Auditory Integration Training, AIT, Berard AIT, Auditory, Auditory Integration

 AIT Helps Improve the Lives and Learning of Those with Autism, ADHD, Hyperacute Hearing, Speech Delays & Tinnitus...in 10 Days.

The AIT Institute is the #1 Provider off AIT At Home Services globally and is the largest AIT resource website in the world.
 

AIT is the #1 clinically studied auditory based educational intervention!  All sessions are conveniently completed at home under the supervision of an AIT Practitioner. AIT services are available in the USA, Canada and other English speaking countries.

AIT requires 10 hours of sound therapy, with 20 sessions of 30 minutes each, done 2 times daily over 10 consecutive days.  This listening therapy helps to correct hyperacute hearing,  tinnitus and other auditory challenges.

AIT has been used successfully with children and adults with many different diagnoses for over 60 years.  

Remarkable results are achieved for many families. There are more than 60+ years of clinical research and 28+ scientific studies on AIT.

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Hyperacute Hearing, Speech and Language Delay, Sensory Processing Disorder and AIT

Testimonial by J. Stafford, Parent of 4 year old and 2 year old boys who both did AIT
Millet, Alberta, Canada. 08-08-2001.

"I have confidence that Berard AIT makes a beneficial difference in the way children perceive and process sound and I hope that it will help others as much as it has helped my boys...Prior to Berard AIT, any new situation would have to be introduced very slowly and you couldn't rush Adam or he'd fall apart. He doesn't say "what" as much - in fact, he hears most of what we say the first time we say it. Another unexpected effect of Berard AIT is Adam's motor planning is suddenly better."

Auditory Integration Training, AIT, Berard AIT, hyper acute hearing"Adam was born April 15, 1997.  He was my fourth child and my experience told me he was developing normally, although he was a little slow at smiling. He had a few "peculiarities" that we thought were merely personality quirks.  He disliked sudden sounds and certain, not unusually loud, sounds.  As an infant his father's sneeze always startled him so much he cried and this continued past the time I thought he should be learning that this sound was not something to be afraid of – I remembered how the older children were startled by sneezes and they would jump but as time went on they got used to the sudden sound; Adam never got used to it. 

One time when he was about six months old we entered a busy room with about 100 people talking in different conversations at one time.  The noise was just a buzz of conversation but Adam cried so inconsolably we had to leave.  As he grew older the sound sensitivity intensified to the point that if he heard a diesel engine (bus or truck) he cried and covered his ears.  He refused to get out of the car until all the trucks and busses on the street were past, but if one came along while we were out of the car he ran away, crying, with his hands over his ears.   We are lucky that we live in the country and his experience with trucks and busses was not a daily ordeal.

He hated the sound of trains, too.  Adam’s grandparents live on a farm in a valley and a train runs past their house.  About six miles from the farmhouse the train comes around the mountain and starts its descent into the valley.  If you listen closely and you have good hearing you can hear it when it is about two miles away.   Adam would be playing in the yard when suddenly he’d start crying and run into the house.  It took a few years of this before I realized that he could hear the train coming long before anyone else could hear it and he had to escape the sound by going into the house.

By the time Adam was 2 I realized he was delayed in speech and language development and he started seeing a Speech-Language Pathologist at about the age of two and a half.  The Speech-Language Pathologist suggested I consider Pervasive Developmental Delay as a possible “diagnosis” for Adam.  He would not easily imitate speech and getting him to talk was very difficult.  In November 2000, at the age three and a half he was referred to the Glenrose Children's Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, for testing. 

Tests revealed that Adam had a severe fine motor skill delay and moderate speech/language and gross motor skill delays.  No diagnosis was made but I was told to read literature on Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD).  Adam was placed in a PUF program (an Alberta Education program for preschool children) and he worked with a speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist in the winter/spring of 2001.  He attended a Head Start Preschool and he was noticeably less sociable than many of the other children.  He had a lot of trouble with transitions – not understanding when it was time for story time or outside time.  Changes in routine bothered him a lot.  One day the class was having their photographs taken by a professional photographer.  We arrived late for class, which was a mistake on my part.  Since we had to “hurry” to get into the room he was upset to begin with and when it was time for him to get his picture taken he had a temper tantrum.  He wouldn't’ even sit on my lap and have his picture taken with me.  Life was like this always for Adam – very upsetting, full of changes that bothered him, and noises.

In April 2001, just before his fourth birthday, I took Adam to see a National Academy of Child Development (NACD) examiner in Michigan.  The NACD examiner did not give a diagnosis but after assessing Adam she prescribed an individual program.  From them I learned that Adam would probably benefit from some sort of "Listening Program."  NACD inadvertently pointed me in the direction of Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) as a possible diagnosis for Adam.  This diagnosis seems to fit very well, much better than Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Nonverbal Learning Disorder. 

In May 2001 Adam and came out of a hospital as a helicopter was coming in to land on the roof.  The helicopter was loud, I’ll admit, but not unbearable to me.  Adam went absolutely crazy.  He covered his ears and started screaming.  I’ll never forget the panic on his face as he ran, looking up in the sky trying to find the noise and ran straight into the street.  IF there had been traffic on the street he would have been hit.  I couldn't’catch him and he was in no condition to listen to me.  This event scared me a lot and I realized just how serious his sound sensitivity was.  I decided I had to find a "Listening Program" for Adam. 

As I read more about Berard AIT I decided to take my youngest son as well. Benjamin was born October 16, 1998 and was doing well except for a speech delay.  He was nearly three years old and could only say the first consonant of any word.  So, "B" could mean ‘blanket,’ ‘bottle,’ ‘brush,’ ‘boot,’ ‘big,’ ‘blue’…  without context we could not understand him at all.  He had had six ear infections in the winter of 2000/2001.  Whether or not this is the reason for the delay we will never know. 

But since Berard AIT has been credited with helping children with speech delays and history of ear infections I decided to take him with us if and when we found an Auditory Integration Training Practitioner.

In August 2001 I took my two small sons, Adam, 4, and Benjamin, 2, to do the ten-day session of Berard AIT.  The results were immediate and noticeable.  After about the third day of auditory training Adam heard a diesel truck on the street.  He sat with his hands poised over his ears and he said, "where's the truck?" but he didn't cover his ears and he did not cry. 

My son Adam After Berard AIT:

  • Since then he has not cried and tried to escape the sound when he hears a diesel engine.  Our trips to town are SO MUCH happier.  He actually likes big trucks now.  He is also much more sociable.  While we were in Calgary for the AIT we went to a playground and when a little boy arrived Adam called out to him, "Hey, what's your name?" and he ran over to play with the boy.  They played for 1/2 hour, chasing each other around and playing with toys.  This was a very new behavior for Adam.  His ability to withstand change (transitions) is much, much better. 
  • Prior to AIT any new situation would have to be introduced very slowly and you couldn't rush Adam or he'd fall apart. He doesn't say "what" as much - in fact he hears most of what we say the first time we say it.  Another unexpected effect of AIT is Adam's motor planning is suddenly better.  He can run and kick a ball, and use a hockey stick much more adeptly than he could before.  He is also much happier. He used to cry a lot. 
  • In the fall of 2001 Adam entered Kindergarten.  He was only four years old but since he had fine motor skill and speech/language delays he was able to enter school with a full-time aide.  For the entire school year he worked twice a month with a speech therapist and occupational therapist.  At the end of the year Adam had made such gains that he did not qualify for an aide for the next year.   He had only a mild fine motor skill delay now (or less) and his speech/language abilities were even better.  He fit in well with his classmates and made friends.  I started his in skating that fall (a month after finishing AIT) and my two teenage daughters who knew Adam’s personality quite well said, “Good luck” when I started taking him.  He surprised us all by his cheerful attitude toward learning something very hard!!!  He is now, in my opinion, a good hockey player (for a six-year-old!)
  • Adam is now halfway through First Grade and is reading quite well.  He is doing fine in Math – he is slow to do the work, but it is accurate.  He has lots of friends.   He has trouble with organization (his desk is a mess), which is probably part of his undiagnosed learning disability.  Berard AIT has not been able to cure him of everything, but I KNOW it has helped to make his life a much happier, productive one.  I thank God I kept searching and reading – about learning disabilities and therapies – because if I had just sat back and accepted everything I don’t know where we’d be. 

My son Ben After Berard AIT:

  • The changes AIT wrought for Ben have been as great.  Before Auditory Training Benjamin called Adam "Ah".  During the Auditory Training he started calling Adam "Ada."  Four months later he could say the full name.  Two weeks after Auditory Training the speech-language pathologist assessed Benjamin with a severe speech delay and then we started seeing her weekly.  After six weeks she said he'd made such improvement that she didn't need to see him again for three months and that he was probably already down to a moderate delay.  She didn't retest him because she can only test a child once a year - the child learns the test and scores better because he knows the test, not because he is speaking any better.  Benjamin is also sleeping much better. 
  • Before AIT he woke at 3 a.m. a few nights in a row at least every two months - he was ready to stay up and play. 
    Since AIT he has slept well every single night.
  • Ben’s balance is also much better.  Most of his walking life he had at least one bruise on his forehead from a fall.  This change occurred shortly after we finished AIT.  Whenever Ben ran he fell - I just got into the habit of saying, as he started to run, “Be careful,” because he invariably would trip and hurt himself. 
    One day about five months after AIT I found myself saying to him, as he was trotting along on the sidewalk, “Be careful” and I realized he hadn't fallen in months!  Ben is now in Kindergarten and reading almost as well as Adam. 


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