Therapeutic Listening - Has anyone tried this and did it work?

[mumgoingcrazy]

Does anyone have experience of therapeutic listening? DD2's OT has suggested starting this in January and said it's a very intensive 12 week course and kept saying how 'powerful' it was.

I've researched it and it does seem that DD2 will really benefit from it. I just wondered if anyone had tried it and if so whether it worked or not.

I think this will work as part of her sensory diet but I'm very excited by this and (unfortunately) have all my hopes pinned on it.

I would love to hear your experiences. Thank you

A sad little bump, just in case anyone knows about this therapy.

bumping for you because it sounds fascinating and I want to know what it is.

dont know anything about it, but also v intersted in hearing more about it, particularly if can be used with children with aspergers...

www.sensorysmarts.com/diet.html

found this website - sounds interesting -exercises, listening to music,massage etc. ( i was thinking of a food diet...)

sorry ignore that response - i was meaning to sreply to a question about a sensory diet. sorry

Apparently it has a good success rate with aspergers and ASD.

I spoke to my portage worker today and she has known only 1 child to do it, he was 3 and was autistic. This therapy got him sleeping through the night, eating a wider variety of foods and generally much happier in new surroundings.

I can't wait to get started to be honest.

DS2 has been doing it since last summer - 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off - supervised by our OT. Did your OT tell you it was 12 weeks straight listening? I am slightly suspicious as to whether ours has been doing it absolutely by the book - the choice of CDs seems quite hit and miss to me.

Having said all this, we did see some positive effects on DS2, though as with anything, it's hard to tell what's having an effect if you're doing several things at once. He has become less noise sensitive in general - he used to put his hands over his ears much more than he does now, though he still does it from time to time. Every time we started a new CD he had a bit of a verbal burst - but I have to say that this effect wasn't maintained, though his language is very slowly improving all the time. He was very calm while listening and his sleep was good. He's become much less calm recently, but has just had to go back on steroids for asthma, so this may have more to do with it.

Our OT is retiring in December and there's no-one else trained in the technique in the team, so we have to stop anyway . I'll be very interested to hear how you get on - and also how your OT runs it - I may well decide to pay for it privately if his noise sensitivity returns. Or alternatively persuade someone at school to go on the course.

Thanks Sphil, it's great to hear from someone who has done it. I know what you mean re not knowing what is doing the trick. DD2 also has cranial osteopathy along with the physio/OT/Salt/Portage and it's really hard to know what's working.

We're very lucky with our OT, she's very clued up with the whole sensory stuff. Yes she said it was twice a day, 7 days a week for 12 weeks. It so happens that our initial assessment with the education phychologist falls just after finishing the course which is good.

Does your DS wear the head phones? I just can't see DD2 wearing them at all. I thought maybe it was a one off course and that would be that, from what you have said it seems we may have to do it from time to time when she gets defensive again.

never heard of this.. what sort of music do they listen to?
Can it be done at home, by getting hold of the CD?
thanks

We did it twice a day, 7 days a week, but only for 6 weeks. Wonder why there's a difference? I was surprised, but DS2 didn't mind the headphones at all - ours were very big and soft.

Tinysocks - you have to access it through a trained professional. There are all sorts of different programmes, all under the broad heading of auditory integration training. (Our consultants advise against using the Tomatis method, as some children have suffered negative effects.) The music sounds normal to me - some CDs were children's music, some were classical - but apparently they are subtly altered to provide certain pitches and frequencies (I think!). If you google the listening programme (or search archives here) you should find more info.

Our OT suggested we read the vital links website. It had lots of info on there and exactly how it works and why it's successful.

www.vitallinks.net/

From what she said it sounds like our program will be more 'noise' than music. I'm very intrigued and can't wait til January, I want to do it now but she has to finish her program of deep pressure brushing so guess we can't overload her.

TC, What was involved with your AIT?

TC, this looks quite similar. What changes did you see whilst/after the therapy? Do you have to do the 10 days and then that's it or do you 'top up' now and again?

Thanks

That's amazing to see that progress, especially approaching a child and initiating play. You must have been over the moon.

Is this therapy something you initiated yourself then?

I'm hoping as our OT is doing this with us it'll be on the NHS, she hasn't mentioned any cost to us. Are you out in the sticks then?

sphil- guess what! I have found a Tomatis centre here (trying to avoid travelling to the UK for such a long time, really expensive). I am so upset that your consultants don't recommend tomatis.
I cannot understand why though, surely if they all use the same principles (altered frequencies in classical music CDs) then what could possibly go wrong.

Do any of you know the specific difference between Tomatis and the other therapies?

The only reason (as far as i know) that Growing Minds feel they can't recommend Tomatis is that a small number of parents have reported negative effects on their children - increased sound sensitivity, etc. There are some archive posts on this - try 'the listening programme'. I don't know the differences between Tomatis and other methods unfortunately, but someone else might - Davros possibly?

That's a great link TC. I did think though that the reason vitallinks didn't want their technology broadcast was because you need a trained OT to issue the therapy otherwise anyone could get the cd's and it might not be appropriate for their child.

I've not heard of Tomatis, is this part of AIT as well?

I know someone who went to the SoundLearningCentre and reported negative effects. I always thought that The Listening Program was based on Tomatis. Tbh, you'll always find someone who reports negative effects won't you? As usual I'd be cautious about ploughing all your savings into just this, I think THe Listening Program is a better way to start and always felt that full-on AIT was rather severe and regimented, therefore more likely to breakdown if child is unco-operative.

And, imo, Therapeutic Listening is an even more gentle way to start, and if you can get it through an NHS OT, so much the better (though Mumgoingcrazy is the only other person I know apart from me who's been offered this).

our Portage teacher's colleague told me of a child who did the therapeutic listening program and apparently this boy was 2.5yrs and was severely sensory defensive (across all senses) and after this 12 week program he was a totally different boy.

I must admit the OT did say there could be negative affects but I see her weekly and she'll be doing home visits once a month too so said she'd keep a close eye in case this happened, but feels with DD2's needs it would be very successful.