Auditory Stimulation, Processing Treatment Specialists
The Listening Program | Auditory Stimulation
Dr. Guy Berard, a noted ENT, related a very powerful statement that "hearing equals behavior." We work with many individuals that their behavior is merely a result of the distortions in the way that their brain interprets information.
Does your family member display the red flags that may be signs of an auditory processing disorder?
- Delayed language development
- Inability to effectively listen
- Trouble in sequencing the sounds of words
- Difficulty perceiving high frequency sounds, i.e. t, f, s, k, p, th, sh
- Confusion when faced with similar sounds, i.e. /da/ and /ba/
- Extremely poor comprehension in a noisy environment
- High distractibility with short attention span
- Poor speech comprehension, often asking "what?"
- Misunderstanding and poor memory for oral messages
- Inconsistent responses to the same auditory stimuli
- Inability to follow directions
- Difficulty in expressing desires, often blaming the other person for not understanding
- Academic problems, particularly spelling, reading or comprehension
- History of chronic ear infections
- Behavior problems
- Social difficulties
Auditory Processing Disorders can often lead to frustration, feelings of incompetence or auditory overload. Other times it presents as aggression, disruption of others and cynicism about learning. How can we possibly change the auditory system so that effective, consistent learning can occur?
I have the privilege of becoming a certified provider of The Listening Program by Advanced Brain Technologies. I was involved in the first therapeutic listening program introduced to the United States approximately l7 years ago, called Auditory Integration Training. I read the book The Sound of a Miracle by Annabel Stehli that depicted the life story of her daughter, Georgie, who was on the autism spectrum. Her family heard about a French physician named Dr. Guy Berard, who developed a machine that would desensitize hypersensitive hearing and enable individuals to increase their auditory processing skills. Dr. Berard treated Georgie and changed her world. No longer was she frightened of things around her. It normalized her hearing so that she could begin to consistently learn. She is now married and the mother of a precious girl. She develops curriculum for autistic children and is an advocate for all individuals with learning differences. I often reflect on the fact that many people probably read that book and thought it was interesting. I read the book and called Dr. Berard the next day in France to see if I could be trained to use his program. I was in the first class that he taught in the U. S. and I used that program with approximately 500 individuals. The current products developed by ABT were the result of the early research performed by Dr. Berard and Dr. Alfred Tomatis, another French ENT.
Music-Based Auditory Stimulation
The Listening Program (TLP) is a clinically-proven approach that trains the auditory system to accurately process sound. The Listening Program's patent pending "ABC Modular Design" enables the listener to effectively exercise the auditory processing system providing "warm-up", "workout" and "cool down" phases. Within these modules, the first phase, "A" relaxes the listener and prepares the auditory system for a more intensive stimulation of the "B" phase. The listener is then returned to a relaxed state during the final "C" phase. Each daily listening session is approximately 30 minutes. Listening is done for five consecutive days with two consecutive days off. It is the responsibility of the certified provider to set the schedule of listening for each individual person to meet their needs. For detailed information on TLP research and case studies please visit: www.thelisteningprogram.com or www.autismspot.com to review the videos and parent interviews.