listening programs

[smartyjones]

a while ago, someone mentioned The Listening Program on the lyme board and the success they were having with it. i've been researching/searching for practioners etc and although we haven't officially met, i think i've found someone that may be quite helpful for ds -- trying not to get too excited. this guy is from a education/special eductional background, also trained by OTs and runs a tutoring business, quite knowledgable in auditory processing. not familiar with pandas but has been trying to read up. he uses many 'programs' in his business so there seems to be much flexibility to find something that could benefit ds. his fees are reasonable but many programs have fees, which i discussed i have concerns about something being the 'answer' that will then just be a lot of spent $ for us. i think he's reasonable and gets that.

 

i feel we need something to help with ds's focus but also, he's been doing quite well with health -- but i just feel we also need something to address the fact that from ages 4.5 to 7, his brain has been under this attack. what are your thoughts -- there have to be gaps in 'normal' development in these kind of key development years just due to that fact, don't there? academically, ds has remained above average -- but i wonder about processing issues.

 

anyway -- curious -- does anyone have experience with auditory processing listening programs?

 

thanks.

[AmySLP]

I would encourage you to ask for the research on these and see if there are any done by an independent group, other than the product itself. OTs at my last place of employment (I'm a speech pathologist) were being trained in this technique. I have used programs such as Earobics )another listening program but very different from The LIstening Program). My daughter did have the opportunity to listen to a CD from this while in a few sessions with an OT we hired privately. She had auditory defensiveness in the months prior to her strep/PANDAS dx, and this program was new to my area & an OT friend of mine was just trained in the program. We did not use it enough to give results, b/c once my daughter was treated for PANDAS, her hypersensitivity diminished. Kim Ballot is an OT and may have more info. I believe there may be another OT as well, who can give more info. It hink some SLPs may be trained in this program as well by now, but still I would encouage you to look for efficacy of treamtment in some independent studies before spending money on any packaged program. If there is good independent research, the LIstening Program developers will know about it and promote it.

 

Not sure what your child's listening needs are, but if it's classroom based you may find that an FM system may be of assistance to increase attention & listening skills in class. Jill (JAG10) is an SLP in the schools and may be more familiar with programs for Auditory processing for school aged kids. You can try sending her a PM.

 

Amy

Edited May 11, 2011 by AmySLP

[kimballot]

I would encourage you to ask for the research on these and see if there are any done by an independent group, other than the product itself. OTs at my last place of employment (I'm a speech pathologist) were being trained in this technique. I have used programs such as Earobics )another listening program but very different from The LIstening Program). My daughter did have the opportunity to listen to a CD from this while in a few sessions with an OT we hired privately. She had auditory defensiveness in the months prior to her strep/PANDAS dx, and this program was new to my area & an OT friend of mine was just trained in the program. We did not use it enough to give results, b/c once my daughter was treated for PANDAS, her hypersensitivity diminished. Kim Ballot is an OT and may have more info. I believe there may be another OT as well, who can give more info. It hink some SLPs may be trained in this program as well by now, but still I would encouage you to look for efficacy of treamtment in some independent studies before spending money on any packaged program. If there is good independent research, the LIstening Program developers will know about it and promote it.

 

Not sure what your child's listening needs are, but if it's classroom based you may find that an FM system may be of assistance to increase attention & listening skills in class. Jill (JAG10) is an SLP in the schools and may be more familiar with programs for Auditory processing for school aged kids. You can try sending her a PM.

 

Amy

 

Hi - just wanted to tell you that I am an OT but I've not used listening programs, so I've not commented on this. I will be interested to see what others have to say. Sorry I could not be of more help.

[SSS]

Hi,

Over 2 years ago, my dd6 (then 4) went to 10 months of Occupational Therapy for Sensory Processing Disorder.

Included in that was the listening program through our OT.

It consisted of 2x a day listening for 30 minutes a special CD selected by our OT, listened with special headphones, the CD changed out every 2 weeks.

Honestly, I can't say for sure it 'helped.' My dd did not have auditory processing issues- I was going for her flight/fight response to noises, her sensory issues, which in retrospect, mostly was OCD, although I couldn't see it. (This was before pandas dx.)

I will say some of the CD's selected were difficult for her to listen to, and I had to push.

However, they were difficult for me to listen also, as they had static sounds mixed with music.

I don't regret going to the 10 months of OT, (although is cost a lot, insurance wouldn't cover because we don't have autism) but at the same time we started it, I had started doing bio-medical interventions to heal her gut/dietary changes/yeast treatment, so while things got better, I can never assertion which was doing more, although I suspect the bio-medical.

Not sure I helped here :-/

[nicklemama]

My DS used a therapeutic listening program for about 6 months for Sensory Processing Disorder (which we now know was caused by PANDAS). He also listened to prescribed music for 30min 2x a day through special headphones. It seemed to help him calm down. He does not have auditory processing issues, though. Once we started abx for PANDAS, the SPD symptoms went away and we stopped going to OT.

[AmySLP]

I can remember the spring/summer of 2008, when all of a sudden my daughter developed auditory defensiveness. Covering her ears and crying over anything that made a noise, but especially those that were loud. I can remeber the symptoms ramping up in the summer and can recall being on vacation that summer at a tourist attraction on the Outer Banks of NC, and my daughter screaming at the top of her lungs over the flushing potties all around us. I thought-people must think she has autism. I took my then almost 4 year old daughter, screaming with her hands held over her ears, out of this bathroom, and she continued to cry and scream. That was when I vowed that I would seek treatment for this, as it was getting out of control. It was on that vacation that my daughter first developed scarletina rash and a new compulsitory behavior. She had terrible emotional lability on the vacation, but often caused by sensory issues (that were coming out of no where). That is why we did OT with a friend as soon as she got home. Spinning, brushing and one CD of the Listening program. It was about 2 months later that we got the strep dx, after her rash was treated as yeast and then as a bacterial infection with a topical ABX. Once she started ABX, the sensory issues disappeared. and we stopped OT.

[melanie]

danny has been doing the LP for about 6 months.We do 1x per day 5 days a week .Some times we miss a day or two but ..I got it through a OT and never went back so Im doing it on my own.He loves it doesnt give me a hard time .he loves music so..I think it helos I doont think it hurts so why not.It is expensive ,I have seen the program for sale on ebay,I couldnt win so I went out of pocket through my insurance comp.I did get 100.00 reinbursment because I got it through the OT.

 

If you have 600.00 to spend I would do it .Its self explanatory ,not diffucult to do.I plan on selling mine when Im done.Look on some web sites and see if anyone is selling the program,sometimes people will lend it or OTs will lend(rent) it..

 

Melanie

[tpotter]

I'm a pediatric OT in practice for 27 years, and am trained in The Listening Program. I don't recommend that it be used by everyone, because it doesn't work on everyone. Typically, I work with the children for awhile, and do an assortment of other sensory intervention before using TLP, because it is expensive, and with sensory integrative disorder all the different sensitivities pile up on each other anyway.

 

That being said, I have seen it do some amazing things for kids. Kids who were not talking suddenly were talking (the only change having been starting TLP). I've seen other hyper/hypo sensitivities change, because of using TLP. But, again, we also don't usually try to do more than one thing at a time when doing the program (at least at the beginning.)

 

The Listening Program tends to work great with Autistic kids, but does not work with kids who have psychiatric disorders. I tend to see it help with language, hyper/hyposensitivies, and attention to task.

 

There is only one child I have prescribed it for that it did not help (one of my own children), but he also did not have Autistic-like symptoms, and was not diagnosed with Autism (when I was first trained, I tried it on both my own children...they've always been my guinea pigs :-) He did have PANDAS, and lots of neuropsych symptoms. It did, though, work extremely well on my other son. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and unbeknownst to me, also had PANDAS.

 

It is important to see a trained therapist (trained in using whichever program you choose...there are other programs besides The Listening Program.) I do agree, though, that if you can get it on the internet, you could save a lot of money. The only drawback I could see, though, is that you have no idea if the CD may be scratched, the earphones don't work quite right, etc. The reason I bring that up, is that one of my clients was using a used program. It started out great, but all of a sudden he started having massive behavioral problems. His mother found out one day, by chance, that the cd was doing some funky stuff that it wasn't supposed to.

 

But, overall, I have seen some great results with the kids I have prescribed it for. Keep in mind that nothing we are doing as PANDAS parents works exactly the same on every child. That's why, if you are considering using TLP or some other program, you really should get a good evaluation by a trained therapist.

[zazuk2010]

Hi,

 

We did a listening program for both our boys. It was called the Tomatis Method. We did it several times a week for almost 6 months. It was expensive. But in the end, it was life changing for one of my sons. The other did not show much outward signs of improvment but then the truth is that he did not have the same problems and his issues were not focus based.

 

My son's were 5-6 at the time. They are now turning 7. The benifits have lasted and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am even thinking of trying again with my other son becasue at the time we did not know that he was going untreated for a mycoplasma infection. Once he was treated for that many things got a lot better. Perhaps given his current state of good health he might get more out of it.

 

PM me if I can give you any other info that may be helpful.

 

Best, Kari

[nicklemama]

We had to buy the headphones. They are pricey. Our OT clinic rented the cd's needed for $5 and you kept it until the next session. You do need an OT trained in therapeutic listening to correctly prescribed the proper cd's based on your child's issues. My DS had a lot of aspergerish behaviors(unbeknownst to us he had PANDAS), although the listening therapy was for his SPD. I thought it helped him but abx is really what brought on huge improvements.

[tpotter]

We had to buy the headphones. They are pricey. Our OT clinic rented the cd's needed for $5 and you kept it until the next session. You do need an OT trained in therapeutic listening to correctly prescribed the proper cd's based on your child's issues. My DS had a lot of aspergerish behaviors(unbeknownst to us he had PANDAS), although the listening therapy was for his SPD. I thought it helped him but abx is really what brought on huge improvements.

 

 

Just for clarification, Nicklemama is talking about Therapeutic Listening, which is a different (but similar in methodology) program to The Listening Program, and Tomatis is also different (but considerably different in the way it is done.) As I mentioned in my response previously, there are different programs that address the same issue.

 

Therapeutic Listening does give you one CD at a time, and rents them out, while the Listening Program has you buy the whole kit, and it's yours. There are reasons for this, but I'm not going to go into that here, because I'm only giving this information for clarification only. Both are legitimate and good programs (yes, I'm trained in one, but that's only because it doesn't make sense financially for me to train in both...both programs work.) Both of these programs are done at home with OT (or trained therapist supervision.)

 

Tomatis (again for clarification) is much more intense than the other two above. It is done over, I believe, a 2 week period (sorry if I'm getting the time period off for you Tomatis trained therapists.). You also have to bring your child into the clinic (there are a few throughout the world, but I don't know where). Testing is done on the child (adults, too), and the program is custom made for the person's specific problems. From what I have been told, it also works on people who have psychiatric disorders. As you can imagine, it is far more expensive, but much more customized. Not all people need the customization (that's why the other programs work, as well.) Some people, though, may need the highly customized Tomatis treatment.

 

All the programs are based on the work of Tomatis.

 

Again, though, it is important to find someone who is trained to supervise.