Canyons to the Sea OT - Fostering Unique Occupational Therapy Experiences with Families Across Orange County, CA

Therapeutic Listening 

Listening With the Whole Body (Vital Links)

Therapeutic Listening is a research-based, auditory intervention tool designed to help people of all ages who have difficulty with listening, attention, communication, self-regulation, and processing sensory stimuli encountered in everyday environments. The 12 week program is specifically tailored to the needs of the individual and includes a home exercise and music program. 

Practitioners and caregivers commonly report seeing the following positive changes in foundational skill areas of daily routines:

•    improved sensory modulation

•    decreased sensory defensive behaviors (i.e. atypical responses to sensory stimuli like sounds, touch, and taste)
•    improved posture and movement - increased exploration of playground equipment and engagement with peers
•    improved motor planning and coordination - fine and gross motor skills, including improved handwriting
•    improved timing, sequencing, and body/spacial awareness
•    decreased fear of sounds, movement, and heights
•    enhanced focus and attention
•    improved social interactions and communication skills
•    improved self-regulation with overall better mood, less  irritability, hyperactivity, anxiety, and fewer tantrums
•    improved internal state regulation influencing sleep, feeding, digestion, toileting, and bed wetting
•    improved response to verbal directions with decreased sensitivity to noise and distractions
•    increased engagement in the world

Electronically modified music albums are listened to twice a day for 30 minutes during normal home or school routines. Tailored home program exercises that are fun, engaging, and simple to integrate into routines, are added throughout the program. The specially engineered music enhances parts of the sound spectrum that stimulate attention, motor, and affective areas of the brain thereby increasing focus, activating body movement, and organizing rhythmicity, coordination, and emotional responses.