Tomatis Method

[Guest guest]

Has anyone tried the Tomatis Method or other listening programs?

There was a segment on the Today Show about a little girl with autism

who recovered with the help of the Tomatis Method.

This should be the link to the today show article

http://www.msnbc.com/news/909205.asp

Sue

Ben 4 apraxia, ~NT

[Guest guest]

Sue-

I just started my 4.9 year old severly apraxic son on " The Listening Program "

today. Tomatis was too expensive for us and also not practical. Lenny is

one of four and it would not be possible to take him out of school to go to a

Tomatis site. The Listening Program is being monitored by his SLP (who

specializes in apraxia).

I'll keep you posted.

Lynaugh

[Guest guest]

OMG!!! My sister just told me about this therapy today, and this

little girl that was featured on the Today Show sounds just like my

daugther . doesn't respond to her name either and even

though her ABR test was normal, she doesn't seem to hear a lot of

things. I'll even try changing my pitch up and down when calling

her until I reach one that she'll turn to. This Tomatis method

looks worth looking into. The center featured in the Today show

site is all the way in land...too far from CA. I did a search

under Tomatis Method, California and found a center here that also

does the Tomatis Method, and they are sending me an information

packet on it. Anyone have any idea how much it costs? I didn't ask

as I didn't want to be disappointed just yet. The girl on the phone

said that it goes in blocks with the first block being 3 months @ 2

hours a day, 5 days a week. Sounds expensive to me...but that girl

on the news story was talking after a year on it and she had no

language before that. I've always thought had something going

on with her hearing in some way. They didn't say anything about the

girl being Hypotonic, but in the video, it showed her sitting on the

floor in the W-position like my does. I would love to hear

from anyone who has had any personal experience with this?

Today Show with article & video

http://www.msnbc.com/news/909205.asp

Jill - Mom to 41 months with Hypotonia and

expressive/receptive speech delays (Dyspraxia)

> Has anyone tried the Tomatis Method or other listening programs?

> There was a segment on the Today Show about a little girl with

autism

> who recovered with the help of the Tomatis Method.

> This should be the link to the today show article

> http://www.msnbc.com/news/909205.asp

>

> Sue

> Ben 4 apraxia, ~NT

[Guest guest]

Hi Jill and Sue!

The best approach to take with our children is a multisensory one,

the brain responds to multiple stimuli. With listening therapies

you can go to a center overseen by an OT or SLP for listening

therapy (typically pricey) –or like I did for my son Tanner (which

is fairly inexpensive- and you get to keep the CDs and headphones

for use whenever you want!) you can purchase the headphones

and the CDs your OT or SLP suggests -and have your child use the

listening therapy during his therapy session with his SLP or OT –as

well as following a home program they suggest for your child! We

used Vital Links http://www.vitallinks.net/auditory.html

which is a combination of a number of the

philosophies behind listening therapies based on Tomatis.

I love the listening therapy and do find them to be effective and

highly recommend trying them with your child. However I don't

believe it's best to assume that any one therapy 'alone' is the

answer for most of our children. For one -not each child is

properly diagnosed as most of us found out the hard way -and even

when a child is diagnosed properly -each presents unique and may

respond to slightly different approaches. Important note-the only

therapy that does not overlap from autism to apraxia is ABA (outside

of those children who have both autism and apraxia) which is not

effective (and can be detrimental as we've heard from members) to a

child who is not autistic.

As far as listening therapy for an apraxic or autistic child? Try

it and keep an open mind to this –and other multisensory therapies

both traditional and alternative.

Here are two recent archived messages on various types of listening

therapies with links.

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Thu Mar 6, 2003 9:19 pm

Subject: Re: Listening Program

Hi !

There are a number of " listening therapies " out there -most based on

Tomatis -that all fall under the umbrella term for a type of

auditory treatment. We used a program called 'Therapeutic

Listening " from Vital Links with Tanner and loved it since it

appeared to help -and like the ProEFA was a pretty quick change and

fairly inexpensive. Here is an overview of some of the programs

from the company that had the program my son Tanner used -Vital

Links http://www.vitallinks.net/auditory.html

I believe you were kind of new to the group at the time and were at

the CHERAB meeting

http://www.cherab.org/news/meetings/eventsjune2001.html when Dorinne

S. , MA, CCC-A, FAAA behind the Center

http://www.thedaviscenter.com

presented their " listening program " I know that the Center is

one of the places for this type of therapy that my Co-Author

developmental pediatrician Dr. Marilyn Agin refers to. These types

of

programs where you go to a clinic for the therapy sessions can be a

bit pricey (of course well worth it if they help) I have found

personally that there are other ways of doing the listening therapy

programs at home while working with professionals -which is what we

did with Tanner.

Many times OTs have provided auditory therapies such as this -I

believe it was mainly for those with some type of sensory

integration dysfunction DSI. Even though my son Tanner had DSI -it

was not for the DSI -and it was not an OT that recommended the

listening therapy for Tanner. Tanner's SLP when we lived in NJ -

Ortega CCC-SLP (who was highly recommended to me by Dr.

Agin when Tanner was first diagnosed with apraxia) was very

innovative in treating Tanner's apraxia with a " whole body "

approach -which is why Dr. Agin loves her so much. Too many SLPs

concentrate only on the mouth and facial area -some SLPs are more

aware that speech problems can relate to issues in other parts of

the body -and the brain responds to multiple stimuli. Many

educators are fully aware of the benefits of treating children with

LDs with a multi sensory approach

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html -not

all SLPs are

yet.

Tanner's therapist tried the therapeutic listening for

Tanner to help stop some dysfluency he developed when he started

talking based on the theory that it would help with the right-left

brain activity.

My experience makes me recommend auditory therapies as part of the

treatment for our children with multisensory communication

impairments. I believe a multi -sensory approach will be proven to

be

most effective for our children down the road -I just don't believe

in waiting, and was thrilled to have an open minded SLP like

working with Tanner.

Anecdotally -Tanner would have trouble speaking clear and getting

his words out -and then within a minute of putting the headphones on

his words would come clear and smooth -not sure why but since it

appeared to help we used it. He had a waist band to wear so he

could wear his CD player around when playing, during therapy -etc.

The only activities we were told not to let him do while wearing the

headphones were watching TV or playing on the computer. Tanner

doesn't use the therapeutic listening program much anymore, however

his speech is also much better now, and he's older and is more aware

of " what's cool " (at 6 and a half can you believe it?!!)

I just want all of you to know you will probably not read the above

anywhere

else

since this is not what the program is intended for. It was just a

theory of 's -but it worked amazingly well for Tanner!

was trained by Vital Links so I was able to order the

special headphones which had the " right " and " left " ear marked -and

the " correct " CDs for Tanner from Vital Links

http://www.vitalsounds.com/ You can not order from this company

without the training code of the professional that took the course.

Supposedly using the wrong CDs can be harmful somehow. (any OTs

want to explain the danger of listening to the wrong CDs?)

Here are some cut and pastes from the various websites out there

from a quick search at google. No bad reflection on the many that I

left out -like I said there are tons of them -just do a quick search

at http://www.google.com and you'll see!

" The Listening Program is comprised of psychoacoustically refined

soundtracks. Specially selected, re-arranged, re-recorded classical

music (featuring Mozart) and nature sounds have been processed in

post-production with sophisticated sonic technologies. The Listening

Program respectfully builds on the theories and clinical research of

Dr. Alfred Tomatis, and other sound pioneers. Developed by an

interdisciplinary team of educational, therapeutic, medical, music

and sound professionals, The Listening Program helps to train the

ear and brain to perceive a full spectrum of sound without

distortion... "

http://www.advancedbrain.com/tlp_intro.html

" The therapeutic use of music to stimulate brain processing has long

been scientifically supported. Since Dr. Alfred Tomatis pioneered

the therapeutic application of sounds to treat specific symptoms and

behaviors, there has been a veritable explosion in the types of

auditory interventions available, most of which are based on Dr.

Tomatis' early work.

We have therapists trained in Samonas Sound Therapy, Integrated

Listening Programs, and Listening Fitness Programs and can assist

parents in making an informed decision about which program best

meets the needs of their child. Listening programs are offered as

stand alone programs in conjunction with regular Sensory integration

sessions here at the clinic... "

http://music.nt4kids.com/

" Therapeutic Listening uses sound stimulation in combination with

sensory integrative techniques. Strategies that are emphasized

include vestibular, postural and movement strategies. This treatment

technique involves listening to specifically modulated and filtered

music on compact discs through headphones... "

http://www.childrenstherapycorner.com/article/article1.html

" This program is not a miracle cure. It is a tool used by

specifically trained Occupational or Physical Therapist, that when

combined with other therapy treatment approaches, can have a

significant impact on the client's functional abilities... "

http://www.helpingyourchild.com/therapeuticlistening.html

=====

[Guest guest]

,

With , I am interested in the Tomatis Method for her receptive

delays...for when she doesn't respond to commands, or her name. I

still think she has Apraxia too (for her expressive problems). I

always get confused when I read about Apraxia as it always says that

the receptive language will be ahead of the expressive language, yet

's is equal if not behind her expressive (at least that is the

ways she tests). I know she learns as she'll be sitting with a

clock and say the numbers, or be looking at her alphabet board and

and say the letters correctly. Ask her to repeat it though and you

get nothing. Per the ABR test, I know she isn't deaf, but she is

still not hearing me (or not listening?) a good percentage of the

time.

We definiately due a multisensory approach...in addition to the 3

hours of individual speech therapy does per week, we do Music

Therapy with an OT, Hippotherapy with a PT, Kindermusik (for

socialization) and we just finished up 4 weeks of Brain Gym (

http://www.braingym.org ). We do something therapy related 6 days

per week......

I'll check out the links you posted as well... Thanks !

Anyone familiar with The Swain Center that was founded by Dr.

Deborah Swain (also The Listening Center) up in Santa , CA?

They are opening a center down here in Southern CA this summer and

they do the Tomatis method....

Jill

> Hi Jill and Sue!

>

> The best approach to take with our children is a multisensory

one,

> the brain responds to multiple stimuli. With listening therapies

> you can go to a center overseen by an OT or SLP for listening

> therapy (typically pricey) –or like I did for my son Tanner (which

> is fairly inexpensive- and you get to keep the CDs and headphones

> for use whenever you want!) you can purchase the headphones

> and the CDs your OT or SLP suggests -and have your child use the

> listening therapy during his therapy session with his SLP or OT –

as

> well as following a home program they suggest for your child! We

> used Vital Links http://www.vitallinks.net/auditory.html

> which is a combination of a number of the

> philosophies behind listening therapies based on Tomatis.

[Guest guest]

Hi Jill!

Has your child been checked for CAPD too?

http://www.speech-express.com/associated-disabilities/capd.html

I know it can be confusing -but since when we are talking about the

brain, which science doesn't even fully understand every aspect of

yet -and because we do know that various learning or communication

disorders that can overlap -you could have symptoms in a child that

don't relate to apraxia.

For example

Apraxia in itself is not a receptive language disorder, however you

could have a child with apraxia and autism, or any type of PDD,

Central auditory processing disorders: CAPD, Aphasia, Comprehension

deficit, or a mixed expressive and receptive language disorder such

as Speech Language Impairment (SLI) co existing together in the same

child.

Apraxia in itself is not a cognitive disorder -however you could

have a child with apraxia and mental retardation co existing

together in the same child. (some children can be MR -however

again the MR label is far to many times placed on apraxic children

inappropriately due to inaccurate IQ testing using verbal based IQ

tests for those that are speech impaired)

Apraxia in itself does not cause hyperactivity -however you could

have a child with apraxia and ADHD co existing together in the same

child.

Apraxia in itself is not a weakness disorder, however you could have

a child with apraxia and dysarthria, or hypotonia co existing

together in the same child. (not uncommon)

Apraxia in itself is not a sensory disorder, however you could have

a child with apraxia and sensory integration dysfunction co existing

together in the same child. (not uncommon)

Overall -most apraxic children present with normal to above average

receptive/cognitive ability, with mild hypotonia (weakness)

somewhere in their body, and/or sensory integration dysfunction. Most

apraxic children do not have autism and PDD because there are far

more apraxic children than autistic, however it appears many

children with autism and PDD also have apraxia. Apraxia is

frequently overlooked in many syndromes, and disorders because it's

attributed as a " symptom " of the autism, or Cerebral palsy, or down

syndrome, etc. As you can search the archives here to find -these

children remained nonverbal or unintelligible until they were

provided appropriate therapies to address the apraxic component of

their disability as well.

And after saying all of this -there are many apraxic children that

present as young children to mom, dad, aunts, uncles, strangers at

the supermarket while you are waiting on line, and even most

(regular not neuromedical) pediatricians as just " late talkers "

because even if they do have mild hypotonia or sensory integration

dysfunction -those two impairments are attributed to the child being

lazy, spoiled, etc.

For example -I just spoke to a mom yesterday who has a 'four' year old " late

talker "

diagnosed by an SLP with a " mild speech delay that may be apraxia

since he's not responding to speech therapy and he appears to have a

motor planning disorder " . I asked this mom how many words her child

had -and she told me " she has about 20 words that are clear "

and " my family is telling me that she is just a late talker and some

children won't talk till five or six. " When I said " 20 words for a

four year old child would not be considered a mild delay " The mom

told me " Well I don't think so either -but that's what the SLP told

me " The same SLP also never told the mother about the Early

Intervention services -or reasons for second opinions with a neurodevelopmental

MD. (she apparently didn't read The Late Talker yet!) Meanwhile this four year

old child with only " 20 clear words "

will be attending Kindergarten in the next few months. (Kathy -wish

she was in your class in NJ -but she's in California!!!)

To me it's sad that a professional working with this child would

consider only 20 words for a four year old child who is not

responding to ST to have only a mild delay in speech -and that the

family will encourage the mother to wait till even five or six years

old for the child's breakthrough in speech where he " just starts

talking! " (we all wish for that -but to just sit back and wait for

it and do nothing?!)

It really is sad there is hardly any awareness to a disorder that is

so common, and that responds best to early and intensive appropriate

therapy -perhaps -it's because it's victims are silent for three, five, or in

's case eighteen years. Until they are diagnosed and helped.

wasn't diagnosed with apraxia until five years old either

http://www.debtsmart.com/talk/index.html and thanks to and his parents

-more can hear why not to just assume things when it comes to a child's future.

=====

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the information. There is a center close to where my

mother lives and I signed my son up for three weeks of listening

therapy.

Sue

Ben 4 apraxia, 6 ~NT

> Hi Jill and Sue!

>

> The best approach to take with our children is a multisensory one,

> the brain responds to multiple stimuli. With listening therapies

> you can go to a center overseen by an OT or SLP for listening

> therapy (typically pricey) –or like I did for my son Tanner (which

> is fairly inexpensive- and you get to keep the CDs and headphones

> for use whenever you want!) you can purchase the headphones

> and the CDs your OT or SLP suggests -and have your child use the

> listening therapy during his therapy session with his SLP or OT –as

> well as following a home program they suggest for your child! We

> used Vital Links http://www.vitallinks.net/auditory.html

> which is a combination of a number of the

> philosophies behind listening therapies based on Tomatis.

[Guest guest]

,

I asked about CAPD when was having her ABR test and was told

that they couldn't test her for that until she became verbal (which

doesn't make any sense...for if she was verbal, she wouldn't have a

problem any more).

I know she has Hypotonia (moderate)in her trunk and facial areas

(very Hypermobile legs) and she does have some sensory issues, such

as the drooling and toe walking (Hypo rather than Hyper and no

tactile issues though). Per the Developmental Ped she is not

Autistic and not even PDD-NOS...he just wants to use PDD for lack of

a better term (in other words he doesn't know). He did say she has

Dyspraxia, but didn't go any further into detail with that. She has

recently started putting her fingers in her ears on occasion or

covering her ears with flat hands. I had her checked for ear

infections but they said there was none. I have always thought

there was something going on with her hearing even though the ABR

test was normal. I got a call from Deborah Swain today and did set

up an evaluation for for Tomatis. I'll research more in the

mean time to find out more about the Tomatis Method. is still

on ProEFA and DMG as well.

Jill - Mom to 41 months with Hypotonia and

expressive/receptive speech delays (Dyspraxia)

> Hi Jill!

>

> Has your child been checked for CAPD too?

[Guest guest]

We are using Vital Links for my son, which is similar to Tomatis. It's helped

him a great deal.

~k

[ ] Tomatis Method

I am looking in to the Tomatis Method for our non-verbal son. I would

like to know if anyone has any experience with this method. It

consists of auditory stimulation which assists and accelerates the

development of listening skills, language and communication. They

seem to have good results with autistic children.

(ny, 6 1/2 Sotos syndrome and autism)

[Guest guest]

My sister has a 6 year old son with autism. She has used the

Center in NJ which administers the Tomatis Method, and was very

pleased. Her son had two 15 day sessions of 2 hours each day. He

will be going back for another week of sessions next month, and

again in the fall.

If you want more information, please email me and I will put you in

touch with my sister.

(mother of Devon 2.5 possible verbal apraxia)

> I am looking in to the Tomatis Method for our non-verbal son. I

would

> like to know if anyone has any experience with this method. It

> consists of auditory stimulation which assists and accelerates the

> development of listening skills, language and communication. They

> seem to have good results with autistic children.

> (ny, 6 1/2 Sotos syndrome and autism)

[Guest guest]

Jenna -

I really don't know at this point. I don't know enough about

Tomatis to know whether it is or isn't helpful for children with

apraxia. I also have not yet had Devon evaluated. We see a

pediatric neurologist next week, but I don't think she specializes

in speech disorders (from St. Barnabas). I also am having him

evaulated by a new speech therapist in early July. If both of these

are not satisfactory, I have an appointment with Dr. Cargan in

Sept. I am hoping to get a diagnosis so I can get on with the best

possible course of action.

I know the Center's Tomatis is super expensive and not covered

by insurance, so unless a professional tells me that its

helpful/needed, I wasn't planning on going that route. At the same

time, I have heard about other listening programs that can be done

at home, and I don't know if they are similar or not. If you hear

more about whether this course is or isn't useful for apraxia,

please let me know.

I was also told by my current speech therapist that if Devon does

have apraxia, the that Prompt Method is helpful. I visited

www.promptinstitute.com and emailed them to find out if there is a

Prompt therapist nearby but I haven't heard from them yet. I don't

know much about it, except that it uses physical moving of the mouth

to make sounds.

Good luck.

> :

>

> Would u consider Tomatis for Devon? My son is 2, non

> - verbal.

>

> I talked about tomatis with his speech therapist, but

> she thinks tomatis addresses auditory processing

> disorder, not verbal apraxia.

>

> Any thoughts on that?

>

> Thank you,

> Jenna