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Speech Delay, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and Auditory Integration
Training
Contact Us
Complete
On-line AIT Checklist
by Melissa
Z., Parent of a 3 year old girl, Butler, PA.
Reprinted
by permission. 01-17-2006.
"She has gone from being overwhelmed by everything and falling into a crying
heap on the floor to handling everything without even a tear -- the mall,
Wal-Mart, the zoo, amusement parks, fairs, playgrounds, etc.
She
has gone from being unintelligible about 85% of the time to completely
intelligible a majority of the time, even with strangers!
I
would be so bold as to say that, except for a few lingering issues that
are tied to vision, Lily is a normal little girl.
The
first three years of my daughter’s life were a train wreck.
- Lily was absolutely
non-functional from the time she woke up until the time she went to
bed and we were virtually housebound with her.
- She woke up crying
and cried all day until bedtime;
- She couldn't even
figure out how to walk down the stairs;
- She couldn't sit
at the table to eat; she couldn't sit and play;
- She was a hurricane,
throwing toys and food and cups all day.
- We rarely went to Wal-Mart
or out to a restaurant or to the mall with her because she would just
fall apart and end up in a crying heap on the floor
- She walked everywhere on her tiptoes
- She touched everything with a closed fist;
- She didn't say a single word; she couldn't
leave my side and needed to be carried everywhere.
- The only time she was content was when she was asleep
or when she was climbing all over things like a daredevil or being tossed
around and swung.
Our lives were
a horrible nightmare! I remember sitting at our Early Intervention evaluation
and just crying -- they must have thought I was nuts!
As soon as we found out that
Occupational Therapy could help her for Sensory Processing Disorder
(SPD), we had her evaluated and started therapy. She received
OT and Speech Therapy services through our Early Intervention program
as well as privately. We did the Wilbarger (brushing) Protocol for 7 months
straight and she participated in Vital Links Therapeutic Listening for
8 months. We did see some monumental changes with all of these interventions,
but she was still struggling so and none of the changes were ever permanent.
Life was better than it had
been, but it was not good – or even okay. She needed a FIX and from
all of my reading, research and talking to other parents, I felt that
AIT just
might offer one.
Lily
went through the 10 day
AIT program in late June/early July 2005 and she is BETTER. Not
just
better than she was, but COMPLETELY BETTER.
- She has
gone from never playing independently and spending most of her time
stuck to my side to playing independently or with her brother for 30
minutes or more.
- She has
gone from being overwhelmed by everything and falling into a crying
heap on the floor to handling everything without even a tear -- the
mall, Wal-Mart, the zoo, amusement parks, fairs, playgrounds, etc.
- She has
stopped whining, she is learning better (and yikes! is she a smart little
cookie! She is happier, she is laughing all the time, she is FUN and
FUNNY, her behavior is near perfect (for a 3 year old, that is!).
Before
AIT she had a lot of auditory discrimination
problems which were most likely responsible for her articulation problem.
- Her Speech Therapist told me that when her IEP is
up for review, she very well might not qualify for services!
- She has gone from being
unintelligible about 85% of the time to completely intelligible a majority
of the time, even with strangers!
- She is now able
to string together sentences without losing the pronunciation
of the individual words and can even sing full songs in an understandable
voice!
- All of her hyper sensitivities
to sounds are gone.
- She doesn't even
flinch at the vacuum, the blender or smoke detectors and when
we were at the fair over the summer, the tractors at the tractor pull
made her laugh, whereas in the past, she would have crumpled in my arms.
- I
would be so bold as to say that, except for a few lingering issues that
are tied to vision, Lily is a normal little girl.
It's amazing, too, how
these changes in Lily are bringing about changes in our whole family.
Her 5 year old brother is so much happier and enjoys her so much
more. Gary and I, too! And even the changes between Gary and I have been
really positive. We are fighting and bickering less because our patience
and energy aren't completely tapped on a daily basis. We are all sillier
and less stressed and having a lot more fun as a family. Last weekend
we went to Lake Arthur for the day and had a wonderful time. Everyone
played and swam and picnicked and had an awesome time -- no meltdowns,
no carrying on over the water and the sand and the other kids, no fighting,
no whining, just a great day! -- and on the way home, I said to Gary,
"Who knew that we would ever be a normal family?!"
Seeing
this wonderful, amazing, loving, silly, confident little girl that was
trapped inside that miserable, sad, struggling body coming out and simply
shining is almost more than my heart can handle.
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