Ear dominance and TLP

[kRenee]

I had an interesting conversation with my son's nuero-psych the other day. I asked her why she had recommended Earobics over any other program, like The Listening Program and she said that the Tomatis (TLP) and the Samonas program force right ear dominance. Because of my son's (age 9) visual-sequential way of processing information and the liklihood that he hasn't established a dominant ear yet, she doesn't want to force an ear dominance because she has seen it "mess up" too many kids.

She came highly recommended and I want to be able to trust her so has anyone every heard of this complication with TLP?

Karen

[Claire]

You would be best off calling the TLP company and asking about this. I think TLP does deliver sounds differently to the two ears, but not in order to force ear dominance. TLP is *much* more mild than Tomatis or Samonas, so I don't think ear dominance would be an issue with it, but it's best to get that information directly from the company.

I believe FastForWord does not address ear dominance at all. Many professionals hesitate to recommend FFW, though, because of the lack of independent research confirming its benefits. Personally, I would prefer FFW over Earobics unless you are dealing with very foundational auditory processing deficits.

My understanding of ear dominance is that most of us have the same ear dominant. It is the children with reversed dominance who tend to have problems. There has been a lot of controversy over trying to change the ear dominance of these children. Some seem to be helped by it, but others seem to do worse. That may be what your neuro-psych is thinking of, as there has been discussion of children getting "messed up" from trying to change their ear dominance.

Actually, an audiologist who specializes in auditory processing disorders would have a better handle on ear dominance than a neuro-psych. The auditory system is considered mature around age 7, so I would be very surprised if a 9yo did not already have an established ear dominance. If he doesn't have an established ear dominance, then I would think that a sound therapy that would encourage normal ear dominance would be a good idea. (These are my best guesses as a lay person, not a professional!)