Auditory Integration Training
Encouraging Reports By Parents And Teachers After Auditory Integration Training
Improvements:
- Awareness
- Responsiveness
- Appropriate affect, expression and interaction
- Interest in communication
- Articulation
- Vocal intensity (loudness)
- Auditory comprehension
- Ability to set priorities
- Social behaviours
- Interest in interacting with others
- Responsibility in school
- Ability to function in a less restrictive classroom
- Comfort level
- Ability to focus attention
Reductions:
- Anti-social behaviour
- Irritability
- Lethargy
- Impulsivity, restlessness
- Distractibility
- Tension levels
- Inappropriate behaviour
Auditory Integration Training was developed by Dr. Guy Berard to successfully treat his own impending deafness. During a 30-year practice as an otolaryngologist in Annecy, France, Dr. Berard found that AIT helped to correct other hearing distortions (named auditory processing disorders) contributing factors in disorders such as learning disabilities (dyslexia) attention deficit, hyperactivity, depression and autism. Developing and using an electronic device called
the “audiokinetron”, Dr. Berard administered AIT to over 8,000 people. In a large majority of cases, most of the handicaps associated with these disorders were significantly reduced or eliminated. The principles of AIT and a summary of various case histories, complete with copies of individual
hearing screening tests before and after A IT, are presented in a book called Hearing Equals Behaviour, written by Dr. Berard in 1982.
A revised edition has been translated into English and published by Keats Publishing, Inc. More stories appear in Dancing in the Rain by Annabel Stehli.
Auditory Integration Training (AIT) is one of the newest and most exciting approaches in the reduction of sound sensitivity and sound processing difficulties. The treatment has become well-known in the United States following the releases of the book, The Sound of a Miracle. A child’s Triumph Over Autism, by Annabel Stehli, and her follow-up book Dancing in the Rain (obtained from the Goergina Organization). While this method was developed by
Dr. Berard in France, there are now many treatment centers around the world, and it is also available in Kenya, through Acorn Special Tutorials.
Who can benefit from AIT?
Dr. Berard has utilized his method with individuals having learning problems, language impairments, fluency disorders and behavioural difficulties related to:
- Auditory Processing Difficulties
- Learning Disabilities (LD)
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism
- Hyper-acute and
- Hypo-acute Hearing Difficulties
In his practice, Dr. Berard also treated clients who suffered from tinnitus and sound-activated mood disorder, depression or suicidal disorder.
There is no evidence to indicate that the AIT method is harmful in any physical way. Many participants have experienced behavioural side effects. These side effects are considered a positive sign of change, and cease soon after completion of the course, as the body adjusts to the new way of managing incoming stimuli.
Application of Auditory Integration Training
The Audiokinetron is a machine specially designed by Dr. Berard for use during AIT and was developed after many years of clinical experience. Its ability to randomize loud and soft sounds as well as high and low pitched tones reduces the brains tendency to block out sounds. Additionally, the equipment is capable of filtering frequencies, which may be deemed necessary by the practitioner, based on information gathers from the hearing evaluation. The listening programme improves perception of all incoming auditory information.
A South African device, the Earductor, performs the same modulating function, and so now AIT can be applied in educational settings as well as in clinics.
During the therapy, participants listen with headphones to a musical programmme of modified and filtered sounds. The process of AIT therapy is implemented over a period comprising twenty half-hour sessions, 2 per day, with at least 3 hours between sessions. The ten days are usually consecutive, but can be broken by not more than 3 days after the first five consecutive days.
The effects of the training are most noticeable after a period of one to three months after AIT