolate Easter egg.
At the time, I thought it was beyond their abilities—but not Rosie. She always believed anything was possible. They still remember this activity years later and the associated vocabulary! Her motto was: “Shoot for the stars and you’ll land on the moon.”
Beyond her personal impact on our family, Rosie has made an extraordinary contribution to children across Ireland. She is the first qualified Auditory Verbal Therapist in Ireland, a true trailblazer who didn’t stop there—she ensured others would follow in her footsteps so that all children who are deaf could access this life-changing therapy. For more than a decade, she has honed her own listening and language skills, dedicating herself to bringing about real, lasting change in the lives of deaf children and their families.
Rosie Gardner has sprinkled her stardust on all those lucky enough to meet her. She has left an indelible mark on our children, our family, and countless others. She is a bright light in the lives of so many, and her legacy will shine for generations to come.
Shine on, Rosie—because you are the brightest star I know. Míle buíochas – a thousand thanks
We were lucky enough to meet Rosie while she was training as an AV Therapist. Our daughter Méabh, aged 2, was a year post-implantation. Though she was doing well, we were acutely aware of the amount of catching up she had to do to close the gap with her hearing peers.
From our first AVT session, I felt that Rosie “got it”. I was frustrated that many experts we had met since Méabh’s diagnosis seemed to expect me to be delighted that my daughter should achieve “average” speech and language skills. My daughter was anything but “average”, I wanted to believe that she could reach her potential, not sit somewhere in the centre of the distribution curve. I didn’t want to work with anyone who thought that average was ok for Méabh.
It just so happened that Rosie was as ambitious for Méabh as we are. She didn’t act like I was being delusional or even elitist thinking that my child should be the best. She made our ambition her ambition, and she invested so much energy, brain power & care in our girl that success really was the only possible outcome.
Rosie has a beautiful way of teaching without preaching. She modelled these beautiful AVT skills that would become part of how we communicated with, and parented, all our children, not just Méabh.
Rosie modelled the best parenting techniques - starting open conversations, discussing emotions, motivations and outcomes - She got down and played. She baked, made a mess, sang out of tune, got paint & paper everywhere, always smiling and genuinely enjoying spending time with us. As a result, our AVT sessions were a highlight in Méabh’s week. The thought that this was “therapy” or “work” was never apparent to Méabh.
She worked with us to develop Méabh as a person, not just as a listener. She challenged her to learn how to lose graciously, to take turns, take on board others’ opinions and preferences, to generally become a good citizen and a net contributor to any group she may belong to.
When we reluctantly graduated from AVT as Méabh approached her 6th birthday. Rosie reminded me that we were “clients for life”. She has always been available for advice or even to share successes. The knowledge that I had this sounding board was a huge comfort as we went out on our own. In short, Rosie is an absolute treasure. It was clear from day 1 that she was an integral part of “Team Méabh”.
Méabh is now a happy, sociable 11-year-old with a crazy busy life. She reads for fun, achieves top grades at school, plays clarinet in a brass band, does public speaking, plays team sport & generally does well at everything she tries. I will always be thankful that the universe sent Rosie our direction. I hope that Rosie knows how special she is and how many lives she has touched over her AVT career, and beyond. Thank you, Rosie!
With family life and time constraints, the online sessions became our norm and I never looked back. Comfortable in our own home setting, Noah engaged so well with the online therapy. With Rosie's great organisation, giving me advance notice of what she planned to focus on, enabled me to have the toys needed for the session. Using Noah's own toys made him engage really well and the session always flew in. When it was over, Noah understandably was tired from all his wonderful listening, and he was able to relax doing his favourite activity at home instead of a lengthy car journey, like it is after all other medical appointments.
It honestly never felt like it was an awkward online session like some people might fear, I was able to cast it onto our living room tv and it was like Rosie was in our living room, and we had so many laughs together because it is all play based and the emphasis is on listening whilst having fun. Nothing is rushed with Rosie, her patience radiated from the start and her constant reassurance and confidence was invaluable.
I thoroughly recommend online sessions. My son would not be the effective communicator he is today had it not been for our regular online sessions with Rosie.
The online therapy sessions with Rosie were a real step forward in building the foundations for Ryan in becoming an independent learner and student. When Ryan began attending Rosie he had very few words and it was a long journey. The first few months are no doubt the most difficult as there is a certain amount of faith required to trust the process. There were numerous times when it felt that Ryan may not have grasped the concept of an activity or may only have had the patience to engage for 5-10 minute periods during sessions.
I always felt that Rosie gave a calm sense of confidence that the indirect learnings of the sessions were as important as the obvious ones.
The AVT methodology was a real step change in focusing on developing the mind and social engagement of Ryan opposed to traditional Speech and Language.
The online sessions can remove the fatigue of long car journeys, finding parking, organising child minding and travel costs which can all place stress on young families. This can allow all the focus to be on the child.