The Tomatis Method…Listen and Learn

When I became a mother the second time, I was pretty sure that my second child would be hitting the important developmental milestones at, more or less, the same periods that her Ate had. I was of the notion that all kids are the same. Or so I thought. It took my second child to prove to me that not even siblings have the same behaviour.

I was able to take the difference in temperament. Gaby was a happy and smiling baby who hardly ever cried. Adi was the complete opposite. That was nothing. I could handle that.

But what worried my husband and I was when Adi still wasn’t talking sensibly at age 1 and a half as opposed to her sister who had the verbal capabilities of a 3 year old when she was half that age. You see, Gaby started talking at 10 month….and, to be quite frankly, has not stopped talking every since. And I mean that in the literal sense.

So anyway, when Adi seemed “delayed” to us, we got all worried and consulted the pediatrician. She all but dismissed our fears and reminded us not to compare the kids…unless the difference and/or delay was absolutely glaring.

Suffice it to say that Adi caught up and is now in the same league as her sister….and in some instances, surpasses her as well. And we didn’t have to do anything at all.

But not all kids are that fortunate. But in this day and age, there are a variety of methods that are able to address this situation. One of these methods involve the use of sound stimulation.

The Tomatis Method was developed by Alfred Tomatis who is widely known as the father of Audio Psycho Phonology or APP. He believed that good learners were a product of good listening skills. The premise of the entire study of APP are based on 3 principles :

1. the voice only contains what the ear hears
2. if the hearing is modified, the voice is immediately and unconsciously modified
3. it is possible to durably modify phonation when audition modulation is maintained over a certain time

In laymen’s terms, the Tomatis method re-trains your hearing and teaches you to hear what needs to be heard.

To achieve this change, they use what is known as the Electronic Ear that delivers careful stimulation to the middle ear.

If this all sounds quite difficult to fathom, its actually quite the opposite. What all this jargon really means is that the method “reteaches” the ear to hear what it is supposed to hear. When the ear is able to decipher sounds and frequencies that it previously was not able to recognize, it makes way for better understanding ergo, better learning.

But contrary to what many of you might think, the method is not only for those who are challenged in learning. The center has helped other clients who simply wanted to streamline their learning and focusing abilities. Clients who have undergone the sessions have shown a marked increase in aptitude as well as communication abilities.

If you are interested to find out more on the Tomatis Method, you can visit their webiste at http://www.tomatis.com.ph/index.html.