Down Syndrome and Sound Therapy

How to enhance language and learning for Down Syndrome children

The expected potential of children with Down Syndrome has vastly increased in recent decades leading to better care, fulfillment and life expectancy for these unique individuals. With the increase of early intervention, sensory stimulation programs and language therapies many of the previously assumed limitations of these children are being challenged.

The most significant educational difficulties they face are due to hearing and processing difficulties, which can be greatly alleviated with the right care. Down Syndrome causes a slow processing speed, reducing the ability to comprehend short words, which are essential to language construction.

Lack of muscle tone typically results in poor posture with a slouched appearance, curved shoulders, and limited facial expression and oral control, which affects speech production.

Hearing is a vitally important aspect of speech. The ear specialist, Dr Alfred Tomatis, showed that the ear is actively involved in processing language for comprehension as well as in the auditory control of speech. Therefore, therapy provided to the hearing mechanisms will greatly enhance speech development. While hearing can be seen as the passive reception of sound, listening is the active focussing ability of the ear. The middle ear acts like a radar system, selecting, through the action of its muscles, to direct our attention to the sounds of interest. This is the first step in auditory processing.

High Frequency Sound

Sound Therapy saturates and retrains the ear using high frequency sound. Both perception and production of high frequencies are typically lacking for individuals with Down Syndrome. Because high frequency sounds energise the brain, this results in better focus, concentration, clearer thought and articulation for those with Down Syndrome.

Satisfactory results have been reported for Down syndrome children using Sound Therapy in over 70% of cases.

Typical characteristics of Down Syndrome

Muscle hypotonia, low muscle tone
Flat facial profile, and a small nose
An upward slant to the eyes
An abnormal shape of the ear and small outer ear canal
Congenital hearing loss
Small, horizontal Eustachian tube, causing frequent ear infections

Excessive ear wax
A single deep crease across the centre of the palm
Hyper flexibility, an excessive ability to extend the joints
Dysplastic middle phalanx of the fifth finger, fifth finger has one flexion furrow instead of two
Excessive space between large and second toe
Enlargement of tongue in relationship to size of mouth

There was a transformation in the child’s behaviour after just a few hours of listening.

Patrice Hosking, Therapist

There was a transformation in the child’s behaviour after just a few hours of listening.

Patrice Hosking, Therapist

Vestibular stimulation

Another effective way of stimulating the brain is through movement, which acts through the vestibular system of the inner ear. Poor muscle tone is a factor causing children with Down Syndrome to be physically passive. Therefore any stimulation through exercise and sound is vital to their development. The complex structure and high harmonics in classical music, and particularly in the Sound Therapy recordings help to activate the sensorimotor and neuromuscular tracks essential for language acquisition.

Some of the facial muscles and nerves, essential for speech, are, to an extent, controlled by the ear. The trigeminal nerve and the facial nerve are both involved in vocal production. They also control the opening and closing of the mouth and movement of the lips. These same nerves supply the two tiny muscles of the middle ear, the hammer and stirrup muscles.

Poor function of these muscles may predispose a child to ear infections. These are common among children with Down Syndrome, producing greater middle ear dysfunction, and reducing listening ability.

The Sound Therapy program is progressively tailored to retrain the ear and brain with high frequency sound. A particular pattern of intense changes in sound frequency increases the child’s alertness and vigilance, making him or her more responsive and attuned to sensory input. This in turn improves muscular control, body awareness and posture. The intense pattern of recharging sound activates and exercises the middle ear muscles, improving their tonicity and performance.

It enhances auditory processing by training for right ear dominance. The effect may be an increase in facial expression early on in the listening program, plus an improved ability to use language and construct sentences. This may be accompanied by improved coordination, spatial awareness and sense of timing. As the child’s auditory perception is enhanced, parents and teachers usually also report better behaviour, a happier diposition and noticeable improvement in the child’s ability to communicate and learn.

Older Childs Package