EDUCATIONAL & THERAPY RESOURCES
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Net Connections for Communcation Disorders
and Sciences
Judith Maginnis Kuster's compilation of links to Internet
sites reltated to communication disorders and sciences is
one of the most complete sources we've found. This is
definitely a frequently-updated site you will want to
check out.
The
Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method is a form of Somatic Education
that uses gentle movement and directed attention to
improve movement and enhance human functioning. It is a
highly effective approach to sensorimotor rehabilitation
for children with movement disorders.
Gentle
Teaching
The Gentle Teaching Foundation in the Netherlands
promotes a philosophy of respect and interdependence in
their work with children with special needs. Their
teaching puts these ideas into action.
The
Hanen Program
The Hanen Program provides workshops, books, and
videotapes that support a child-oriented approach to
language learning. Their strength lies in helping parents
listen to children's non-verbal cues and follow their
lead in guiding communication development. This portion
of their site provides a series of articles to enhance
communication/interaction.
The
Tomatis Center
The Tomatis Center website provides detailed information
on the Tomatis Method and its applications. Developed by
the French otolaryngologist, Alfred Tomatis, this
approach focuses on the enhancement of listening skills
by the ear and brain. A Guided Tour of the website is
provided to make it easy to explore its full content.
TMI: What is Hemi-Sync?
TMI: What are Binaural Beats?
The Hemi-Sync sound technology developed by The Monroe
Institute offers a very powerful support for easy
learning. This section of their web site describes the
use of binaural beats and the Hemi-Sync process using
graphics, sound files, and text to describe the
development and use of Hemi-Sync.
TMI: Hemi-Sync Research Papers
The Monroe Institute provides a series of papers
documenting basic and applied research with binaural
beats and Hemi-Sync signals. Included is a detailed paper
on the Hemi-Sync Process that provides a theoretical
perspective of this sound technology.
Music and Hemi-Sync in the Treatment of
Children with Developmental Disabilities
The role of music and Hemi-Sync was explored in the
rehabilitation of 20 developmentally disabled children in
this pilot study published in the Open Ear journal. The
children ranged in age from 5 months to 8 years with an
average age of 2 years. Within the broad category of
developmental disability the children had received
specific diagnoses of cerebral palsy, mental retardation,
autism, and uncontrolled seizure disorder. They were
referred for therapy because of severe feeding and
pre-speech problems. Children were carefully observed in
no-music, calming-music, and music with Hemi-Sync
settings. 75% of the group showed clearly observable
gains when music containing Hemi-Sync was incorporated
into a weekly therapy program.
The
Option Institute
The Option Institute is a special place - a place where
people learn a gentle, unconditional approach to life by
looking at their beliefs. Common beliefs in our culture
result in unhappiness when dealing with events that we
judge to be awful. Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte
Kaufman show through their books, and their teaching that
we can consciously choose to be happy whenever we wish.
Their work is grounded in their own experience with their
son, Raun, who was diagnosed with severe autism as a
toddler. The Option Institute web site is a feast of
articles, book chapters, and program descriptions. You
can spend a lot of time here and just tap the surface.
This is a powerful program for parents and professionals
working with children with special needs.
A Miracle to Believe In
Barry Neil Kaufman gives us this complete on-line version
of his best-selling book, A Miracle to Believe In. This
wonderful book tells the story of the Kaufmans' use of a
loving, accepting approach with a young child with and
his parents. Robertito is a 5 year old with severe
developmental delays and autism. The book shares many
insights about following the lead of a child and family,
and the role of or beliefs about a child's ability to
learn and grow.
Closing The Gap
Closing the Gap is a leading organization in the
dissemination of information on Augmentative and
Alternative Communication systems. Their web site
reflects both the breadth and depth of their conferences,
articles from their newspaper, and information on
hardware and software. This is a "must visit" site if you are working with children who need extra help
with communication.
Childhood Motor Disorders of Speech and the PROMPTŠ
Method of Treatment
Deborah Hayden discusses the use of the PROMPTŠ system
as a therapeutic approach for children with developmental
dysarthria and developmental dyspraxia. PROMPTŠ (i.e.
Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)
is a philosophy of treatment that strives to (re)connect
and integrate the motor, cognitive-linguistic and
social-emotional aspects of communication. PROMPTŠ may
be described as a system of treatment that helps clients
gain voluntary control of motor-speech systems and links
the necessary motor movements to linguistic (word,
phrase) equivalents for use in functional communication.
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