I went to the Listening with the Whole Body conference this weekend for a refresher and am so glad that I made the effort. I use the program with quite a few of my kids and feel that is an excellent approach to improving the function of the auditory system, which impacts both physiology and behavior. When I incorporate Therapeutic Listening into a comprehensive speech therapy treatment program I have seen significant improvements in attention to task, suck/swallow/breath synchrony, motor planning, sound/phoneme production, connected speech production, information processing, and social language usage.
In a nutshell, Therapeutic Listening is a sound-based intervention from the sensory integration treatment perspective. Because of the many connections between the auditory system and the brain, sound can affect changes at all levels of the body via access to the nervous system. These changes include improved posture, movement, and engagement; all of which lead to improved communication.
Therapeutic Listening programs must be tailored to each client and the selected music must match the identified needs. There is no formula for use – this diagnosis/this CD – rather it is adaptive in nature and based upon an individual’s response to certain CDs. It is a powerful tool for “waking up” the auditory system and, in my opinion, providing a foundation for speech and language learning.
More information on Therapeutic Listening can be found at www.vitallinks.org
