Testimonials
Please note some names have been redacted to maintain privacy for our clients.
June 2023
The case study that speaks for itself!
Sonny came to us at 4 years old with a diagnosis of Autism and he was non-verbal.
Following AIT and LWS Sonny started speaking. He also had many other beneficial changes.
He has now returned aged 22 years of age and at University. He drove the family down from the North of England to our centre.
He has changed beyond recognition and returned, after 18 years, to receive further AIT and LWS to help with some small outstanding sensory issues.
His mother Gabriela as well as Sonny wanted to share their news with you. Please view and listen to what they have to say.
In fact they are so delighted that Gabriela has repeated it all again in Spanish!
June 2023
9 year old boy, diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder and Nocturnal Epilepsy. Has Speech and Language issues, together with concerns about his education and self-esteem.
Feedback received from mother after Auditory Integration Training (AIT) and Lightwave Stimulation (LWS) in June 2023.
“We are so delighted with Noah’s transformation over the course of the therapy. We had really hoped to see some changes in his speech and use of language, which we definitely have noticed, but the unexpected changes have been to his thinking, understanding and learning abilities. He is just processing everything much better and much faster and, perhaps linked to this, there has been a real step-change in his mood and general confidence too. It feels like more options have opened up for him now, and we are really excited about his next chapter.”
Best wishes, Jenny
Case Study, Axxx, 2022 (Also posted on Blog page)
Background
Female, born May 2017, began speaking a few words at 14 months and walking at 18 months. At this point she had an unexplained seizure and was put into an induced coma for 24 hours as the seizure wouldn't stop.
Following the seizure speech ceased initially and doctors also advised she might may never be able to walk again. Mother made initial contact with The Sound Learning Centre in September 2020 and a year later made a second contact in October 2021. Mother reported auditory processing concerns with her daughter who had severely delayed expressive language with slightly better receptive language and who was disturbed by loud noises e.g. held her ears when a siren sounded. She had delayed play skills, issues with balance, and an under developed vestibular system illustrated by her slow movement on stairs.
Therapy
Ten days of Berard Auditory Integration Training (AIT) during October 2021. This involved listening through headphones to intentionally altered music via an Audiokinetron, for 30 minute sessions, twice a day, for a period of ten days.
Although Axxx found some of her sessions challenging, she was able to complete the full therapy course and by the end of the ten days her mother already reported some positive changes in her performance.
At the conclusion of the therapy Axxx was showing increased awareness and better concentration. She started pronouncing sounds clearer and was better able to tolerate sounds that previously disturbed her. She was also reported to be generally much happier.
Later Feedback
In early November 2021 we were advised that:
Axxx ‘has had so many gains’ and was ‘doing so well since AIT’.
Mother also wrote: ‘I remain astonished at how tolerant she has become of noise!’
In December 2021 we received the following email:
Hi all, Hope you're well! My apologies for the delay in writing this review, which has now been posted on google and Facebook... Words simply cannot do justice to the work this team are doing.
Background: I came across this clinic a few years ago and enquired about their services. Whilst I wanted to try their services I could not afford to do so at the time; something I later regretted.
Before: I later enquired again about auditory integration therapy (AIT) as my child had started nursery and was constantly holding her ears and having a meltdown due to sensory overload from the noise; sadly her nursery at the time were anti-sen so were using it as an excuse to drive her out. As any SEN parent will understand, I was desperate to help my child so I contacted the clinic again about AIT therapy and questioned how a non verbal 4.5yrs SEN child with very little understanding could wear headphone for 30mins at a time as I really couldn’t imagine my child doing that. The clinic reassured me that she would and that during the ten day intensive programme she will get used to it; they were right.
During: The actual therapy consists of two 30mins therapeutic listening sessions 3hrs apart. I have to admit, I was incredibly apprehensive about whether it would work or not but I was later left astounded by the results. It is important to prepare the child and yourself mentally for how emotionally, mentally and physically draining it is - it truly is intensive for the child and the carer.
After: The AIT therapy is the one therapy of numerous ones we have tried that has delivered results instantly and continues to. Amongst the results we saw a huge decline in her holding her ears, more tolerance of noise, clearer pronunciation, better attention, improved focus & concentration, more awareness, more words… the list goes on daily. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner and lost precious intervention time in doing so! I wanted to write this review after some time so I could do the team justice for the work that they do. We will be back for light therapy and your neuro-developmental programme. A heart-felt thank you to all your team for the amazing work you are doing, for making us feel so welcome and for giving us hope in what is this never ending SEN battle. Sent from my iPhone
At the end of April 2022 we received further email feedback from Mother that said:
There were so many wow moments for Axxx over Easter that I thought it maybe better to email them in so you can share it with your team:
1. When accessing her trampoline, Axxx looked at me and said the word, "jump."
2. The other day I noticed she's now able to climb her pikler with a book in her hand. (She was afraid of her pikler a few weeks ago) but happily sits at the top whilst looking at a book.
3. When breaking our fast we sit on mats on the floor. One day, she walked over from her table and sat next to me on a mat on the floor. She has continuously followed through this imitation when we break our fast everyday.
4. I caught Axxx walking up the stairs backwards the other day; doctors said she may never be able to walk again after her seizure.
5. The other day I caught her using adult cutlery to feed herself my soup using an adult spoon. She managed it without spilling too!
6. We were in Costa and Axxx wanted my toastie, before I could say the word sign, she did the food sign straight away!
7. Lastly, Axxx was a child who would have a meltdown when she heard a hand dryer. We stopped at services on the way to her grandparents in Sxxx for a toilet break. I washed her hands then went to wash mine. As I turned around there she was, drying her hands under the hand dryer without a flinch; absolutely priceless moment.
This is Axxx following me around Sainsburys without engaging in any kind of escape behaviour. (An image was supplied that is not shown for reasons of confidentiality.)
Please share with your team.
Rxxx
Sent from my iPhone
Used anonymously, with permission.
More Unexpected feedback - received (June 2020) after 12 years .
Hi Pauline,
I just wanted to get in touch to let you know about our son N. He was treated at your Centre when he was six and he is now 18.
N completed a course of Sound and Light wave therapy and subsequently with your longer term neurodevelopmental delay package. At the time he had been diagnosed with severe language delay, and later with severe language disorder and finally autism.
The difference in our son after treatment, was almost immediate. Teachers referred to the change as being 'Like a wall coming down.' Even during the therapy we saw changes, in the way he was able to tolerate noise.
The next few years weren't easy for N. He had speech and occupational therapy and struggled to stay afloat in mainstream primary school.
Secondary school couldn't have been more different. Although, initially N was in a group of children who would not achieve four level four grades at GCSE, he smashed all predictions and gained nine GSCE's mainly grade fives and sixes. More importantly, he gained a small group of friends, who supported and encouraged him.
We currently await his A level results, so I wanted to thank you and your team, for your care and support.
It is fine to share this message, but I should be grateful if you could post it anonymously.
Kind Regards
M.
Unexpected feedback - after 13 years (June 2019).
Supplied by a successful scientist who was previously a struggling University Student newly diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the time of receiving Auditory Integration Training (AIT) and Lightwave Stimulation (LWS) at our Centre.
Time flies... Stacey says it was several years ago. We checked - it was over 13 years ago! We are so happy to have contributed to this amazing success story.
Hello! I had treatment with you several years ago, whilst newly diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and struggling badly with university. At the time I recognised immediate benefits of the treatment in as far as I felt better, could see better, and loud noises didn’t hurt anymore, but I still struggled with university and with living independently, and after a total of 6 years of trying left my course and moved home. I knew I was clever, but I kept failing, had no organisational or social skills, and was terribly anxious and depressed. I didn’t know what to do, so worked in restaurants for 4 years, and whilst I wasn’t particularly happy, it was an opportunity to build up social skills and confidence now I could hear myself think! I ended up managing a busy restaurant, serving 100s of people a night, organising every aspect of the business. Amazingly, with my sensory issues improved, I found I could cope much better with life and, actually, was quite good at it! After those 4 years, I went back to school. This time, I picked a small research institute and after one year I won funding to conduct my own research. After three, I won a research fellowship. I graduated with a first class honours and with offers for everything I applied for. I now lead teams of people, train scientists, present my work to 100s of people at a time, and travel the world. I’m also a PhD candidate, and a published researcher. More importantly, I have friends and good relationships with my family. I’m outgoing. I live independently, I don’t have panic attacks anymore, and whilst life is still a bit of a struggle, I now have (I believe) the same capacity as my peers to deal with it, and perhaps a greater one to find joy and gratitude in my life. I rarely talk about myself like this, and realise it may sound a bit like a brag! It isn’t intended that way, but rather it occurred to me that all of this started because of the treatment I received with you, and the kindness you showed in our interactions. The treatment was in no way a magic wand, but it levelled the playing field and allowed me the space to step back and learn the lessons about life I’d missed through being unable to cope in a world that was too loud and too bright! The knock on effects have been life changing, and I wanted to thank you, and make sure you knew how important your help was to me. Truly changing! Stacey
Young lady with autism who has successfully progressed through mainstream education.
We have known Helen for a long time now and we always look forward to seeing her at our Centre. We are glad she feels welcome here - she truly is! It makes us very happy to be referred to as 'a holiday' and 'spa treatments for the senses'!
Here's what Helen wrote:
The first time I had treatment at the Sound Learning Centre I was around eight years old. I'm autistic, can't speak - but I can type, and I have a lot of hypersensitivies; particularly with my eyes and ears. I didn't know what to expect; I'd had bad experiences before in hospitals and health centres, so I felt a bit anxious about having treatment at all. When I went for the assessment it was such a relief; nobody forced me to do anything that made me uncomfortable and I was treated with respect, even though I was still a child. Such a change from all the assessments I'd had in the past where I'd been prodded and poked and been treated like a condition, not a person. My mum felt the difference too and we were, and still are, treated like welcome guests at the SLC.
I had difficulty keeping the headphones on for the AIT at first; I remember taking them off and getting up every time a track ended! Before I started treatment I had trouble keeping headphones on at all - I didn't like the feeling of having my ears muffled by them. Mum got me into the habit of wearing headphones by putting a pair on me, without any music, for increasing periods of time each day, before I began treatment. This really helped and when I did start treatment, I wasn't worried by the feel of the headphones. AIT felt strange but I could tell from the very first session that something was happening to my hearing. I can't say that it was always a pleasant experience; it takes a bit of getting used to, but realising that the way I heard sound was changing was enough to make me stick with it.
The Lightwave was a challenge too in the beginning; the different colours affected me strongly and changed my emotions. When I was young this confused me, and I can see why Lightwave has a powerful effect on people, particularly on young children because it's hard for them to articulate what they are feeling. Once I could link my emotions to the colours - and they are different for everyone - it became an absolute pleasure to look at them, knowing they would trigger emotional responses that made me relax, stop worrying and find what I think of as 'the real Helen'. I find indigo and violet are the most relaxing; Pauline says I'm 'an indigo child', but I know some people find the red end of the spectrum suits them better. I've got to the point where I can choose the colours that I need to 'fix' me, as my responses to them have been the same for years.
I'm almost eighteen now, and I've returned to the Sound Learning Centre for treatment whenever I get beyond the point of coping with my life; they always get me sorted out and feeling much better. When I see the front door and know help is on the other side, I get an immense feeling of relief: Lightwave and AIT have changed my life so much that I think of coming to the SLC as a holiday - it's like spa treatments for the senses!
11 Year old boy with Autism and severe speech delay.
Here is a link to a wonderful series of Visitors Posts on our Facebook page by the happy mother of a recent client, Kieran, who received Auditory Integration Training (AIT) and Lightwave Stimulation (LWS) at our Centre. It makes us so happy to know that we have helped improve the life of the whole family.
Before helping Kieran, we helped his 3 year old brother Callum almost ten years earlier- read his story about light and sound sensitivities below:
Our wedding day 25 June 2009 and our prayers had been answered. It was an incredible day in so many ways. The fact that Callum is even in these photos is proof of his marvel. One month prior to this he completed his 10 day treatment at The Sound Learning Centre and walked out a different child to the one we arrived with.
At 18 months old Callum's immune system was completely knocked out and he had a year of back to back infections....chest, throat and eyes being the main areas. He had a huge cyst appear on his eyelid at one point. Our strong belief is that his body was struggling post vaccines. This post is not meant as a debate on vaccines. The purpose is to tell Callum's story. The solution from the doctors was a lot of antibiotics over that one year period particularly antibiotic eye creams for the eye infections. As first time parents we took the advice and were keen to see the infections stop for him but to no avail.
Christmas time 2008 we noticed Callum was really struggling in the mornings and often woke screaming and upset. We thought it was maybe bad dreams at first but it continued every day. He was very unsettled and it got worse each day. One spring day on a walk out with the boys and my mum he was screaming in the buggy and inconsolable. I looked at him trying to see what this behaviour was indicating and I realised in that moment it was the light. He was struggling with the sunshine. I turned the buggy round and took him straight home. As we went through the front door my non verbal boy said ' Thank you'. It melted my heart and I knew in that moment what the trigger was.
So we started to dim everything down in his world. Black out blinds, sun glasses and car shades but little did we know this was just the start and his sensitivity to light would dramatically worsen over the next few months. The whole house was living in blacked out rooms. We carried blankets everywhere to put over Callum's head so he could block out light when the sun glasses were not enough protection even on the cloudiest of days. He had developed severe photophobia which is an abnormal intolerance to light and nobody seemed to have any answers on how to treat or help him. Not one to take no for an answer I set off to see what I could find and this is when we discovered the Sound Learning Centre in North London. We took him there for an assessment and learned more about Callum in 2 hours than we had in 2 years. We had been thrown a life line and we grabbed it with both hands.
One month before we got married we carried him in with dark glasses, a sun hat and a blanket over his head for 10 days of treatment . Morning and afternoon sessions, each session about 45 minutes. Lightwaves Stimulation treatment and also Auditory Integration Training as they discovered he had various sound sensitivities too. How our senses receive light and sound effect everything. He had been living in a state of overload with no words to tell us.
Callum and I stayed at a local hotel for the 10 days while George headed back to be with Kieran. What unfolded over the next 10 days was nothing short of incredible. He walked out of there a completely different child. Summer was in full beam and he was tolerating bright light. One month later he was at our wedding... which we did not think was going to be possible... on a very sunny day and even though the day was a bit confusing for him he needed no sunglasses or light protection. A week later he was on holiday in Turkey in the brightest sunshine having the time of his life! This had seemed unimaginable to us at one point. Above all he was so happy. The light and auditory training had balanced and enhanced his senses and he was loving life again. Information provided by Callum's mother and used with permission.
Care worker with 4 year old autistic boy.
if you can change him, you can change anyone
Mother of 10 year old boy with spelling difficulties following AIT and LWS
He is like a different child. It is like he has had an injection of brain cells. Something has clicked!
7 year old boy with reading and writing difficulties
Definitely improved at school.
"Mum I can hear everything"
Reading can "see both lines without moving head "
In the car looking ahead "Mum you know I can see you without moving ahead"
Mother of 7 year old girl Mild autism and delayed language
Hello to you all
Just to let you know life at home with Pxxx is very good and family life is much improved since the visit to the centre. Pxxx is happier much more sociable now being the first to greet people. Her language has improved greatly and she responds much better to instructions and is happier to accept these. She is more focused and we no longer need to follow her round the house to make sure she is up to no good. She also appears for the first time appears to be recognising some written letters which is very exciting. She is not showing as much improvement at school but I hope with time this will filter through as this is a new situation to her and I am not sure the teachers fully know her yet. Thank you so much for all your support.
Best Wishes
- Sxxx
Feedback received from Mother of client in the Isle of Man following an Outreach Progrmme:
Hi Aste
Thanks for your email.
We had a lovely holiday thank you. Tommy was fantastic !! He coped with noisy handryers such a major breakthrough.
We were in IKEA shopping and he needed the toilet but the disability toilet wasn't free so I gave him the choice to wait or use the ladies with me. Well he just turned to me and said "I think I will be ok" we went in, handryers going and he was fine. Didn't even cup his ears !!! Gosh, felt like I had won the lottery, could even feel the weight lift off my shoulders that we managed a task that everyone else takes for granted, but for us, a major battle.
A complete contrast to last year...same place and he cupped his ears, very stressed while I dragged him past the closed doors to the ladies along the corridor to the disabled toilet and spent the rest of the time in there trying to calm him down !! And then I had the challenge in reverse leaving the toilets.
We still do encounter issues over noise etc but we now feel over time with lots of reassurance etc things are looking brighter.
Thank you, to all of you. Tommy really enjoyed the sessions and has even heard the odd song on the radio that he listened to. I get from him... "I don't believe this, I heard this at centre 21 !!"
Mother of 4 year old boy with Auditory Processing Problem
Hello Pauline and Phil,
Mxxx is doing wonderfully - he is speaking in full sentences in both French and English, and while there are one or two sounds he still has trouble with and his grammar is a bit patchy, he has made about 3 years of progress in vocabulary and general speech in 5 months! His behavioural issues have all but vanished, he is so happy in school and his new teacher hadn't actually noticed that he had speech difficulties at all by the end of his first day of class. The results of the treatment have been just spectacular - far better than I had hoped.
Kind regards, Sxxx
4 years later
Dear Pauline and Phil,
I was just referring (yet) another person to your website and enthusing about the difference you made for my son, Mxxx and thought I'd email you and tell you so as well!
We came to see you about 5 years ago, when Mxxx as 4. He was unable to use more than about 20 words, couldn't follow simple instructions, relied on body language to understand and communicate and was subject to terrible fits of rage and frustration at his inability to understand and communicate. He had been misdiagnosed by two different psychologists as autistic spectrum/ PDD-NOS. His pre-school had refused to take him back for a second year (we were living in France at the time, where preschool starts at age 3) for being "difficult" and "refusing to follow directions", and no other school would accept him without an educational shadow.
We began to see results within 3 days of starting your 10-day Berard + light therapy programme, as he suddenly began to talk. Today, he is working at or above grade level in every academic area, is calm and reasonable and easy to get on with, makes friends easily and has a vocabulary well above his age level - you would never know that he had ever had a problem. He is profoundly dyslexic, but after your programme plus working intensively with him at home using the first 3 boxes of the Barton Reading and Spelling system to build his phonemic awareness (it was effectively at zero when we started) and to give him a basic understanding of spelling rules, he is now on book 4 of the Harry Potter series - somewhat to the dismay of his teacher, who thinks it should be too difficult for him! His small motor control has also improved to the point that handwriting is his favourite subject.
Thank you so much for everything - you saved my son from a life of frustration, isolation and academic failure. Thank you!
Very kind regards
Sxxx
Some Miscellaneous Quotes From Clients
Feedback like this inspires us and urges us to carry on.
"His reports from school have never been better, it was a lucky day when I came across you."
"She seems calmer and happier now and has less meltdowns, I feel she understands more."
"He is no longer so affected by flies buzzing around and didn't jump when the telephone rang, that's a first!"
"He's listening better, calmer, eating better. Now he'll take food from a spoon or a fork. We used to have to puree fruit for breakfast everyday as he would only eat pureed food. Now he has Weetabix for breakfast. Also he had three blueberries yesterday and today three segments of clementine. He doesn't usually like bananas, but the other day we gave him banana and custard and he ate it. Generally, he's happier to be with people, at home, when out, and in other people's houses."
"A heart-felt thank you to all your team for the amazing work you are doing, for making us feel so welcome and for giving us hope in what is this never ending SEN battle."