The listening and social skills training provided support for me to cope with my school environment. After the completion of the listening and social skills, my mother was recommended a sound therapy program to aim therapy at the area of the lowest level of dysfunction. My mother, who had received prior training in SAMONAS sound therapy, administered the therapy as a stand-alone intervention. In this case, an initial assessment of the listening needs by a therapist is followed by the home program.
Sound therapy is highly individualized, which means that every child has a different selection of CD’s and different listening times. Listening times vary greatly. Clinic based assessments and regular feedback from parents is important in ensuring that the child makes maximum gains with no disturbances in his daily life.
As my auditory processing difficulty was tested to be in the borderline range and my learning problems were already mild by middle of Primary 4, I was given two listening sessions of 30 minutes each day. The length of the program lasted about 3 months during which I had to listen to one CD for an average of 2-4 weeks, after which a new CD was introduced.
Improvements could be expected in any of the following areas:
- Listening skills, eg understanding and responding to instructions
- Language development
- Sensitivity to ordinary sounds in the environment, eg being able to tolerate flushing toilets and birds chirping
- Sitting and standing posture
- Balance and motor skills
- Coordinating the two hands to work together eg to eat with utensils and cut with scissors
- Self-confidence, increase sense of well-being
- Energy and arousal levels; getting up in the morning and staying attentive during the school day
- Relaxation and ability to calm down to fall asleep
- Neatness of handwriting and ability to formulate sentences
- Academic skills such as mathematics
At the follow-up assessment at a clinic, I was assessed to be within the normal range with no auditory processing disorder.