tomatis therapy anyone?
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tomatis therapy anyone?
| Wed, 05-17-2006 - 12:03pm |
Has anyone tried the Tomatis method? We met with an OT today who is a registered certified Tomatis consultant, and she had all sorts of amazing stories about kids who'd undergone the therapy. Just wondering if anyone had tried it, what the results were, etc.
Thanks!
Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
I have looked into Tomatis therapy, I think it sounds promising. Haven't had the money to do it though. The person you are referring to charges an awful lot of money locally to be honest. That makes me uneasy, as I have concerns of her being more of a business person then concerned about children in general. Email me if you want to chat about it.
Overall, I think it's a great idea. Valerie
Yeah, the money is an issue. I don't think it's anything I'd be able to swing in the near future -- both because of the cost and because it involves 2 hour sessions in which both Sylvia and I would be undergoing the therapy, and I wouldn't have anyone to watch Sebastian during that time. But I was curious about it, since I'd never really heard about it before.
As far as the person I mentioned in my last post, I met with her this morning and she does really seem on the ball. She's doing the "parent training" portion of Sylvie's IEP, and she did an incredibly in-depth profile for me, talked a lot about what I should be doing at home, and kept me there for over 90 minutes when the session was supposed to be one hour. So I do think she cares a lot about the kids, and about making sure that SID is treated appropriately and effectively. But as far as the Tomatis therapy is concerned, it's just in my nature to be a bit skeptical of endorsements that seem too good to be true, KWIM?
Thanks for the info, and I'll call/e-mail you soon!
Jennifer
You both got me all curious.....what is tomatis therapy? I have never heard of it.
Thanks,
Christie
From what I can tell, it's a "listening" therapy designed to help regulate the system by regulating the inner ear -- using headphones and various kinds of sounds (musical, the mother's voice, etc.) It's supposed to work well with kinds who have SID, and the OT I talked to uses it in conjunction with sensory integration therapy.
Like I said, she has amazing success stories... but I have no idea how well-tested it is. I'm instinctively wary of new therapies that promise incredible results, although it certainly doesn't seem as though this one will do any harm...
Jennifer
It is not well-tested at all, in fact the Tomatis people have published no research data and several professinals we have worked with really advise against doing Tomatis because of this. They feel that Tomatis should be doing research and publishing data.
I do know a few families who have done it and report degrees of more involvement and decreased sensitivity, particularly auditory. Malcolm has high auditory sensitivity, which is why we looked into it. Malcolm did do the Therapeutic Listening Program through one of his OTs at school and we did see some improvement. That was also a listening program with headsets, but only 1 half hour 2xs a day and while he was doing normal life activities. We often used to put on the headphones when we were riding the subway. Because this was through his school's OT, it didn't cost us anything.
Hope that helps,
Sara
ilovemalcolm
Tomatis and other listening programs are designed to train the ear to hear better. In Tomatis, they somehow take the mother's voice and add music to it--the thought behind it being that the mother's voice is pleasing to the ear. Training the ear to hear more concisely is similar to the way a child with articulation issues speaks better after therapy.
Anywho, that is only my two cent explanation. It is costly, but I think the theory is plausible. There is also a method called Berard which is similar. Dr. Berard studied with Dr. Tomatis and designed his own theory and hence the names.
Valerie
Yes, we have -- we use the Listening Program. Adam's OT suggested she try it on Adam in 2nd grade -- it is very costly -- roughly $350 for the program itself and then about $100 for headphones. Luckily we had a special grant from the County we live in that paid for it all. Here is how it works.
The child listens to specially designed music (all classical) for 15 min in the morning and 15 min in the afternoon -- it can be spaced out with a min. of 2 hrs between. It is supposed to calm the child down and get them re-thinking. The child also has to engage in some form of activity (drawing, coloring, playing with play-dough -- but not reading or watching TV as the part of brain you are trying to focus on would be used for TV and reading.
We didn't see great strides from the program, but what we did see was Adam's excitment in the music. That was the most important part of his day -- he couldn't wait for it. It helped that he was removed from the room during this time as it caused too much overload. He did the program from Sept to June and really loved it. We went out and purchased calming CDs that he goes to sleep at night too -- if the CDs aren't on, he lets you know it.
The program itself has to be administed by a certified provider -- but anyone can order the CDs from www.advancedbraintechnologies.com or I have even seen them on e-bay (one is on it now and is around $200 -- but be careful if you buy from e-bay and make sure your OT would use the materials. The calming CDs I bought from advanced brain tech. as well and paid maybe $100 for 6 of them and I tell you, we all enjoy them.
We were glad we tried the program -- his OT thought it would be a good idea to try -- something must have worked because he has been discharged from OT for the Fall of 4th grade. I guess we are doing something right.
Amy