Matthew's Story
Two months after Matthew completed 60 hours of listening training his family wrote:
Matthew is a busy boy these days. School is going well, and in his spare time, he is taking piano lessons, skating lessons, gymnastics, singing in a church choir... so the days are full. He is also still a soccer fanatic and drags his parents and siblings out to have a go at that on our lawn whenever possible. Then there is homework so our boy is always ready for bed at the day’s end....
The piano teacher was very pleased with the progress. She has noted a couple of observations. The first is how quickly he memorizes music. After playing it once or twice with notes he wants to depend on memory. This will become harder when he starts reading the notes for two hands at once. Her second observation is that his right hand is stronger than his left. As you know he has always used his left for writing. ... Piano is helping printing neatness which was to be expected...
The folks here are quite impressed with Matt’s progress over the summer. Comments vary from the fact that his speech has improved in clarity and length of utterances to the fact that he seems more settled and mature.... Thanks for your continued interest in Matthew. We will keep in touch.
Matthew did 30 more hours at home using the portable Listening Trainer the following year. A month after, his parents reported the following:
Had school conference this past week. Speech therapist noted in past month Matt has taken another big step rather than simply climbing the hill. In particular, noted as do we, much longer sentences and pronunciation of all syllables in longer words (3 & 4). She acknowledges that The Listening Centre is having a major impact. Awareness of verb endings also much improved!