Auditory Integration Stimulation Therapy

[dawny17]

I've seen a number of threads on here about AIT and Johansen IAS therapy and just wanted to clarify in some details what it is and how it can really help a child reorganise and restore their listening to different frequencies that are boosted or inhibited in order for them to listen with ears working together. Often children I see for speech and language therapy have had history of glue ear, may have had periods of hearing disrupted while they have been developing, have stored sounds incorrectly or ears are working at different frequencies rather than together. I'm a Highly Specialist SLT who graduated in 1990 and became a Johansen IAS therapist in the past year. Auditory discrimination difficulties or problems can be really helped with this therapy there isn't a lot of research but by individually prescribing music that boosts or inhibits certain frequencies according to your child's audiograph results can help in reorganising and restructuring their listening ability to get closer to the Tomatis optimum listening curve for speech, language and learning. Children who find it difficult to retrieve words, mix up their sentence structure, word finding difficulties, literacy difficulties, phonological and articulation difficulties can all benefit. The difference is seen over time when their listening profile is reassessed after every four (or six/eight weeks depending on the age of the child) parental observations and teacher observations are recorded, specific standardised SLT tests are reassessed pre and post treatment which can occur over 6-10 months of listening to specific individualised music for your child. This can have a huge knock on effect on a child being able to listen within a classroom, filter out the important sounds or voice as opposed to background information, organise and sequence their language in a more structured way and have a positive effect on their learning, writing and reading skills. You can look for a Johansen IAS therapist near you in the UK.

[perky123]

Hi dawny17,
I am considering doing a type of sound therapy for my DS who is 8 and still has unintelligible speech and probably dyslexia. I had an audiogram assessment for Johansen a year ago which showed he would be suitable (lower sensitivity and higher frequencies, mixed ear dominance) but not sure we can be disciplined enough to do it every day for such a long time. So I am now considering Auditory Integration Therapy and wondering whether you or anyone else had any insight into when one is more likely to be suitable than the other. I think he has mild hypersensitivity issues, bigger problem is auditory discrimination and articulation/phonological awareness (rhythm and rhyming super hard!). Thanks!