About (AIT) - Auditory Integration Training
HISTORY OF AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING
It was developed by Dr. Berard in France nearly 35 years ago. Berard's method is based upon the work of Alfred Tomatis. The Tomatis style of Auditory Training is a long, not as intense experience as the Berard method. The Berard method was introduced to the US in the very late 1980’s, it was initially embraced by the autism support groups through the work of Annabel Stehli, who wrote “Sound of a Miracle” and later authored a series of anecdotal accounts, called “Dancing in the Rain”. Berard AIT was initially developed for those who had sensitive or painful hearing and then became an alternative method of helping people with major depression and suicidal tendencies.
Who Can Benefit from (AIT)
Many people benefit from AIT, so diagnosis is not a necessary criterion. AIT has benefited people with people episodic or major depression and many people in between. AIT is also used to enhance performance in school and sports related activities, careers, music related activities, public presentations, time management, etc.
- closed-head injury,
- people with learning disabilities
- people on the autism spectrum
- people on the ADD spectrum
- people with Down Syndrome
- people with Rett Syndrome
- people with Angelman Syndrome
- people with Williams Syndrome
DESCRIPTION OF AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING
AIT like many other therapies helps to bring new dimension to the brain functioning. It makes the brain more efficient. AIT is structured listening program.
It takes 10 days to re-train the ears and re-train the brain to function more efficiently.
AIT, using the Berard method is a 10 day program designed to improve language comprehension, clarify hearing and reduce hearing sensitivities.
Each day of AIT consists of 2-thirty minute sessions. Clients wear studio quality headphones and listen to “music” that sounds like its been stirred up in the blender. That’s called “randomization”.
The idea is to make the “music” move. The brain learns through movement. In order to understand the process, think of movement in terms of fluctuating frequencies and fluctuating volumes of sounds. AIT influences changes in brain operation by presenting the ears with fluctuating sounds, which heightens the brain’s attention to flow along the auditory pathways of the brain.