Gentle solutions to UNLOCK your child's potential & lift performance ... Learning difficulty, low attention, hyperactive or poor behaviour?
SERVICES
Gentle drug-free programs for children with a learning difficulty, low energy, low self-esteem or poor behaviour … or just performing below potential. These same programs can improve performance in adults – so we help plenty of parents too. ** See the bottom of page for reading list and the issues we can help.
Each year we help hundreds of children who are performing below their potential at school. By identifying and treating the causes of the deficits early, we are more likely to be able to sustain performance into their adulthood.
Many mums explain “Something is not quite right, but no-one will listen to me!” The causes of a Learning Difficulty can be very complicated. We see many parents who are confused, some are demoralised by their long search to find integrated and drug-free solutions for their child. We listen to you, take a through history and carefully assess . For distant clients, we offer a remote questionnaire/phone assessment.
Our Listening assessments measure hearing, listening, dominance, processing speed, memory and screens posture, motor, movement and balance. Our listening assessment takes 90+ minutes and is designed to identify the most effective sensory program(s) to meet the individual needs of your child. If a client needs a program we do not provide - we will refer you to another practitioner for treatment. We work with a network of clinics around the country, if you live outside the ACT, try our remote assessment option or see: our practitioner listing
We understand how sensory processing deficits can cause Learning Difficulties and undermine performance. We see many children and adults with sensory processing deficits and/or Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD/APD). Our listening therapy is designed to gently normalise auditory processing which is a foundation skill for learning and life performance. It is designed to help to improve auditory attention, and comprehension. For more on auditory processing deficits, see: APD
Learning or listening difficulty? While our Listening therapy is based on the pioneering work of Dr Alfred Tomatis - a French ear, nose and throat specialist. Dr Tomatis discovered that the voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear and he identified the important distinction between hearing and listening. Our integrated listening therapy retrains not only the auditory system but also the movement and visual systems to help normalise the way you process sensory information. Good listening is a prerequisite for effective learning and attention. Our Listening therapy is designed to improve posture, attention, learning, communication, memory, energy levels and is very helpful for those with learning or emotional regulation difficulties, poor social skills or immaturity. For more see: Integrated Listening Systems
Clinic-based listening therapy We use state-of-the-art programs from Integrated Listening Systems® to re-train the way you listen to yourself and the world around you using both air and bone conduction. Because these programs include bone-conduction, they deliver results faster. Individual programs range over 15-30 sessions over five to ten weeks and can incorporate voice/speech training as required. We train clinicians across Australia and New Zealand, email us for more about the training or see our training calendar
Listening therapy at home or school - Integrated Listening Programs® stimulate and help to normalise auditory, visual and sensory-motor systems. This premier auditory retraining system is for use in clinic, home or school and provides integrated listening and sensory-motor programs. You only need to listen for 15 minutes per day while you relax or play. Delivered on a CD-Walkman, Nano or iPod through quality headphones. We can assess you remotely by e-mail or if you wish to have a ‘local’ assessment, see: our practitioner listing
Poor attention with hyperactivity - we recommend Intermittent Hypoxic and Integrated Listening therapy for those who are distractible, cannot sustain attention or sit still. Our innovative combination of Listening and Intermittent Hypoxic therapy delivers a drug-free program to enhance attention, mood and maturity. Listening therapy enhances auditory attention and discrimination. Hypoxic therapy gently stresses the cardiovascular system to raise the serotonin and dopamine levels. Together this enhances the ability to attend without the need move. A typical program involves fifteen sessions and for most, the results last long enough to re-pattern the experience in the classroom or at work. Once clients have "got it" and experienced the benefits sustaining attention in class (or at work) - their subsequent educational (life) experience can markedly improve. For more see: GO2Altitude
Screaming baby? - difficult birth or chronic ear infections OR some sounds are too loud? - we recommend cranial osteopathy which can be most beneficial for babies and children who have had a difficult birth (premature, long labour, forceps, poor presentation, low Apgar scores …). Cranial osteopathy can also help those with significant early ear infections, chronic congestion or head trauma (ie fell and hit head on a hard surface) or those kids who complain some sounds are TOO LOUD. For more on osteopathy see: Sutherland Society
Stubborn or chronic health issues? - we use the Nutri-energetics bio-energetic medicine system to normalise the master control system for your physical body to improve your capacity to withstand stressors. This modality draws on the wisdom of the “Eastern” approach to healing and well-being, accumulated over millennia. Bio-energetic programs are particularly useful for those with learning difficulties and those with stubborn conditions like chronic fatigue, poor digestion, food intolerances and attention deficit. For more see: Nutrienergetics
Overloads easily? Often found in children who are struggling at school and either withdraw and daydream or become disruptive or the class clown. We recommend a powerful bone conduction Listening Program. For more significant cases we can combine with Sensory Integration therapy. (This is for those not requiring the more intensive Opening-The-Door program). Sensory integration therapy is based on the pioneering work of occupational therapist work of Dr Jean Ayres - for more see: The Sensory Integration global network
For those with development delay or significant learning difficulties - Opening-The-Door® is a holistic program for kids with developmental delay or significant learning difficulties. It is a fifteen day intensive program in the clinic followed by a two week home-based program and then ongoing maintenance as required. The program currently includes the following elemnts: osteopathy, listening and sensory integration re-training, intermittent hypoxic therapy, diet, digestion, bio-energetic medicine, Extra Lesson and ColourLight therapy - and where appropriate, hair mineral, urine or stool analysis. For more see: Opening-The-Door . If in Melbourne, we suggest you visit The Listen and Learn centre
Nutrition or digestive issues? - Our digestive system sustains learning performance as well as our allotted lifespan. Any significant malfunction in the gut makes it extremely hard for any child to behave normally or to perform adequately at school. We can provide nutrition, digestion and environmental toxin assessments for these children. The gut-brain connection is very important. If partly digested protein fragments breach the wall of the gastro-intestinal tract, they may reach the brain. This is called leaky gut. These compounds are neuro-toxic and can significantly reduce the capacity to think and learn. For more see: MINDD Foundation
Grado headphones - We recommend Grado headphones for use with any Listening therapy. Grados are simply the best value audiophile headphones available. Grados deliver music to your ears with astonishing smoothness and accuracy. These headphones are light, portable and can be easily modified for small children. For more see: Grado Laboratories
Reading or speech delay – is phonics the issue? - we can determine your child’s reading age and measure phonemic awareness. The Lindamood Auditory Conceptualisation test allows us to identify those likely to find reading difficult and at risk of not mastering reading. LAC also assesses your child’s sound discrimination, memory and sequencing and their ability to conceptualise word sounds. This is one of the most sensitive measures of phonemic awareness available and useful in diagnosing dyslexia. For more see: LAC3
Clumsy, poor balance or coordination? Movement programs are useful for those children who never crawled, who are clumsy, have poor balance, co-ordination or motor skills and for those with social or behavioural difficulties including ADHD. We recommend an Extra Lesson assessment for those children and adolescents with vestibular (movement) difficulties and retained primitive reflexes. We find many children with a learning or performance deficit also have a sensory-motor failure. So we integrate sensory-motor elements into many of our programs. For more see: Integrated Listening Systems
Extra Lesson® is a holistic and individual 1:1 movement-based program designed to normalise the management of movement and the early physical foundations of learning. Poorly laid foundations are often not obvious to parents and often accompany poor listening. Extra Lesson was developed by a Steiner educator in England called Audrey McAllen. For more see: Extra Lesson
Music can relax, improve productivity and well-being We use and recommend Gregorian and Female chants to de-stress. We have identified the most beautiful and effective recordings available. Help your children reach their unique potential with musical stimulation.
Book an assessment now so we can unlock your child’s potential… before it gets too difficult
We can help if you or your child has one or more of the following issues:
- A learning difficulty
- Anxiety
- Attention deficit, easily distracted, poor concentration (at its worst this is ADD)
- Attention deficit with hyperactivity (at its worst this is ADHD)
- Behavioural problems (these are often caused by dietary intolerances)
- Delayed emotional maturity
- Developmental delay
- Emotional regulation difficulty (anger, tears, frustration, defiance, aggression …)
- Listening difficulty (complex instructions are too difficult, even simple requests often have to be repeated)
- Maths and memory problems
- Out of touch with self (easily lead, don’t know what to do either today or in life)
- Often or predominantly “in their own world” or “away with the fairies”
- Overloads easily
- Low energy, fatigue, low drive, poor motivation
- Low self confidence and often negative attitudes or even depression
- Poor motor development – ie: handwriting, (fine motor) bike riding (gross motor)
- Poor balance or coordination
- Poor organisation skills (task management, completion, punctuality) reflect poor sequential processing
- Poor social skills
- Speech or language difficulties and or stuttering or poor vocabulary
- Vestibular problems – difficulty managing movement, gravity, motion
- Written language difficulties - reading, writing, spelling
So what is a listening program? The field of listening re-training or sound therapy was pioneered by the French ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr Tomatis in the late 1940’s when he discovered that he could repair the damaged hearing of opera singers and factory workers by playing to them the sounds they could no longer hear. He discovered the link between the ear and the voice and discovered that by improving the way we listen, he could dramatically improve learning, balance, coordination and posture as well as communication and creativity.
Listening is very different to hearing – listening is an active process we can choose to do while hearing is passive and automatic. As the ear and brain becomes receptive to high frequency sounds, energy and performance increases and a feeling of wellness becomes more common. While sound therapy is relatively new in many countries like Australia, it has a long tradition in Europe.
Our listening therapy use specially recorded classical music and nature sounds to retrain the way you collect, perceive and comprehend sound. Our programs educate and exercise your ears and brain to focus on those sounds which are useful and to filter out those that are not. It can restore the ability to hear frequencies which may have become diminished through ear infections or loud noise exposure.
How can a listening program benefit you?
By restoring the “lost” frequencies and improving the way you listen to yourself and the world around you, our programs can improve the way you perform and the way you experience life by:
- Overcoming a learning difficulty
- Reducing anxiety
- Improving attention and concentration
- Facilitating emotional maturity
- Helping you to manage your behavioural problems
- Reducing anger, tears, frustration, tears & aggression
- Improving memory and the capacity for maths
- Bringing you back into touch with yourself &clearer about what you want to do
- Improving listening to the world around you
- Lifting energy, reducing fatigue and depression
- Improving drive and motivation
- Improving self confidence and social performance
- Improving motor development, posture, balance and coordination
- Improving organisation skills
- Improving communication, verbal and written language
- Improving singing, public speaking, stuttering or poor vocabulary
Finding social situations too noisy? … We may be able to restore some of your ability to “cope” with noisy social or work gathering – or even the kids at home after school.
What does a listening program at home involve?
Listen to the specially recorded music through headphones for a short period each day. You can listen while completing the sensory-motor program or quiet playing, arts and craft, fine motor activities or low impact exercises like walking or just relaxing. You can listen in any quiet place you can take your CD player/iPod and headphones
Recommended reading
• Madaule, Paul. When listening comes alive, Moulin Publishing, 1993
• Jean Ayres. Sensory Integration and the child, Western Psychological Services 2005 (much improved revised edition)
• Lucy Miller. Sensational kids – hope & help for those with sensory processing disorder, Putnam, New York, 2006
Auditory Processing
• Bellis, Teri. When the brain can’t hear: unravelling the mystery of auditory processing disorder, Atria Books, 2002
• Swain, Deborah. Auditory Processing Disorders, 2006
Beneficial effects of music and listening therapy
• Tomatis, Alfred. The conscious ear, Station Hill Press, 1991 & The ear and language, Moulin Publishing, 1996
• Davis, Dorinne. Sound bodies through sound therapy, Kalco Publishing, 2004
• Sollier, Pierre. Listening for Wellness, 2005, The Mozart Centre Press
• Leeds, Joshua. The power of sound, Healing Arts Press, 2001
• Campbell, Don. The Mozart effect, Avon Books, 1997 and The Mozart effect for children, Morrow, 2000
Movement and learning
• Goddard, Sally. Reflexes, Learning and Behaviour, Fern Ridge Press, 2002
• Goddard, Sally. The Well Balanced Child, Hawthorn Press, 2005
Please contact us if you have any questions at the "make an enquiry" box at the top of the page
Service Categories
Allergy Testing / Treatments, Colour Therapy, Energy Healing, Herbalists, Homoeopaths, Magnetic Field Therapy, Nutrition, Osteopathy, Sound Therapy
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