Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses Dissertations & Theses 2013 Early Effects of the Tomatis Listening Method in Children with Attention Deficit Liliana Sacarin Antioch University - Seattle Follow this and additional works at:http://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of theClinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Sacarin, Liliana, "Early Effects of the Tomatis Listening Method in Children with Attention Deficit" (2013).Dissertations & Theses. 44. http://aura.antioch.edu/etds/44 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses at AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses by an authorized administrator of AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. For more information, please [email protected], [email protected]. Early Effects of the Tomatis Listening Method in Children with Attention Deficit A clinical dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of Antioch University Seattle as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor in Psychology By Liliana Sacarin, M.S., M.A. January 2013 i © Copyright 2013, Liliana Sacarin This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. ii I certify that I have read this manuscript and that, in my judgment, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor in Psychology. Approved by: ________________________________________ ______________ Alejandra Suarez, Ph.D., Committee Chair Date ________________________________________ ______________ Patricia Linn, Ph.D., Committee Member Date ________________________________________ ______________ Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola, Ph.D., Committee Member Date iii An Abstract of Early Effects of the Tomatis Listening Method in Children with Attention Deficit by Liliana Sacarin, M.S., M.A. Presented to the Graduate Faculty of Antioch University Seattle as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Psychology Antioch University Seattle January 2013 This study investigated the early effects of the Tomatis Method, hypothesizing improvement in processing speed, phonological awareness, reading efficiency, attention, behavior and brain physiology by the end of Phase 1 of the Tomatis Method. This study documented the effects of the first phase of the Tomatis Method on children with ADD ages 7- 13. Of the 25 participants, 15 received solely the Tomatis treatment while 10 served as controls and were stabilized on ADD medication three months prior to and throughout the study. Therefore, this research study compared Tomatis versus non-Tomatis intervention, not ADD medication treatment with Tomatis intervention. The Tomatis group received 15 consecutive 2 hour sessions; participants received no additional vestibular or visual-motor exercises throughout the research. Results revealed statistically significant improvements for the Tomatis when compared to the non-Tomatis group: the experimental group showed significant improvement in processing speed, phonological awareness, phonemic decoding efficiency when reading, behavior, and auditory attention. A statistically significant increase in slow brain activity at central and parietal midline recording sites in the Tomatis group was observed when comparing pre- and posttreatment theta/beta ratios within each group. Taken in isolation, these are paradoxical findings as they do not concur with the gains documented. The peak alpha iv frequency values and the z-scored theta/beta ratios of the pre- and post- qEEGs for each participant in the Tomatis group were further explored. The paradoxical increase in theta/betha ratios obtained from individual raw values were not observed to the same extent when using z- scores. The z-scores suggested that the theta/beta ratio, although higher for the Tomatis group after training, remains within the average range for all participants. The individual analysis showed that the changes observed still fell within normal values, which may serve to explain the behavioral gains. To conclude, the significant improvements noted in cognition, attention and behavior, strongly suggest that the Tomatis Method has positive effects in children with ADD. These early changes in brain physiology require further research. This dissertation is accompanied by a supplemental qEEG reports file in PDF format. The electronic version of this dissertation is available through the OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd. v Dedication To my parents, Elena and Eugeniu Sacarin, and my brothers, Cristinel and Gabriel Sacarin who supported me throughout these years; to Bruce Haley, who fully stood by my side from the application through the proposal part of my doctoral study. vi Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the dedicated guidance, encouragements and expertise of my committee chair, Dr. Alejandra Suarez, and my entire committee: Dr. Pat Linn, who taught me research methods, and Dr. Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola, who guided me through the individual qEEG analysis process and discussion. Special appreciation goes to Dr. Joel Lubar, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Casey Mochel, and Valerie, Heinzen and Tristan Schneider for their continued support. vii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv  Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vii  List of Tables and Figures............................................................................................................... x  List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii  Chapter I Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1  The Tomatis Method of Sound Stimulation ................................................................................ 1  Theoretical Background for the Tomatis Method ....................................................................... 7  The Tomatis Effect ................................................................................................................. 7  Audio-Psycho-Phonology as Tomatis' Research Field ............................................................... 9  Chapter II Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 12  Tomatis Method Research ........................................................................................................ 12  Meta-Analysis Study ................................................................................................................. 14  Autism Studies .......................................................................................................................... 19  Auditory Processing Disorder Study ........................................................................................ 21  Study on Musicians ................................................................................................................... 22  Study on Severe Psychomotor and Neurological Dysfunction ................................................. 23  Electrophysiological Aspects of Brain Activity and their Measurement .................................. 25  ADD specific electrophysiological patterns. ........................................................................ 28  Music Effects on the Brain ....................................................................................................... 31  Rationale for Study ................................................................................................................... 33  Goals of the Study ..................................................................................................................... 34  Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 34  Chapter III Methods ...................................................................................................................... 36  Overview ................................................................................................................................... 36  Design ....................................................................................................................................... 36  Participants ................................................................................................................................ 37  Demographic information ..................................................................................................... 37  Participant recruitment and selection .................................................................................... 38  Variables ................................................................................................................................... 40  Independent variable. ............................................................................................................ 41  Dependent variables. ............................................................................................................. 42  Confounding variables. ......................................................................................................... 42  Psychometric Instruments ......................................................................................................... 43  Neurophysiological measures. .............................................................................................. 43  Neuropsychological measures. ............................................................................................. 44  Coding subtest. ...................................................................................................................... 44  Comprehensive test of phonological processing (CTOPP) .................................................. 45  Ellision subtest .................................................................................................................. 45  Blending words subtest ..................................................................................................... 45  Test of word reading efficiency (TOWRE) ............................................................................ 46  Phonemic decoding efficiency subtest. ............................................................................. 47  Sight word efficiency subtest ............................................................................................ 47  Behavioral measures ............................................................................................................. 47  Integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-Plus) ............................. 48  Procedure .................................................................................................................................. 49  viii Testing sessions .................................................................................................................... 50  Tomatis Method listening program phase I .......................................................................... 50  Statistical Analysis .................................................................................................................... 51  Chapter IV Results ........................................................................................................................ 53  Cognitive, Behavioral, and Attention Measures ....................................................................... 53  Processing speed ................................................................................................................... 53  Phonological processing ....................................................................................................... 54  Reading efficiency ................................................................................................................ 55  Behavioral observation ......................................................................................................... 56  Attention ............................................................................................................................... 58  Auditory attention quotient (AAQ) ................................................................................... 58  Visual attention quotient (VAQ) ....................................................................................... 59  Full scale attention quotient .............................................................................................. 59  Neurophysiological Measures (qEEG) ..................................................................................... 61  Chapter V Discussion ................................................................................................................... 66  Processing Speed ...................................................................................................................... 68  Phonological Processing ........................................................................................................... 71  Attention and General Behavior ............................................................................................... 72  Reading Efficiency .................................................................................................................... 74  Attention ................................................................................................................................... 74  Neurophysiology ....................................................................................................................... 78  Preliminary findings.................................................................................................................. 78  Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 82  Study limitations ....................................................................................................................... 84  References ..................................................................................................................................... 86  Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 93  A: Participant Recruit Letter ..................................................................................................... 93  B: Informed Consent Form ....................................................................................................... 95  C: Participant Assent Form ....................................................................................................... 98  D: Standard Scores and Descriptive Statistical Analysis ........................................................ 101  E: Individual EEG Analysis .................................................................................................... 108    ix