TracyP Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 OT just started my son (4yo) on a Therapeutic Listening program. I am fine with doing it - very easy to implement - but she wants us to eventually buy our own headphones. I have tried searching online but I can't seem to get any *real* studies. What is this supposed to do? I tried asking the OT and she was ... vague. There was one client who couldn't do [abc] but after three weeks of TL, yada, yada. I'm not sure how it is supposed to help *my* son and really not sure if we should fork out 200 bucks for headphones. How can I tell if this is working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 After my DDs evaulation, they recommended The Listening Program, which is a therapeutic listening program to be used with these BoneConduction Headphones. The lady had me try the program and headphones. I think I had a headache for the rest of the day because of all that "bone conduction". Anyway, we were able to borrow the listening program from a friend and I just ordered Sony studio quality headphones from amazon. They were $65. I don't know if that might be an option for you instead of $200 headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 OT just started my son (4yo) on a Therapeutic Listening program. I am fine with doing it - very easy to implement - but she wants us to eventually buy our own headphones. I have tried searching online but I can't seem to get any *real* studies. What is this supposed to do? I tried asking the OT and she was ... vague. There was one client who couldn't do [abc] but after three weeks of TL, yada, yada. I'm not sure how it is supposed to help *my* son and really not sure if we should fork out 200 bucks for headphones. How can I tell if this is working? Two of my kids did Therapeutic Listening Program. I didn't see any difference in the older one, but she didn't do it as long as the youngest one. From time to time, the OT would ask us whether we saw any improvement in xyz, and I'd say, yes, now that you mention it, she has improved in the past couple weeks; and the OT would say, good - that's what that last set of CDs was supposed to do. The OT did emphasize that TLP won't work without the prescribed headphones. It has something to do with the music being modulated. I think they were $145 when we bought them, but we've gotten a lot of use out of them in addition to TLP. They really are top quality headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 Yllek, I found your old thread. It is helpful to see your response a year or so later. I found the same things as you when I was searching. The success stories were out there but there was not really strong evidence that improvements were because of TL. One read (paraphrasing): TL worked great, every day we would listen for 30 min while also working on gross and fine motor skills. We saw a lot of improvement in gross and fine motor. Hmm. Thanks for the other thoughts, too. We are only 2 weeks in and I see no improvement. He is more tired than normal and has had more wetting accidents. I don't think it is related.:confused: I will definitely keep it up for now. Hopefully we'll have some success like LizzyBee did. I figured it must work for some kids or I highly doubt they would still use it. When OT wants her headphones back I will decide if I should buy my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Our OT also would ask us questions about how certain issues were going, but they were such leading questions! I really felt as if I were being prompted to "notice" changes that were not really there or so subtle as to be insignificant. But she seemed so eager about hearing about some sort of improvement that I would feel bad if I said that I really didn't notice any change. Anyway, I have seen other therapeutic methods make profound, unquestionable changes in a relatively short period of time. In comparison, TL was a dud for us. Off topic, but I noticed this when we went through VT. Yes, we did see some improvements, but nothing huge. But they would ask questions that really made it seem like it was going really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My ds did "The Listening Program"--which is different from the Therapeutic Listening Program but based on similar concepts. I have no idea if it helped or not. A slp recommended it for phonological awareness problems when he was around seven, but he still couldn't pass a simple screen from Barton the next year. Nevertheless, we have the headphones and as someone else mentioned the headphones are great! We bought headphones that are of the professional quality used in radio broadcasting. We originally just rented the cds through the slp office, but later I bought them for a bargain on ebay. The headphones show up on ebay from time to time too. Since we now own both The Listening Program and the headphones, I recently started my dd (5) on it. She doesn't have all the problems that my ds had at that age, but there's some similarity that raised my maternal concerns. I decided to pull out those cds and headphones right after I worked with her on listening at the piano. As I hit keys on the piano while covering her eyes, she couldn't identify if the notes were "same or different", (which explains her singing! :lol: ) Even though it didn't seem to help my ds with what the slp recommended it for, I'm taking the time to do it with my dd. These programs expose the listener to classical music, and there are many studies about the positive effects of classical music on education and human behaviors. I don't know what specifically your child's ot hoped to achieve by using Therapeutic Listening, but exposure to classical music is something worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleWMN Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My dd5 started TLP a few months ago in public school and it for sure is making a difference in her. On the days that she "listens", she is easily able to walk outside, play, speak to people, and describe things around her (all of which are hard for her to do otherwise, in the school setting). In fact, it's the only reason I'm not pulling her out of public school right now. I priced it privately, and with our insurance the cost was outrageous. Does anyone know how long TLP is supposed to last... I mean is it a few months or a few years or does it vary by every kid like every other therapy does? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Oh see, for us there was no question that VT was making a huge difference. We saw significant changes by the second office visit (about one month's worth of home vision therapy exercises). The only question our office had to ask was, "So, how's it going?" and I could launch into a list of changes. We did TL for several months, and nada. But like I said, perhaps he wasn't really the right candidate for TL. Clearly, ds had visual-motor issues, and VT addresses those. Perhaps his issues are just not the sort that TL addresses, but for another child, who knows? Kelly--I'm curious--did your son have any tests done on phonological processing before he did TL? I remember you've written elsewhere that your son has good phonological skills--and I wonder if it might have affected his scores in that area without your realizing it. Our slp recommended a similar program for my ds' phonological issues. I don't know if it helped my ds but our slp thought it might. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Yes, we completed the NP eval before he referred us to OT. Ds's phonological scores probably reflect the fact that I was a phonemic awareness fruitcake with him as soon as he started to talk. :tongue_smilie: I had read Shaywitz before ds was born. I sort of had a heads-up about learning issues since every male in dh's entire family has one sort of issue or another. ... LOL! I had often wondered when you posted about your ds's strong phonemic awareness scores where he got them. Now we learned from your son's case study that fruitcake may improve phonemic awareness. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Our OT also would ask us questions about how certain issues were going, but they were such leading questions! I really felt as if I were being prompted to "notice" changes that were not really there or so subtle as to be insignificant. But she seemed so eager about hearing about some sort of improvement that I would feel bad if I said that I really didn't notice any change. Anyway, I have seen other therapeutic methods make profound, unquestionable changes in a relatively short period of time. In comparison, TL was a dud for us. A few times, my dd made significant improvements that correlated to the CD she'd been listening too. Our OT and SLP usually didn't tell me what the particular CDs were for until after the fact so that I wouldn't look for changes that didn't actually happen. I was pretty skeptical about TLP going into it, but by the end, I was glad we'd done it. I don't think TLP would have had much impact by itself, though. We were doing sensory therapy, IM, TLP, LiPS followed by Barton, and speech therapy. I think we were fortunate to stumble onto a combination of things that worked for my dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcook Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 We just pulled our TLP out of a drawer and started it again. I don't know if it helped when we were using it a couple of years ago (we never finished it), but our therapist at the time really felt it would be a big help. I just spoke with a speech therapist who didn't like TLP because she said it is a 'one size fits all' program. I guess you can't really tailor it towards specific problems. Although, we do have an additional TLP sensory and language CD. I don't see where it can hurt so we are giving it a try again. You do need the right headphones for TLP, even if you aren't doing the bone conduction. If unsure, call TLP and they can tell you which ones work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 We have just begun TLP. I don't have high hopes of think it will do much, but it can't hurt either. I mentioned before that I decided to not use the BoneConduction headphones. They were too expensive and gave me such a headache when I used them during the demonstration. Here are the headphones that TLP recommends for their program. We bought the Sony model through Amazon for $65. They are amazing headphones and I don't feel like I shelled out a ton of money (like $200) for something that may or may not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleWMN Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Can you do TLP at home without a therapist directing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2boys Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I would be interested to know how it turns out for your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 I would be interested to know how it turns out for your son. CD #1(2 weeks/CD): No changes, OT said that was expected because the first one is just to get him used to it. It doesn't have a goal associated with it. CD#2: First, a funny story.(I think) OT brings over the cd player and looks at me very seriously. She says that this is Peach and Peach is very intense. If my ds becomes too emotional, let her know, we will switch to Raspberry.:lol: Thankfully, she understood when I busted out laughing. Anyway, I think we are seeing improvement with this one. It is supposed to help with language and I have seen a fairly significant difference in his ability to understand what we are saying. I usually have to be very explicit or he does not "get" what I say. There is also a slight/hard to tell difference in the amount of speaking he does. It is not any more understandable than normal but that he seems to have more to say. We will get a new cd today. I will definitely update in a month or so... sooner if I see more improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 We just pulled our TLP out of a drawer and started it again. I don't know if it helped when we were using it a couple of years ago (we never finished it), but our therapist at the time really felt it would be a big help. I just spoke with a speech therapist who didn't like TLP because she said it is a 'one size fits all' program. I guess you can't really tailor it towards specific problems. Although, we do have an additional TLP sensory and language CD. I don't see where it can hurt so we are giving it a try again. You do need the right headphones for TLP, even if you aren't doing the bone conduction. If unsure, call TLP and they can tell you which ones work. I don't know if you're referring to The Listening Program or Therapeutic Listening Program, but the latter one is tailored to the patient. That's why it's administered by a trained professional and not available for sale to the general public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gracyomalley Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 My daughter did a listening program (not TLP I think, but one she got through an occupational therapist) through her violin teacher when she noticed that she only used her Left ear....even though she has technically normal hearing...regular headphones were FINE for ours. It made a difference...or the 3 years of violin training did....I think both. She still doesn't process sound (especially language) as well on that side (years of ear infections including mastoiditis during her speech development years) but she CAN now, if she focuses...you can tell by which side she holds the phone.... She doesn't have learning issues, unless you tease out auditory processing, so it wasn't obvious....but I am impressed at the fact that it did make a difference...we now no longer wonder if she really CAN hear....she knows how to focus her hearing in crowds now, etc... Just a thought. Erin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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