The possibilities of the improvement language competencies in children with dyslexia. The evaluation of the Tomatis therapy in children aged 6–10 years of age

Abstract

Audio psycho–phonological stimulation training is a method based on listening to various musical sounds by way of a special device called electronic ear. The goal of this therapy is to enhance damaged hearing and consequently facilitate greater stimulation of central nervous system and improve cognitive functions i.e. attention and learning abilities. The second goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tomatis method in the treatment of cognitive functions in children with developmental dyslexia. Data were collected from forty children (age range 6–10 all of whom had various lexical impairments and diagnosed as dyslexia. All children IQ ranged 78–110. All subjects underwent therapy based on the Tomatis method. The relevance group constituted, by healthy ones. Further assessment included reaction time, over sensitivity of hearing sense, verbal fluency, attention, abilities of verbal learning and learning memory–immediate and long term. The effects of the therapy were measured after 9 months of stimulation. Statistically relevant improvement of most evaluated functioning parameters, including shorter time of adequate reaction to presented stimuli was observed. Not only did the patients have lower threshold of sensitivity of hearing sense, ability to localize sources of sound significantly improved (P 0.05) also. Subjects’ verbal fluency, attention and immediate verbal memory were enhanced. The phonological abilities improved. Tomatis training significantly improved subjects’ cognitive functioning. We could demonstrate its efficiency in relation to such parameters as reaction time, localization of sources of sound and over sensitivity to audio stimuli. The Tomatis method is a useful way of the speech treatment impediments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.