ADHD And Tomatis Listening Therapy.

How old is he, it sounds like he has also PDD (profound developmental delays) sensory. The best is to follwo with exceptional physical and occupational therapy. If he is under three, the state provides this, if he is over three, the township has programs to help.

Please be careful. If this were effective, we would all be doing it and your Developmental Pediatrician would be sending you there, so you would have zero questions for us as to how effective this is. It is not. People see placebo effects from all kinds of things, and this is no different. It is not standard care for ADHD, or any other developmental issue.

Real treatment is not flashy. Real treatment is not going to be an overnight success. Real treatment is slow and steady and tons of hard work from doctors, therapists, teachers, parents and patients. It will take years. You will see ups, you will see downs. Real treatment is medical care and intervention with some combination of many hours per week that include: cognative behavioral therapy, play therapy, social skills classes, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and medical, behavioral and educational interventions.

Slow and steady wins this race. I really wish things like this worked. They don't, please be careful with your money, you will have many opportunities to spend it on this, and tons of other "promising" therapies that "the doctors don't want you to know about." When you hear that, run, and put your check book out of reach. You will need every penny you have for the therapy that really works.

M.

In addition to therapies, I know that it is crucial to turn off the tv and electronic devices which train the brain for super short attention span. Let him run, play, jump, climb at recess and lunch and free time. Don't punish him by taking away his active time - he needs it. Work on reading to him - whatever he will sit through to begin, work on increasing it by a minute each week. Ask questions about the pictures, have him turn the page.

My sister in law has been bringing my nephew to a group called Key To Me in Bradley Beach NJ. He is on the Autism Spectrum and also through an additional diagnosis has an Auditory Processing Delay. He is 8 and is on his third cycle of the theraphy. It is making a difference with his picking up shpeech which he is also delayed. I'll forward this question to her and she can help fill you in more. Keep getting him the help he needs and don't let anyone talk you out of your feelings!!!!!!!!!

My son has SPD, and we use Theraputic Listening. It is only available through Occupational Therapists. It requires special headphones, and the CD's are a little pricey, but TOTALLY worth it!!! This has been the saving grace for our family. We have a very tight budget, but I would pay triple what we did to get these results! You listen to it 2 times/day for ~30 min. Your OT will advise you. Hopefully, they will have CD's for you to borrow to try out until you get the correct "dose." Each CD increases in strength, and you start off low and work your way up. We don't use Early Intervention, but you should have access to an OT evaluation and therapy through them. This is the best thing we ever did, and I hope it helps you too! Good luck!

My son has been diagnosed with PDD & ADD and is currently in a very wonderful Listening Therapy at Key to Me (www.keytometherapy.com) in Bradley Beach, NJ. He is in his final "loop" and is doing wonderfully. The changes/differences in his behavior and speech is really amazing and would definately recommend you pursing this type of therapy. We have tried absolutely everything with my son ~ we have been to 3 audiologist, 2 speech pathologist, 1 pediatric neurologist and 1 pediatric neuro-developmental doctor. We also brought our son to a D.A.N. (defeat autism now) doctor who switched him to a gluten-free & casein free diet, he receives chelation therapy and we even rented a hyperbaric chamber for 6 weeks. Out of all the things we have done ~ the listening therapy has provided the most success. We just started the listening therapy in August and my son is a totally different child already. So in my opinion (from a person who has tried almost everything) I would definately tell you to try it. I have to warn you though ~ it is costly, but worth every dollar spent~ best of luck!

Martha R. said it all beautifully. Trust her expertise. I also have a child with ADHD and the comments she offers here on Mamapedia are always right-on.

Hi J.,

There are many different listening therapies for you to consider. Tomatis and AIT are therapies that are done in the clinic, cost the most, but because of the professional oversight, have the best results. However, I have heard from others that have used this therapy that it probably needs to be repeated over the years.

Because of that, I have very successfully used at-home listening therapies, where the family purchases the equipment, the therapist gives them the protocol to follow, and if necessary, the therapy can be repeated as needed with no additional cost.

The three at-home therapies that have been around a long time and therfore have had pretty good results are Therapeutic Listening (www.vitallinks.net), Samonas (www.samonas.com) and The Listening Program (www.thelisteningprogram.com). These site have lots more information for you including a provider locator.

Underlying the ADHD and sensory problem is unintegrated primitive reflexes, and specifically the Spinal Galant reflex. Primitive reflexes are reflexes that a child is born with, but that should become integrated (and therefore not showing as a reflex). For example, a three month old baby, when put on his stomach, holds his head up, and you think - my isn't he strong! No, he has no muscles yet; the TLR reflex causes him to hold his head up, and in repeating that action every day, builds the muscles necessary to hold his head up. Along with the muscle building comes brain development in the form of being able to sequence and telling time. An older child who has difficulty telling time or telling a straight forward story may also have poor posture, due to a retained TLR.

Back to Spinal Galant: the symptoms related to a retained Spinal Galant reflex are:
• Fidgeting
• Bedwetting
• Poor concentration
• Poor short term memory
• Sensory integration problems
• Near focusing problems
• Difficulty with reading
A person does not have to display all the symptoms, but at least two or three to probably still have an issue here. After integrating the reflex, a child will open the pathways to the higher levels of the cognitive brain so that the therapies work best and permanently. Without this step, children with sensory issues need to continue with therapy much longer than needed.

So, what to do? The child needs to recreate the stage of development that should have integrated the reflex, by doing about 10 minutes of simple exercises a day for about a month.

Where to go for the exercises? Some Occupational Therapists know this work. Since I gave professional development in NJ a few times last year, there should be some in your area. You need to specifically ask if they know the exercises to integrate the reflexes. Most of them know the exercises to test; a few have beeen trained in the solution.

Professionals are best because they can oversee the process. If you cannot find one, there are two DVD programs you can find on the internet to help: www.movetolearn.com.au and www.pyramidofpotential.com.

Write me back if you have any questions. Otherwise, best of luck!!!

K. Johnson, MS Ed