Our theory, based on the findings of Tomatis and the sensory integration pioneer Jean Ayres, is that the ear is the most fundamental of the five senses, being responsible for both hearing and balance. And the interesting point is this. By treating the ear through "listening training" we are also affecting the ear's function of balance. This sense of balance is essential if the child is to differentiate between the inner and the outer, between the self and the other, between the "me" and the "thou". For example, our success with autistic children is based on the premise that the child needs to know where his body ends and the outer world begins. As soon as we see a little improvement using Tomatis, the child enters a phase where he reenters the "terrible twos", and begins punching things and otherwise wreaking havoc with the outside environment. The child has finally discovered his body!

Now your child lies somewhere on the coordination continuum between, say, the extremely impaired, and professional sports players. To improve anybody on this continuum, we must treat these higher order processing abilities and executive functions. These include laterality and interhemispheric communication, motor planning and praxis, and visual as well as auditory processing abilities. All this is within the rubric of a strong sensory integration bias in our therapy. The Advanced Listening Training program builds upon the gains made during the Tomatis listening training and applies them toward the advancement of higher level skills.

copyright Valerie Dejean, 2000