Hi all,
I don't post much, but am a regular reader on this forum. DS7 doesn't have an official diagnosis, but struggles with social skills/hyperactivity and had very low processing scores (results will be in my history somewhere). We've recently been to see a speech pathologist hoping for some guidance to build social skills. She ran some tests including dichotic listening tests, which he did very poorly on (3rd percentile or less), indicating an auditory processing problem. She didn't give a lot of detail on the treatment, but told me that he would benefit from 3 (expensive!) intensive 3 week blocks of daily listening training at her practice. I have previously seen her long term for my other son and trusted her clinical judgment implicitly.
We are two weeks in to the first block, and my alarm bells are slightly ringing. Each day we listen to filtered classical music/chanting through a special (Besson brand) filtering device with bone conducting headphones, and I spend time talking to him through a microphone. She said it had to be me specifically talking to him, as he would have heard my voice in the womb. I also have to bring in pregnancy and baby photos for us to look at while we do this. To be honest, I started getting a "quacky" vibe from it. It is this trademarked program:
http://www.listenandlearn.com.au/auditory-training-program/, which appears to be at least partially based on the Tomatis method. DS also spends some time doing dichotic listening training, answering into the microphone so he hears his own filtered voice.
Does anyone have any (positive or negative) experience with APD/Tomatis method/listening training programs? Is this really a type of standard therapy? I have found that there is a lack of evidence for use in autism, but nothing APD specific. Obviously I'll be discussing with the therapist, but I'd really appreciate any thoughts - particularly as he's scheduled for two more three-week blocks in the future.
Thanks
Mel
