RE: therapuetic riding for children with autism

[Guest guest]

Does anyone know of a school district that provides therapuetic riding

(hippotherapy) for children with autism?

Candis Firchau wrote:I've never heard of SAMONAS, but

will look it up. We did the listening program several years ago and it was

horrible. My daughter has sensitivity to crying that is 100% worse than it was

before we started- really. We sing and talk loudly in the store or at church

until we can more her to the next area to avoid the sound. That is one of those

things I regret.

Candis

Singleton wrote:

I would also suggest that you look into vital listening. NTS

at Beltway and 290 has therapists who do it. It really helped

my son not to be overwhelmed by environmental sounds by improving

his ability to screen relevant sounds.

http://www.vitallinks.net/index.shtml

It starts with the modulated music then moves into Samonas.

I liked it because once we had the basic equipment, we did

it at home. The whole cost over the course of the 8 months

doing it everyday was about $650 for everything. Oh yes, the

results were nice too.

cms

Re: Re: SAMONAS sound therapy

In a message dated 7/27/2005 4:24:26 P.M. Central Standard Time,

net4tnvp@... writes:

The Children's Therapy Center can also set up a

SAMONAS sound therapy program to reduce a child's sensory problems (it

works for sound sensitivity and tactile sensitivity) and or to help

stimulate language & deal with auditory processing issues.

Has your child received this sound therapy? And if they have, how did the

benefits manifest? what were the obvious benefits? How long did therapy

last, 1

year or less? I visited the Learning Discoveries website for Optimal

Function

and Well-being and now I'm very curious about this therapy because of the

description of problems associated with poor listening. They listed some of

those significant problems under " auditory processing " problems and that

they

may present in the following ways:

poor reading and/or spelling

poor memory

problems with comprehension

difficulties with abstract information

other problems with learning

appears not to listen/tunes out

problems with following instructions

easily distracted

misunderstands conversation

dominates conversation or play

hears sounds incorrectly/in wrong order

delays in language development

poor vocabulary and/or grammar

speech problems

monotone and/or loud voice

disorganized speech

can't put thoughts into words

poor concentration

can't cope with change

must do things in own way

easily frustrated and/or short fuse

low self-confidence

poor motivation for academic tasks

Sounds like some of the hallmarks of autism, yet the website never mentions

how people specifically with autism may benefit from this therapy it just

mentions it's effective in helping people with dyslexia, learning

difficulties,

central auditory processing disorder, ADHD, speech and hearing problems.

The site also says that " successful processing of incoming information

requires fast and efficient neural connections, but if the brain has been

under-stimulated during the important early years the connections may

consequently be

underdeveloped. Constant ear infections in children is one way

under-stimulation of the brain can occur. A child who is prone to ear

infections or glue

ear before the age of 3 1/2 years will spend a large portion of his

language

learning years with hearing that is less than perfect. For each ear

infection, hearing is likely to be reduced for up to 6 - 8 weeks after the

acute stage

of the infection. By the age of 3 1/2 the basic language patterns should

have been established, but if a child's hearing has been interfered with

during

this time, the brain's language patterns may be faulty. "

My son suffered from chronic ear infections (Otitis Media) from 5 months

old

until he was almost 4, before autism got a hold of him he was diagnosed

with

a 40% hearing loss in his left ear (determined by a Tympanograph) when he

was about 12 - 15 months old and had fluid in both ears constantly. His

doctor

told me to cover my ears and try listening--he said that's how my son heard

everything, very muffled. When he was 2 years old he had his first of what

I

call " grand-mal meltdowns. " When he was 3 he was diagnosed with a

severe/profound speech and language delay. At 3 1/2 he started some odd

behaviors and

that's when we began to seek answers. When he was 4 years 2 months old he

was

given a PDD NOS diagnosis and the pediatric psychologist said she wasn't

comfortable giving him a diagnosis of Asperger's because he had been slow

to

acquire language, after further evaluation he was given an autism label. I

wonder

if his mild deafness caused his language delay or was it full blown autism?

I

guess I will never know. I would like to try SAMONAS and Craniosacral

therapy because the huge gains I first saw with speech therapy are leveling

out.