Listening Therapy for CAPD/Dyslexia

(if it’s spelled right, it’s easer to find info on it w/ search engines, etc.)

My son is 9 years old and sees a Speech/Language therapist for 2- 45 minute sessions per week. The therapist is working on Phonemic Awareness with him, but I think the problem is deeper than that. Jonathan can tell all of his consonant and short&long vowel sounds, but he cannot hear them in words and cannot blend the sounds together to form a word. He has short term memory problems as well. He is virtually a non-reader with the exception of some sight words and has tremendous difficulty with math concepts (even when using manipultives). I am very interested in Listening Therapy and would like more information. Thank You!

No complete solution and no miracle, but this sometimes helps:

Model sounding out words with extreme stress: point to each letter and say the sound loud, clear, and very long, for example
mmmmmmmmm - aaaaaaaaaaaaa - nnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Have him say the sounds with you as you point.

Have him copy the word, or trace it, or both, saying each sound very clearly as he forms the letter and holding it a long time as above.

Start with simple words, either regular short-vowel words as above or high-frequency words from a pre-primer (and almost all of these words *do* sound out once you accept digraphs such as th and variant vowels such as e in eagle, elephant, and Earth; so-called non-phonetic words are a fallacy that causes a lot of trouble.)

This exercise, practiced and repeated many, many times, both helps the phonemic awareness as he hears the sounds clearly and forms them in his mouth, and teaches enough base vocabulary that he can start reading.

Once he remembers the first five or six words so he can read the first few sentences of whatever book you are doing, read with him, pointing to each word and pronounce it again stretched out very long and with each soundsuper-stressed. Have him read, and if he stalls, point to each letter and have him give the sound (of course you help with those digraphs and vowels.)

The main point is to go slowly and build up a vocabulary of sounds and symbols in his mind that is connected in a meaningful way.

This practice in saying sounds and blendling them s-l-o-w-l-y will work right along with his speech therapy and any listening program.

My daughter, age 11, has benefited greatly from listening therapy. There is a website for my local center, www.centerforinnerchange.com where you can start. If you are interested, call them. My daughter went from an explosive child with auditory processing and sensory integration problems to a child who is now easy to love. I now homeschool her and am seeing progress. This therapy based on 40 years of research by Alfred Tomatis and others has a strong scientific base and can help children and adults in several areas. Good luck!

I am interested in this type of therapy. Please send me more info on this. Thanks.

Just an FYI, the type of therapy I am trained in is based on Tomatis but is not specifically his program, it is a program designed by Ingo Steinbach whcih is similar but not exactly like Tomatis. Tomatis is mostly done at a clinic, this program is done at home which has many advantages including proce and ease of use.

I know nothing about this listening therapy. I do know about Fast ForWord. My dd is completing the 2nd Fast ForWord therapy. As far as I know there is nothing out there in the world that can slow down the sounds of speech like this computer program. You can try all day to mimic what FFW does, but it is humanly impossible to do it. I have found FFW to be highly effective with my dd. She is reading books, singing, and doing drama. A few months ago you couldn’t get her to do any of these things. I hope this helps someone. Fast ForWord is an excellent program. If it is recommended by your speech pathologist, then do all you can to take advantage of this program for your dc.

Blessings,
Jan P.

Personally, I would have to see some substantial research before I did a listening program. Some may be of benefit for some children. They were not for the most part designed for children with APD/Dyslexia. I participate on APD boards and have read many articles and books, and there is just not conclusive evidence that these programs remediate or cure the problems of a child with APD or dyslexia. They certainly do not substitute for a program like Lindamood Bell which teaches a child how to read. I have also read that with some of the more intense listening programs, children have been known to have nightmares. I do know a couple of people who have used one of the less intense programs called “The Listening Program” with positive feedback. It might be beneficial in some way but it still does not teach phonemic awareness and decoding skills. Please site references for me Cheryl if you feel I am wrong.

I would strongly suggest that parents stick with proven programs until independent research verifies exactly who, if anyone, really benefits from listening programs. Personally, I can see the benefit of Fast ForWord and Earobics much more as they train the child in phonemic awareness skills which is the building block of reading.

Janis

You are absolutely correct, and I have done this with CAPD kids using PG. All that I do is slowly say the words, tell him to get into his ears and listen to the sounds in words. It works. I go over and over the same words, segmenting and blending. Have him blend the first two sounds and then pick up the last sound. I do nothing fancy, just go very slowly over the three letter words and then the four letter words. Nobody has ever told these kids to get into their ears and listen. It is amazing what can happen if you do that and use the sounds in words that are sequentially corect when learning how to read. PG is all about segmenting, blending, auditory processing and of course teaching the knowledge of the code without the rules and exceptions of the old phonics programs. Try it and most kids will pick up on it although it may take longer, without the fancy expensive programs.