Several years ago, I read an astonishing book about a girl with autism, Georgie, who was only attached to inanimate objects and had no interest in human beings. She was completely withdrawn into her own world seemed unreachable. She had strange reactions to ordinary sounds and events. Eventually she shut out everything as though she were deaf. Well, her mother, Annabel Stehli, was determined to get answers. She took her daughter to numerous specialists and was either told to “just love her,” or was given several more-than-subtle hints that she was a bad mother.
The book is fascinating, detailing Annabel’s journey with her daughter’s autism, a second daughter’s battle with leukemia, her divorce, remarriage, and eventual breakthrough with Georgie. It’s a story of hope that any mother could relate to. The book is called, “Sound of a Miracle: A Child Triumphs Over Autism.”
You might wonder why the book would be given this title. Well, Georgie’s miraculous breakthrough came about when Annabel took her daughter to Switzerland for what was then a brand new kind of therapy for autistic children called auditory training—a special approach to treatment involving sound. Within ten days of the training, Georgie began to change. Her behavior continued to improve until relatives and friends could no longer recognize her.
What is auditory training?
When you understand the condition of sensory integration disorder (DSI) you know that it causes unnatural sensitivity to normal stimuli. For example, the sound of a washing machine might seem as loud as a locomotive. A regular sweater might feel like sandpaper against the skin. Children on the autism spectrum, or those with ADHD often deal with these frustrating confused sensory signals caused by DSI. When sounds, in particular, are amplified or confused in the brain, it can cause a child to shut out the world to protect himself from unbearable noise.
Auditory training involves gradually exposing a child to different volumes of sounds over a period of time. This acclimates the child to the noise which was previously so disturbing. It works the way white noise does… when we hear a certain background noise for a long enough period of time, our brains will phase it out until we hardly notice it. Children with sound sensitivities can eventually be “trained” to phase out sounds which are bothersome.
How can I get auditory training for my child?
This particular type of auditory training used to be very difficult to obtain for kids. Annabel Stehli had to travel to Switzerland in pursuit of it. But the good news is that now there are auditory training CDs available which you can use with your child in your own home. Electronic Auditory Stimulation Technology (EASe) is available to you right over the internet. With a set of high quality headphones and a CD player, your child is on her way to receiving this valuable therapy. The EASe CDs have music and natural noises which have been modified by a filtering system. The system initially removes upper frequencies which creates a soft, muddy sound, and then randomly boosts the high frequencies to much higher than nominal levels. By listening to these CDs, your child can be trained to tolerate sounds which were previously overwhelming her.
It’s important to note that auditory training is not a cure for autism. However, many parents have shared stories of tremendous success. I think the key is knowing whether your child has sound sensitivities. If sensitivity to sound is a primary factor in your child’s problem behaviors, auditory training can be an incredibly effective tool. However, many children on the spectrum have other sensitivities, behaviors, and delays, which this training does not address.
Read my blog on sensitivity levels (“What is your child’s sensitivity profile?), and determine whether you think your child could be benefited by auditory training. For Annabel Stehli, whose daughter Georgie was eventually deemed “cured” of her autistic tendencies, the quest was well worth the effort.
Kristyn Crow is the author of this blog. Visit her website by clicking here. Some links on this blog may have been generated by outside sources are not necessarily endorsed by Kristyn Crow.