Berard Auditory Integration Training (AIT) is for children and adults.
To contact Jennifer and Sounds and Mind Processing, email her at
info@AITtoday.com or phone her at 828-707-1364.
(When emailing, please use "AIT" in the subject line.)
These web pages have a lot of information about AIT candidacy and benefits. Web site visitors are asked to read on.
Immediate "what/when/where" info: AIT Training Sessions are scheduled in 10 day programs in
Candler, N.C. outside of Asheville, N.C., in the mountains (Near the Biltmore Estate.)
Berard AIT is a 20 session program in which the participant listens to frequency-modulated music with headphones twice a day with a
Berard Certifed practitioner, approved equipment, using the Berard protocol.
Jennifer usually starts AIT on a Saturday and ends 10 days later, on a Monday, with a total of 4 weekend days and 6 week days scheduled.
The two daily sessions need to be 3 hours+ apart, and be as consistent as possible day-to-day with regard to appointment times
for the best training results. Clients have had success with one session a day for 20 days, and Dr. Berard used this format as well.
Behavioral and Learning
Assessments for Determining AIT Candidacy can take place at any time families and individuals are ready.
Jennifer Scoville Dougherty often makes a home visit for clients who are local, and then can complete any remaining assessment
process over the phone and/or email. Candidacy assessments for auditory training can also be done at a distance when needed.
Did you know that even when standard testing shows "normal" hearing, that the ear and over-all auditory function may not be optimally trained? Just as we keep our bodies in shape with activity, the ears and auditory function can require conditioning.
The passive listening experience of Berard Auditory Integration training can address this activity need of our ears and our brains. Ear musculature and connections in our brain often seem to cause degrees of hypo and hyper sensitive, distorted, and imbalanced hearing. Generally, the person who has this condition has not discovered it, but has suffered from its effects.
Imbalanced hearing may seem subtly different from the hearing of others to health professionals, but we in AIT see it more from an educational point of view. When there are imbalances within the hearing of a person, it takes more of energy for auditory processing and daily functions. This is more of an educational/training issue than a medical problem.
When children or adults experience a lack of comprehension, or make frequent mistakes in understanding, or have difficulty with focusing their attention effectively, such can often be aided by attaining stronger organization and integration for the auditory pathway.
AIT is a non-invasive, common-sense educational intervention, and is known to be the most intensive and effective of all the sound-based interventions based on frequency modulation. Dr. Berard chose modulation designed to perfect how our ears deal with sound.
Even the Tomatis work can require 150 hours of listening, according to many parents of children with autism.
While AIT is an educational intervention in the United States, Dr. Guy Berard developed AIT in his clinical ENT practice with over 8,000 patients in France. Prior to developing AIT, he worked with Dr. Alfred Tomatis. He set out to create a method that would take less time (than the Tomatis method) for patients to complete. Dr. Berard made careful note of each participant's testing results and noted what some would call "subtle" differences in hearing before having AIT. A person might hear one sound many times better than another. Dr. Berard endeavored to help his patients bring their perception to more "even" levels through AIT, and succeeded, because hearing threshold graphs did (and do) "even out" after AIT.
What was true in the 1960's when Dr. Berard developed AIT in a quiet village in Europe is perhaps more true today in our noisy, complex world. Our hearing is often overwhelmed and it is also compromised. Children sometimes grow up with TV or music blaring, and people of all ages use new technology around their ears. Research on these devices is insufficient, and the subtle electrical workings of our ears and brains is not well understood.
For whatever reason it has come to pass, people of all ages with "good hearing" also have hearing graphs that look like a mountain ranges. The peaks and valleys result in inefficiency.
While difficult for anyone, inefficient processing of auditory information is especially difficult for those with developmental disabilities or other challenges. Berard AIT can help those in the general population and in special needs populations. Many people find their listening and hearing abilities become difficult with age, even when their clinical hearing tests out well.
After re-training, participants typically find it easier to stay on task and to understand and remember information they have heard. People with no established disabilities have participated in AIT and found significant, unexpected benefits.
Stress is reduced when the ears and brain are well-tuned and well-trained! Listening, learning, working, and conversing with others is easier when there is more proper function and integration of the listening faculties.
While developed as a medical procedure in France years ago, AIT has been offered as an educational training method in the United States for close to two decades. Jennifer Scoville Dougherty uses the Earducator for Berard AIT and has the DAA available as well. (The DAA has not been officially approved for AIT. It is mostly children's music and has produced good results for children and adults.)
You may ask, "What, exactly, is Berard Auditory Integration Training?"
Berard Auditory Integration Training uses a series of 20 half-hour long listening sessions using specially frequency-modulated music and Dr. Berard's protocol. Quality headphones are used, and they are light and comfortable.
AIT is the only sound-based intervention shown by research to remediate hyper and hypo sensitivity.
There are particular requirements for AIT that are not a part of other sound-based educational training methods, as AIT so strongly concerns itself with the ears.
Ear health checks are required during the two weeks before AIT so that we know that the ears are ready for AIT. Strong negative pressure, perforation of the ear drum, or impacted wax and excess fluid are reasons to postpone AIT for the candidate is not best-positioned to receive AIT benefits.
Changes after AIT:
Gains can be apparent during AIT. Many gains develop in the weeks after AIT, with improvements often occurring within three to six months after training. Positive and measurable new gains
from AIT can often be observed in the first full year after AIT. No sound-based interventions should take place for a year after Berard AIT. Other research has shown:
One-in-five individuals has
unbalanced, hypo or hyper sensitive hearing. Increased stress and sensory
overload often results from this inefficiency of the auditory system. Research done before and after AIT shows not only normalized acoustic reflexes, but also increased
cell growth in the brain.
It's common for parents, grandparents, and other relatives to benefit from
AIT. Jennifer's approach is family-friendly - the key AIT candidate is often not the
only happy recipient of AIT. Other family members may be able to share a session at a nominal cost.
Some issues people find Auditory Integration Training
helpful for:
: Having startle responses to noises that don't seem to bother
others, experiencing hyper or hypo sensitivity to some sounds, being unable to absorb more than a few directions at one time. A person may notice
feeling quite tense around background noise, or having difficulty following
conversations in the presence of background sounds.
Some have called this the "cocktail party syndrome"
Children who struggle to attend in noisy school settings have this difficulty too -
the sounds of background noises are much more bothersome to those who have sensitivity to certain
pitches, to those who hear sounds unevenly.
Parents often report very positive developments in their children's behaviors, habits, and school work after AIT. By the 6 month point, we usually see benefits in daily life. Children's ABC behavior scale is improved.
Speech, Behavior, and Occupational therapists who have worked with children receiving AIT
observe large gains and often, with amazement, credit the 10 day AIT. Adults and children both report being more "on task" and having less stress.
Whether or not ADD, ADHD, (Attention Deficit
-Hyperactivity-Disorder) CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder,) PDD (Pervasive
Developmental Disorder), dyslexia, language delay, etc., have been discussed or diagnosed,
it is certain that distortions and sensitivities can play havoc with school and work performance and relationships.
You may ask, "How do we know if AIT will help?"
Candidacy is established with a comprehensive Behavioral and Learning Assessment for children.
The Sounds and Mind Processing practitioner looks at issues of behavior,
attention span, responses to sound, language, speech and other areas that can indicate
auditory difficulties. About 5% of the assessment is the listening test. Testing
can be done with Jennifer Scoville Dougherty or through a hearing clinic of the clients' choice.
(Instructions are given, for the audio test is not the standard audiogram used by hearing specialists.)
Individuals who undergo Berard AIT can experience both direct
benefits and indirect benefits.
It is often said that when one has the AIT benefits of more efficient hearing, that other educational efforts are more successful. Jennifer Scoville Dougherty states, "As a practitioner, I am comfortable saying that
I have seen moderate to dramatic benefits for 75% of the clients I've worked with, regardless of age or condition.
I work with those who are strong candidates for AIT!"
A few words about research, much of which can be seen at www.autism.com/ari (The Autism Research Institute):
Looking at the mechanics of AIT, tests of the acoustic reflex show that the muscles controlling the three bones in the middle ear are made strong and flexible by the re-training AIT offers.
The brain receives AIT's beneficial training effects as well.
Novel sensory input (the Berard modulated music) seems to ultimately stimulate the formation of
new circuits. Growth of Perkinge cells has been found after AIT with PET scans. It is believed that the auditory cortex reorganizes after AIT. Research
has suggested that positive biochemical changes take place.
A person's focus and attention span skills often show improvement after AIT.
Some believe that changes often come from the training provided for the vestibular system (in the ear) and the proprioceptive system, which is tied in closely to the vestibular system, to balance and movement. This may be why we so often see unexpected benefits to movement, coordination, and balance - and see other varied benefits - after AIT!
AIT is a valuable training and educational method that re-trains our listening skills, opening up all kinds of possibilities for better functioning. These improvements seem to be a result of the brain's adjustment to the newly trained auditory system. When the brain if forced to reorganized around different auditory input, it reorganizes for optimum efficiency.
Each person has his or her own unique response to AIT.
"Is AIT covered by insurance?" is a question asked by many. As AIT is classified as an educational training method in the U.S.A, we recommend that people look into other possibilities, such as flex spending accounts, their HSA insurance rules about such non-medical interventions, their state DD agencies, if applicable. Religious institutions, public school systems and branches of the armed services have also been known to pay for AIT at times. When AIT is for a child, grandparents often learn about AIT and help out a bit. Parents and grandparents who take part in AIT are often amazed at the results for themselves - again, receiving AIT at a nominal rate.
When an individual cannot drive to his own AIT sessions, the 20 appointments are a significant task for the parents (or person) who brings him to the 20 sessions of AIT. AIT may be scheduled M-F or done on consecutive days. In some cases, the session can be brought to the home of the trainee.
AIT can become a family affair for those fortunate enough to live near extended family.
Grandparents might help with the driving, in the case of a child receiving AIT.
Jennifer has provided AIT to three individuals from generations - all in the same session.
She uses either just the Earducator or the Earducator and Digital Auditory Aerobics system, if requested, so that multiple family members can be experience AIT. Jennifer has seen all generations benefit, and is eager to train family members other than the primary candidate. Usually the primary candidate has the strongest need, but this is not always the case. AIT providers often see siblings and others receive wonderful benefits.
Jennifer likes to work with families to see that they receive the most from the AIT session - and at a price that encourages the most benefits for all.
Later in 2009, families from out of the area will have more options for lodging very closeby to the AIT site. Motels are available within a few miles at present.Site visitors can check back later to learn more, or give Jennifer a call or email at 828-707-1364 or info@aittoday.com.