"and the
truth shall set you free..."
Discussion
with Consulting Anthropologist, William J. Kennick
(husband of Valerie M Dejean)
Q: How much does what Valerie does cost? A: Seven thousand
dollars. Q: Do you have insurance codes? A: No. Q: What does your treatment consist of?
A: 60 hours of treatment at her facility over a period of three months. The Spectrum Center Method incorporates the Tomatis Method with Vestibular Re-integration.
Q: Is this the same as the "Tomatis" CDs that sell for $500?
A: Well, actually, No.
Q: Does it really cure autism?
A: It certainly reverses autism in 90 percent of her clients.
Q: What really helps autistic children?
A: There's Floortime, Sensory Integration, Sensory Diet and Spectrum Center Method. These are all methods of reintegrating a scrambled nervous system.
Q: What's the best?
A: Hers, of course. What you want to do is minister to the body and the brain at the same time. You work on the middle ear but you also work on the skin. Your child has the 100 percent attention of a listening therapist at all times. You swing and bounce and listen all at the same time. You play with yucky materials and have your skin brushed in the manner of Patricia Wilbarger's Sensory Diet. Etc. An then, of course there is the real Tomatis Method practiced at the Spectrum Center.
Phone 1-877-4AUTKID
Q: What's this Tomatis-Based Therapy? The Tomatis company has tried to protect its trademark but many "Tomatis Based" therapies have appeared. Read Valerie Dejean's article "All listening is not the Same" to get an in depth analysis of why each of these knock-offs has failed in some respect or another to replicate the Tomatis Electronic Ear.
There is even one knock-off called Samonas which rhymes with Tomatis.
One follower of Tomatis who got it right is Don Campbell, who wrote The Mozart Effect which revolutionized the industry and has, in my opinion been the greatest positive influence on the field of therapeutic listening. Q. What about these other "Spectrum Centers" which are popping up in Long Island, and are offering some type of "Tomatis"?
A. Copy Cats. It may be even Legal for them to use our name but certainly it is intentionally misleading. Just remember, if it ain't from Paris, it's not the real Tomatis.
Q. What about Valerie's new book, Vestibular Re Integration of the Autistic Child, A developmental Model for Autism?
A. When Valerie was chosen by the Tomatis Company to train practitioners in the United States, she developed portions of this book to tell the story of Tomatis. Then she added further insights based on her 17 years of clinical work with autistic children. Then she developed a whole new paradigm which will be the subject of another book.
Q. Which is the best?
A. Let's just say that if I wanted to learn basketball, I would go to a coach or teacher who had 17 years experience. In the hands of a less experienced coach, I might make progress for three days only to have it undone the next three days if the inexperienced coach did not realize that he was teaching my nervous system bad habits.
This is a very fast, very powerful therapy, sort of like reinstalling an operating system on your computer. You want someone with experience, knowledge and training reformatting your kid.
It is not really the machine that does the work here. The Tomatis machine, or even some of the imitation Tomatis knock-offs are not just machines like the radio that you can turn on and let it play itself. That's not what makes your kid better. The real Tomatis machine is like an instrument to be played like a violin by a skilled practitioner.
Valerie might be driving down the road on a Saturday or Sunday and she a gets a call from the office saying that this kid is is acting such and such a way during his therapy and is that all right? Valerie might make a change in the program, and back at the office they change the settings on the machine right there and then based on that information.
Somebody who really knows his trade can do that, based on having worked on two thousand kids who had similar situations. Personally, I would take my kid to that practitioner, who had the experience if I could identify who that practitioner was.
It's like finding the right baby doctor. You don't want them practicing on your kid while they are still learning. If you go to somebody that got three days training before some "Tomatis Based" salesman sent him home with a thirty thousand dollar machine, you can bet that they are still learning. Remember, it' not the machine, its the practitioner. It's not the violin, its Horowitz. Its not the piano, it's Rubenstein. It's not the bat, it's Babe Ruth. It's not the machine, it's Valerie (my wife).
But speaking of other machines I personally had a very good experience with Paul Madaulle's LIFT (the little machine). While we figured out that it delivers only about one- seventh of the Tomatis effect, he is nevertheless, not doing anything actually wrong with his little machine. My eighty six year old mother had had a stroke and I heard the doctor say that she was dyspraxic. I had heard my wife talk about Dyspraxia all the time, so I asked my wife what I could for my mother who was confined to a hospital bed. My wife gave me Paul Madaulle's little machine to try on my mother.
In two weeks my mother was such a success story at the Seventh Day Adventist hospital that they admitted her into the Seventh Day Adventist Nursing home across the street. Meaning. I suppose that she was improving so fast that she helped their statistics. So if you are stuck on a desert island or in a hospital bed, get the little machine. But have Valerie program it for you. And make sure to replace the batteries every two days. And make sure not to switch the right and the left earphones. You get the idea?
You have one chance to get your mother out of the hospital and into the best nursing home, so don't blow it. Get the best person you can identify. If they were trained by Tomatis himself, or Valerie, that's a good start. If the machine came from Paris (or Luxumbourg) that's good. It's probably the real Tomatis.
(Bill Kennick is a former city councilman in Alliance, Ohio and was his party's nominee for the United States House of Representatives in 1986.)
Click on Peter Jennings picture to see Valerie Dejean featured on World News Tonight,
Katie Couric picture to see Valerie Dejean and Sharon Ruben on Today Show
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Early Signs of Autism by Valerie DejeanThe majority of the children seen at the Spectrum Center are under the age of five, with many of these under the age of three. A typical history is a failure to develop, or a regression in the development of language. The majority of families report normal development during the first year. In retrospect they may recall certain sensitivities to touch, movement, light, and sound, which became more severe later. They may also recall some delay in gestural communication, such as "waving bye-bye", or playing peek-a-boo, however these symptoms were not sufficient to cause alarm for most families. Some parents feel, however that they always had an uneasy feeling, yet were reassured by doctor's and other family members. In some history's there are reports of severe colic, severe sensitivities, and poor eye contact since infancy. When symptoms are absent or minimal in the first year, families report significant changes in behavior during the second year. Language that was developing, suddenly or gradually stops. Parents report they will hear a word, never to hear it again. Words and phrases that were well established fade away. There is often a change in eye contact and level of engagement. Play becomes aimless or repetitive in nature. Often sensory sensitivities emerge or become more severe. Behavior often becomes more rigid or inflexible. The children may become very upset if there is a change in routine. Temper tantrums often become more frequent and severe in nature as the child has no language to communicate their needs. There is often a change in eating habits as the children become increasingly picky and limited in what they will eat. Another significant history is of frequent ear infections... Next page: How Autism Begins |
William J. Kennick, AB, MA. JD, Consulting Anthropologist
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Phone 1-877-4AUTKID . |
