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The Tomatis
Program Has BEEN TESTED rigorously
This Tomatis Method has been tested rigorously and has been found to be very effective
in the treatment of learning difficulties and behavior problems.
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In
1999, Tim Gilmor
published a meta analysis based on five studies involving 231 children. The study was published in the International Journal of
Listening, a peer reviewed journal (1). A meta
analysis is a very powerful statistical tool, extensively used in
medical research. It allows the researcher to combine the data from
several studies, and arrive at more definite conclusions than the
original studies. The study showed that the Tomatis Method
significantly improves:
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Linguistic skills |
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Psychomotor skills |
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Personal and social adjustment
skills |
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Cognitive skills |
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Auditory skills |
The meta analysis was based on the
following publications by:
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Dr. Tim Gilmor, who studied of 102
children at the Tomatis Center
in Toronto(2,
3). |
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Dr. Byron Rourke of the University
of Windsor, Ontario, who studied 25 learning disabled children
from nine to fourteen years of age, following them over a period
of one year (4). |
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Dr. Barbara Wilson of the North
Shore University Hospital, who studied 26 language-impaired
preschool children over a period of nine months (5). |
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Dr. John Kershner of the Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education, who followed the progress of
32 underachieving children, ages eight to twelve years (6,7). |
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Peter Mould, Chief Remedial Teacher
of Brickwall House, East Sussex, who followed the progress of two
groups of 46 severely dyslexic boys, ages ten to fifteen, over a
two year period (8). |
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The Tomatis
Center in Toronto, Canada, also studied the results of the Listening Therapy
on over 400 children and adolescents. They all had well-documented histories
of learning problems, as well as a pattern of under achievement on psycho-educational
tests. The results of the treatment were graded by the parents. In this
test, 95% of the parents responded that the program had helped their children.
The parents saw improvements in the following
areas:
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Percent
of Improvement
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Greater
Communication Abilities
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Better
Attention Span
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Frustration
Level Decreased
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Reading
Comprehension Increased
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Quality
of Speech Improved
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Memory
Improved
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Better
Spelling Aptitude
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Showed
more maturity
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In a follow-up six months
after the program, 83% of those children in the study had maintained the
improvements and/or had continued to make even further gains. An additional
14% of the children had maintained some of the gains. Only 3% had maintained
none of the improvements.
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A Canadian
researcher, H.A. Stutt (9) concluded that the Tomatis Listening
Program produces benefits beyond what could be expected by maturation
or remedial education alone. The benefits mentioned by Stutt include:
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A significant
increase in I.Q. |
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Better
reading skills |
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More perceptual
processing |
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Increased
academic skills |
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A general
sense of adjustment |
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More developed
communication skills |
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A greater
ability to verbally express thoughts and feelings |
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During the
1980’s, the Tomatis Listening Program began being used in several French
schools with funds allocated by The Ministry of Education. Children, both
then and now, are chosen on the basis of the severity of their school
difficulties. While conducting the Tomatis Listening Program in these
environments, away from the clinics, has been far from ideal, the results
were good enough for the program to be conducted year after year at the
insistent requests of parents. The
parents saw the positive and lasting
changes in their children lives and took a stand to keep the program in
place. |
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In 1983, De Bruto (10) conducted a carefully controlled study to
investigate the efficacy of the Tomatis Method on the severely
developmentally delayed people. Thirty inmates of the Witrand Care and
Rehabilitation Center (South Africa), aged 4 to 14 years and previously
diagnosed as severely developmentally delayed, but with the ability to sit
and walk, were randomly assigned to three groups which received:
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Group A: auditory stimulation (Tomatis) and a sensory motor stimulation
program. |
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Group B: music stimulation (without the Tomatis effect) plus the same
sensory stimulation program. |
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Group C: no-treatment. |
Psychological tests included the Bailey Scales of Infant Development
and a measure of responsiveness. The results indicated that both
experimental groups manifested an increase in mental age, but the increase
in the Tomatis stimulation group (group A) was significantly higher than
in group B. No change was found in group C.
Whereas no significant differences in terms of responsiveness in group
A and B were observed prior to the stimulation program, a statistical
significant reduction of self-directed responses, together with a
significant increase in object-directed responses occurred after the
Tomatis stimulation program.
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Research done by Dr. Deborah Swain
showed that the Tomatis Method significantly improves auditory processing
skills. This retrospective study evaluated the results of Tomatis
auditory stimulation on 41 randomly selected clients that had auditory
processing problems. The effect of the treatment was measured using TAPS
(Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills) and TCC (Token Test for Children).
The study showed highly significant improvements in immediate auditory
memory, auditory sequencing, interpretation and following directions,
auditory discrimination and auditory cohesion. Reductions in auditory
latency were also noted. The study has been submitted for publication. For
additional information, please contact Dr. Swain (dswain@theswaincenter.com) |
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Dr. Joan Neysmith-Roy from the Department of Psychology in Regina has
conducted a careful study with six severely autistic boys.
This study confirms the clinical evidence that autistic children benefit
from the Tomatis Method. “Three (50%) of the boys demonstrated positive
behavior changes by the end of the treatment. One boy was no longer
considered autistic; two boys showed mild symptoms of autism and three
boys remained within the severely autistic range. Of particular interest
were the changes that occurred in the pre-linguistic areas of five of
the six boys. These included Adaptation to Change, Listening Response,
Non verbal Communication, Emotional Response and Activity Level. …. The
author suggests that the Tomatis method may be helpful in making
pre-linguistic behaviors manageable and thus help prepare the child to
learn basic skills necessary for the development of language and
learning.” Dr. Joan Neysmith-Roy also wrote a doctoral dissertation on
the impact of the Tomatis Method on dyslexic boys(11).
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Studies also have been conducted on stuttering
(12), laterality (13,14),
anxiety and depression (15) showing positive effect obtained by the
Tomatis treatment. |
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