NACD has been involved in the field of sound therapy almost since its inception. Bob Doman, NACD’s founder, first learned of the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis around 1976 while working with children in Spain. He met personally with Dr. Morales, Dr. Tomatis’s associate, and recommended the treatment to some of his clients. After he returned to the U.S. in 1978, some of his clients traveled to Paris to go through Dr. Tomatis’s treatment upon Bob’s recommendation. Eventually Dr. Tomatis’s work spread to the U.S. and continued to grow and evolve into other methods. NACD clients used Patricia Joudry’s recordings of the Tomatis Method on tape, called Sound Therapy for the Walkman. Next we used the Berard Method, Auditory Integration Training, followed by Samonas Sound Therapy, by Ingo Steinbach.
With an overwhelming number of our clients presenting with auditory processing problems of various forms, and with the positive benefits to varying degrees that we saw from using each of these methods, we believed that a music-based auditory stimulation program was a vital part of our treatment. However we also had growing concerns with the programs that existed, mainly that negative side effects were common. It became evident that what NACD needed for its clients was a program that did not exist. And so we put together a team of professionals to create a new program, which resulted in the development of the first version of The Listening Program (TLP).
Under the supervision of speech pathologist Lori Riggs, NACD has used TLP Classic and TLP Level One with over 1,000 clients. We have vastly more experience with using auditory programs with children than any other single provider, having used auditory programs with literally thousands of individuals.
NACD is in a unique position. Coming into contact with thousands of families, if we have not tried a therapeutic method ourselves, it is likely that we have heard firsthand accounts from clients who have. Our experience with The Listening Program, the numerous auditory programs leading up to TLP, our clients’ experiences with other sound therapy programs, and our experience of working with thousands of children with auditory processing difficulties has taught us a great amount about what works, what doesn’t, and what is still lacking. This has led us to the development of additional auditory programs that address very specific skills. These programs fall under the name of TSI – Targeted Sound Intervention®. Our TSI programs have come to be out of necessity to meet the needs of our clients and out of our experience of knowing what works. Each program has been developed based on a vast body of knowledge and research that already exists, our own knowledge and experience, and individual field tests for each program prior to its release.