The Effects of the Tomatis Method* of Auditory Stimulation on Auditory Processing Disorder: A Summary of Findings
Deborah Ross-Swain Ed.D., CCC Speech-Language Pathologist, Owner/Director of The Swain Center & The Listening Centers

Abstract: The Tomatis Method* is a therapeutic intervention used to improve characteristics and behaviors in children and adults with disorders of communication, learning and autism. Non-invasive, this treatment method has been evaluated and studied in several research projects in Europe, Africa and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. Surprisingly, there has been no single controlled study examining the effects of the Tomatis Method* on communication, learning or autistic disorders in the United States.

This study will examine the effects of the Tomatis Method* on the communication and social-behavioral deficits of six autistic children. The study will have a study group and a control group. Each subject must have a diagnosis of autism and have expressive language skills. Each subject in this study will undergo extensive testing using standardized instruments. Testing will consist of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), a receptive and expressive language evaluation and a behavioral and adaptive scale. A twenty-minute videotaping will be included in the assessment of each subject. The videotaping will record two conditions of play. The first condition will be in directed play and the second condition will be in undirected play. Finally, each subject will undergo a Quantitative Electro Encephalogram (qEEG). At the completion of the listening protocol each subject will undergo post-treatment testing using the same battery of tests with the exception of the WISC. Testing will be performed once again six months after the completion of the protocol.

Each subject participating in this pilot study will complete 90 hours of listening that will be divided into four blocks or phases of listening over an 18-week period. Each listening session is two hours in duration. The study group will use standardized Tomatis equipment for the purposes of this study. The equipment includes the Electronic Ear (EE), air and bone conduction headphones and cassette tapes. The control group will use commercially developed headphones and Mozart and Gregorian Chant CDs.

Specific behaviors for each subject will be identified to be monitored and measured throughout the listening protocol.

The results of this study will demonstrate that the Tomatis Method* is a useful clinical application and intervention in the treatment of autism in children between the ages of 4 and 7 years of age.

* Please note that the Tomatis Method is now known as Auditory Development Intervention (ADI).