Sound Therapy

Some children have a great difficulty with reading, writing and spelling in spite of average or above average intelligence. One of the reasons for this may be a difficulty in organisation and storage of sounds, words and sentences within the brain - difficulty in processing language. Their ears can hear normally and there is often no problem with speech. Sometimes difficulty with processing language may be inherited or it may be caused by frequent spells of poor hearing in early childhood as a result of glue ear or other ear infections.

Children learn to understand and speak through listening to those around them talking. If a child has frequent ear infections before the age of 3 yrs their hearing may well be adversely affected for a large amount of the time that they are learning the basics of language. Speech will sound muffled to them and they are likely to miss out on a considerable amount of chat around them that a normal hearing child will hear. For each ear infection, hearing acuity is likely to be reduced for up to 6 to 8 weeks after the acute stage of the infection. The sounds that go into their brain to become their language store are likely to be incomplete and inaccurate. The way in which these sounds, words and sentences are organised and stored in the brain is far from satisfactory.

When children come to learn at school, they need the language store to make sense of what they hear and read, and to put together what they say and write. If it takes longer to process a word or group of words, then before the child has dealt with one sentence, the next words will be already waiting to be processed. As more and more information comes in the child becomes overwhelmed and switches off. We generally learn by relating new information to what we already know and have stored. If language is poorly organised, it will take longer to make the connections, to commit to memory and to retrieve the information when required.

The language centres are situated in the left hemisphere of the brain for approximately 97% of right-handed people and 70% of left-handed people. This is where the processing of the sequential aspects of language takes place, from individual sounds, words, sentences and on up to the sequential aspects of self-organisation. The quickest and most efficient way for language information to reach the processing area in the left hemisphere is predominantly by the right ear supported by the left ear.

Research has shown that sound information which travels dominantly by the left ear will arrive at the processing areas later and more weakly than that which travels by the right ear, as it travels further. Poor hearing in the right ear in early childhood may result in the left ear becoming dominant for some if not all frequencies with the result that at least some language information is travelling by the left ear route. In this case the sequence of sounds reaching the auditory cortex for analysis may distort. The speed of processing sounds is important to language development; Paula Tallal's research shows that dyslexic children have difficulty in processing fast sounds.

A number of Sound Therapies have been developed to improve these weaknesses in processing language. By stimulating nerve pathways into and within language centres of the brain, language information will be organised and stored much more efficiently and effectively, thus enabling the child to learn more easily and to make better use of the teaching that s/he is receiving.

Johansen Sound Therapy has been developed in Denmark by Dr. Kjeld Johansen,
Director of the Baltic Dyslexia Research Laboratory. It works through listening to a series of specially recorded music CDs of 10-15 mins duration. These are customised to the specific needs of the child. The CDs, which are pleasant and easy to listen to, are used daily for approximately 6 to 9 months.

The Listening Programme is a package of 10 CDs prepared to retrain the auditory system, developed in the U.S.A. by Alex Doman and colleagues. The CDs are listened to for 15mins daily over a period of 4 to8 months.

Sound Therapy can help:

• Poor reading skills,

• Poor phonological analysis skills,

• Difficulty with phonics,

• Poor concentration and distractibility,

• Poor sequencing skills and difficulty following instructions.

Benefits of Sound Therapy:

• Increased concentration, less distractible,

• Improved analysis of sounds and sequences,

• Better writing and presentation of work,

• Improvement of reading and spelling age,

• Improvement in self-confidence and self-esteem as a result of the above.

When the Sound Therapy programme is completed and the auditory pathways are working efficiently, it may take time for the child to make full use of the new facility. The benefits of the therapy continue after the end of the listening period. Sound Therapy does not take the place of specialist teaching, it helps to make learning easier and teaching more effective. Sound Therapy requires a great deal of commitment, as it is necessary to listen to the CDs for 15 mins everyday for approximately 8-9months. Although there are no guarantees, most children identified through assessment can benefit greatly.
Following an enquiry:

A Questionnaire is completed by the parents for the child. The questionnaire requires information about the background to the child’s difficulties, to include medical and educational history.

A consultation meeting between the parents and the therapist will establish if Sound Therapy may be appropriate to aid the child’s difficulties.

A Full Audiometric Assessment will show the areas of weakness and enable the therapist to make a recommendation for suitable therapy in a written report. A CD will be prepared according to the audiometric assessment which the child will listen to every day for the allotted time.

A Review Assessment will show any changes and give information for the preparation of the subsequent CDs. A full programme requires up approximately 3-4 reviews depending on the extent of the difficulty.