Riley's new therapy

Riley started Therapeutic Listening last week.  She wasn't too thrilled to do it.  In fact, within five minutes it was off and she wanted out of there.  TL involves a special set of headphones that are openended, meaning she can listen to the program and still hear what is going on around her.  The cd's are put into a fanny pack, in order to provide a grounding weight.  She is so teeny that we strapped the cd pack around her chest. The cd's are different types of music that have been altered to stimulate different sections of the brain.  Lifted from the website Vital Links: 

Therapeutic Listening® is a highly individualized method of auditory intervention utilizing electronically altered compact discs in protocols specifically tailored by sensory integrative professionals to match client need. Listening is a function of the entire brain; when we listen, we listen with the whole body.

And from the Kaufma Children's Center for Speech, Language and Sensory Disorders:

A major part of the sensory energy received by the brain comes through the ears. They control balance, body movements and coordination; they permit language; they make us speak eloquently and sing in tune; they even control our eyes when we read and our arm, hand and finger movements when we write. They protect us against what we do not want to hear, starting with the sounds of our own body. Interconnected with several different levels of the brain, the ears act as a double antenna receiving messages from both the body and the environment. They are a link between the world with and the world without. Listening is the ability and the desire to use our ears to bring about the harmony both within us and in our relationship with others.

When listening does not develop well, the harmony is broken. Problems as diverse as speech and language impairments, hyperactivity, depression, autism, feeling overwhelmed or lacking a direction in life may be some of the results. Reading problems such as dyslexia and other learning disabilities have seldom been looked at and treated as listening problems. Perhaps this is why remedial approaches used to help children with such problems are often so frustratingly ineffective.

Like other skills, listening can be maximized. Dr. Alfred Tomatis, a French Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, developed the first listening training device, using progressively filtered sound, specifically those rich in high frequencies (i.e. classical music) to effect change. He spoke of high frequency sound as charging the brain. The Tomatis method of auditory training is a clinic-based program requiring the use of specialized equipment and the expertise of a practitioner trained in the Tomatis approach.

So, that's one of the parts of her therapy.  It's an expensive program - the headphones alone are over $1000. I am soooooo lucky in that a neighbor of mine has a daughter who goes to therapy with Riley and she had bought the program.  She loaned it TO!ME!!  She wears it two to three times a day for fifteen minutes.

And here she is:  (click to enlarge)

                                     Notice the huge bruise on her head - I have NO idea where that came from.  Perils of being the sixth child, I guess.  Here is one more shot that I took, just because she was in such a good mood and I have so few pictures of her smiling.......

Comments

[AmyH]

So great to see her smiling! Hopefully it brings her some improvement and you some peace! Thanks for posting those.

[michelle]

She is adorable! Came by way of Michele!

[terrilynn]

She's a dollbaby. Good luck with her new therapy.

Michele sent me this evening.

[Mrs. Fun]

She is so cute and very interesting therapy. Never heard of it.
Thanks for stopping by my blog via michelles :)
i may take you up on the lunch ideas once i run ou tof ideas.

[lucy]

Anytime you want to send her here for a visit......

Have any oatmeal, lately? ;-) How's the food therapy going?

[cathy]

Interesting... I've never heard of that type of therapy. Hope it helps! Michelle sent me!

[Fiona]

I hope the therapy goes well! All the photos are good, but that bottom photo of Riley (in the NYPD hat) is just SO cute!

Uh, Michel[l]e did NOT send me. ;-)

[Terry]

She is smiling! You know that you are doing what is right for her.