Auditory Processing, Listening & Memory
Our Listening Therapy Program is a therapeutic, highly specialized, and exquisitely recorded program that involves listening while performing bilateral, interhemispheric, movements. The purpose of the program is to improve:
- Auditory processing
- Coordination and organization
- Attention
- Listening and communication
- Thinking and learning
- Emotional connections (& reduced anxiety)
- Brain integration
Each program is individually prescribed, to support the goals and needs of the student. Young children through adults benefit from the program. This program is primarily completed at home with facilitation by a parent or caregiver.
Listening is a function of the entire brain. When we listen, we listen with the whole body. Alfred Tomatis, M.D., the original pioneer and researcher in the field of sound therapy, indicated that the voice cannot reproduce what the brain cannot hear.
Our Listening Therapy Program is very powerful and has been life-changing! This “sound diet” allows students to receive a greater range of sound frequencies, and it supports and stimulates the brain.
Individuals with the following challenges will benefit from a Listening Therapy Program:
- Comprehension difficulty
- Mispronounces words,
- Low energy; difficulty staying alert
- Gets confused with auditory information
- Poor fine motor skills (speech and writing); poor gross motor skills
- Low confidence
- Misunderstands when listening to information from others
- Sound sensitivities
- Poor spatial awareness (knowing where he is in relation to people or things)
- Has difficulty sounding out words while reading
- Speaks with poor inflection
- “Engine” runs too fast or too slow
- Speaks with a monotone voice
- Poor balance; vestibular difficulty
- Auditory processing disorders
- Anxiety; unable to relax
- Poor body organization
Purpose
Once the brain is processing a greater range of frequencies in sound, the listener will have better energy and better input with which to think and learn. This type of “sound therapy” increases the brain’s ability to pay attention to a wide range of frequencies in sounds.
Lower frequencies in sound are especially important for coordination, movement, rhythm, feeling “grounded”, attention, and organization. Mid-range frequencies are especially important for hearing and reproducing speech sounds. High-frequency sounds are energizing to the brain and are critical for attention, thinking, and learning. They also carry detailed information that makes it possible to discriminate between similar speech sounds and words, tone of voice, and different instruments and voices.
Format
A prescriptive and individualized therapeutic Listening Program is provided for each student, depending upon their needs and goals. During the detailed Listening Orientation with our Listening Consultant, parents and students are provided with the materials and the directions for the program.
Students generally listen at home for 30 minutes once or twice per day.
The music selections have been chosen in order to target the student’s specific goals and needs. We gradually build the tolerance of higher frequencies. We teach the student and family how to continue benefitting from the music, once the prescribed program has been completed.
