Most attention, concentration, comprehension, hyperactivity, and behaviour problems are caused by auditory processing deficits… deficits that can be trained and developed!

People with an auditory processing deficit or disorder cannot tune out sounds… they hear everything. One man described it as watching a bank of 10 televisions each showing a different program, all with the volume on, and trying to watch and listen to one program only. You can’t, or at least it is very difficult.

For a child in the classroom it can be impossible to pay attention to the teacher. Johnny sits in his chair and tells himself, “I will be good and I will listen to my teacher today.” The teacher arrives at the front of the class and begins the lesson. Johnny gets the first sentence or two but then the boy beside him shuffles his feet on the floor, two girls are whispering to his left, the girl in front is tapping her pencil, and a hamster is running in a cage at the back of the room… the fluorescent lights are buzzing, a bird is chirping outside the window, the clock is ticking on the wall, the furnace kicks on, and the principal is talking to a parent in the hallway. Johnny can’t hear the teacher.

With superhuman effort, Johnny pulls his attention back to the teacher. But she is several sentences or paragraphs along in the lesson and Johnny doesn’t understand what she’s talking about. Although he only lost attention for a minute or two, he can never regain what she said. He can’t pay attention now because it doesn’t make any sense.

Johnny’s daily situation could be compared to any adult attending a seminar being given in an unknown language where occasionally the speaker throws out a sentence or two in English. I don’t know too many adults who could sit through that day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year. It wouldn’t take too long before most of us would be accused of daydreaming and not paying attention. I know I’d be squirming in my chair, or getting up to sharpen my pencil, go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. I might start talking to the person next to me. I would probably prefer to be sent to the principal’s office than sit through yet another day of this lecture that I can’t understand even if it means being labeled as a “behaviour problem.” Medicate me and, in a stoned state, I might be able to endure the seminar longer though I still wouldn’t get much out of it. Drugs are not a very good solution to the problem.

These same kids are usually low in auditory memory. Mom say, “Put your shoes in the hall closet, put your toys away, get your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and go to bed.” Johnny hears and remembers, “Put your shoes in the hall.” He throws his shoes down the hall and goes back to playing his video game.

In class, the teacher says, “Take out your math books, turn to page 35, and answer questions 1 to 10.” Johnny hears and remembers, “Take out your math books.” He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do next so asks the kid next to him and gets reprimanded by the teacher for not paying attention to her instructions. Sooner or later he stops asking and just sits there pretending to work. He has to do his class work as homework… he probably has hours of homework every night. And it’s harder for him because, remember, he didn’t grasp any of the teacher’s lesson either.

Drugs are not the solution to the problem. Auditory training is. You don’t expect your child to learn to swim or play piano without an instructor. Why would you expect him to learn to listen better without proper training?

Our programs are designed to train the auditory system. In order to learn to swim you need an instructor and water. In order to learn to play piano you need an instructor and a piano. In order to develop your auditory processing system, you need an instructor and a program involving special tools.

All of our programs train the auditory system. Our initial assessment will determine which program is most suitable for your child.