|
| |
Adjustments After Auditory Integration
Training:
What Positive Changes Occur and Why Adjustments May
Happen
Read also AIT Treatment Guidelines
Contact Us
Complete
On-line AIT Checklist
What Positive Changes Occur and Why Adjustments May
Happen
After about 3 months in the
majority of cases, a participant experienced an adjustment or regression
period
after Auditory Integration Training will typically begin to function
better than before.
In
many cases, a participant may demonstrate remarkable gains and new
successes.
Anytime
Berard AIT brings benefits, it is always a combination of the Berard AIT
and the child's own efforts and opportunities in life after Berard AIT.
The more ones does with Berard AIT's results, be mild results or
striking results, the greater the gains can be. During Berard AIT and
for 3 or 4 months after, parents often see both positive and negative
changes as the brain adjusts to the hearing retraining.
A Participant
Doing
AIT
May Begin to Experience a Very Different Environment Than Before
-
The brain is
like a computer that has peculiar settings to compensate for basic
component problems. It’s been compensating for distortions,
sensitivities, and information-sending problems for years.
Berard AIT makes changes in
basic components and can cause changes at a deep level
that impact many skills and processes.
-
Since the brain is miraculous, and not a machine, it adjusts at a neural
level on its own to bring optimum function and efficiency to the system.
Considering how long the ears and entire system have been distorted,
working with “peculiar settings” for years, this adjustment for the
better takes place very quickly!
Here are of some things that may change for
a participant after
AIT
-
Many children experience clear and dramatic
benefits, while others are simply calmer and more comfortable.
-
The
child's own voice may sound different.
-
Family voices may sound different to the
participant after AIT sessions.
-
Food
may taste and smell differently
-
Familiar surroundings and objects may look different
-
Depth perception
may change
-
Vision
may change
-
Colors
may seem brighter or vision seem clearer
-
The
participant may be
experiencing these changes simultaneously and
adjusting to them just as an infant or very young child would
- slowly, over time while adjusting to new situations, exploring new
sensations, experiencing new emotion after
Berard method of AIT.
A
participant
May Have a Temporary Adjustment or
"Regression" Period
-
Each child's experience of
AIT is unique to that child's circumstances and biology.
-
Many parents read
or hear about an "adjustment period" or
"regression period" during and after
AIT.
-
This can feel alarming and may cause some parents fear and concern about
whether or not
AIT
is the right
choice for their participant
.
-
It is very
important to know that NOT all children who participate will go through
such an adjustment or regression period.
-
In fact, if a
participant
DOES experience an adjustment or regression period, parents should
really be encouraged to interpreted this as a sign of POSITIVE
CHANGE
in how a participant
is processing areas in the brain - and recognize that
the participant
has been POSITIVELY impacted by
AIT!
Why Might There
Be An Adjustment Period After AIT?
To better
understand "why" a participant
goes through an adjustment or regression
period (if they do) parents need to better understand what areas are
impacted by
Berard AIT
.
Besides the hearing and the auditory processing changes, there
are other important changes that may occur:
-
Berard AIT
helps this system function more
optimally than before.
-
It is clear that changes in the vestibular system,
proprioceptive system, visual system, and the cerebellum can be involved
in the benefits of AIT.
-
The SENSORY
areas of the participant
- touch, smell, vision, taste,
proprioception
- all of these may be impacted.
Sensory processing issues can improve.
-
The
VESTIBULAR system is housed in the ear but impacts functions of the body
globally.
-
The
CEREBELLUM is a connection between the
vestibular
system and the cerebellum.
-
Functions that are regulated by the cerebellum may also improve because
the cerebellum is a connection between the
vestibular system
and influences balance, motor sequencing and planning,
motor coordination, sense of direction and orientation in space and
rhythm. This area can also contribute to a decrease in anxiety.
-
AIT participants often experience benefits in
receptive and expressive language.
-
The list goes on and on, as does the list of possible
upsets as the brain reprocesses after AIT!
What to Expect
If There is an Adjustment Period After
AIT
- An
adjustment or regression period typically does not last more than 3
months for most children.
- Every individual is different, so there are
no set rules about what will happen.
- For many children, it looks as though the strength of
negative effects is proportional to the eventual gains to come.
- For other children, no clear changes are seen for
several months, and then positive changes seem to happen all at once.
- Periods of
adjustment or regression are written about in parent
success stories documenting in two popular
AIT books (see
Dancing in the Rain,
Sound of Falling Snow, Sound of a
Miracle).
- These periods are
described by parents as occurring at 7 days, 1 month and
the first 3 month intervals.
- When a
participant
adjusts theses are the types of behavioral changes are often what is
observed after
Berard AIT:
- Being
overwhelmed in their environment
- Emotional
reactions or outbursts
- Mood swings
- Disobedience
- Confusion
- Fatigue
What
Can a Parent Do If There is an Adjustment Period After
Auditory Integration Training?
Following
Berard AIT
parents have a unique opportunity to help their participant begin to function
better. Here are some tips:
- Be prepared
for an adjustment or regression period after Berard AIT so you aren't
surprised if it occurs (remember - it may not!)
- Be patient with
your child when doing AIT sessions - is it they who are experiencing all these potential
changes!
- Find ways to
given your participant
quality attention, private time, reassurance and extra
affection when needed during this period after
Berard AIT.
-
Interpret any
regression or adjustment period as an indication that
Berard AIT has
had a
POSITIVE impact on your child's or the participant's auditory system!
- Don't overload
your or your child's schedule post AIT.
-
Keep your child's or the participants schedule and family life to a manageable level.
-
Don't add additional stress or unnecessary activities during the 10
days of AIT sessions.
-
Provide teaching opportunities whenever possible for your
participant to
handle new circumstances and emotions appropriately.
-
Discuss your child's changes with the school or day care / child care facility
in advance and prepare them with ways to accommodate your child's
needs.
-
Continue with other therapies and inform your child's other
practitioners and other professionals in advance of your child's AIT
sessions that they will be participation
-
You may find that the participant's occupational therapist, speech
Therapist and other types of therapists
may be
astonished
at the gains they observe and the rate progress after
Berard
AIT
-
another exciting bonus!
Other Important Things to Remember After
Auditory Integration Training
-
Interpreting Audio Tests (if done) After Berard AIT
-
Participants who have done an
Audiogram
or Listening Test
may see their post-AIT tests and think that significant
changes have not taken place.
- Most
of the time, the variability within each ear’s test will narrow
after AIT.
- Peaks and valleys usually flatten.
- One ear often looks
more like the other ear after AIT and a general normalization
occurs.
- Though
this is usually the case, parents should not use the tests alone to
determine if AIT has been successful.
- It’s critical not to do
anything to disrupt the effects of AIT, whether you can see the
effects, or not, on a graph.
-
Avoid
Headphone Use Completely!
- During AIT session and after AIT
is done, it is critical to avoid all headphone
use for listening to music.
- All family members, including
extended family, all teachers and therapists must know this is
the case.
- Parents may want to ask their
AIT Practitioner for a note about this subject, if they do not have a
written statement to that effect, and make many copies for their
use.
- Parents may wish to get others to sign
statements saying they will not compromise AIT in this way.
-
DO NOT DO ANY OTHER
LISTENING OR SOUND INTERVENTIONS for 9-12 MONTHS AFTER AIT
- Avoid any
generic and take-home listening programs available via the
Internet and from another Therapist after AIT for about one year.
- In order to protect
the changes made to hearing and to protect the system’s evolving
adjustment to these changes, parents should NOT use such programs.
-
Parents may be tempted to use other sound-based therapies to speed
up or change the adjustment period. Unwitting therapists may suggest
that parents do this. Do not agree to this.
-
Parents may think that since no obvious changes are visible in 3
months after AIT, that it’s time to try another sound-based therapy.
-
Parents must not do any of these things and must give the
adjustments that will happen in the auditory system and brain enough
time.
- The
changes in the middle ear function often happen quickly but the brain’s
response to this takes many weeks and even many months.
| |
|
