Research and papers


(Latest  News   Down Study now written up formally with Caroline Newton and published Online first and in October Issue of Journal Music and Medicine. )

 
Gwyneth has in the past both carried out research, as well as written and presented papers at a variety of conferences and symposiums.

Some of the research and papers presented are available for download. It is requested that if you wish to reference Gwyneth you contact her prior, by: email or telephone 01636 673 045.

Current downloads available are:
Evaluating The Effectiveness of the Listening Training Program for children who are underachieving in a state school

The 6th BDA International Conference at Warwick 27 to 30th March 2004

Other published research supporting Primary Movement
Jordan-Black J-A. The effects of the Primary Movement programme on the academic performance of children attending ordinary primary school. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 2005; 5(3): 101-111

McPhillips M, Sheehy N. Pre valence of persistent primary reflexes and motor problems in children with reading difficulties. Dyslexia 2004; 10(4): 316-338

McPhillips M. The role of persistent primary reflexes in reading delay. Dyslexia Review 2001; 13(1): 4-7

McPhillips M, Hepper PG, Mulhern G. Effects of replicating primary-reflex movements on specific reading difficulties in children. Lancet 2000; 355: 537-541

To download, and read the papers you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader available from www.adobe.com.

 

 

A study to establish whether the use of the Listening Programme  from ABT was effective in improving auditory skills for autistic children

A parent, autistic support group in Northern  Ireland provided the autistic children in this study.  The ages of the children ranged from 5 yrs 8 months to 12years 4 months. They were tested using the Scan Test C, which is a test for auditory processing disorders in children, both before and after the use of the Listening Training Programme from Advanced Brain Technologies. They listened, through headphones, to the specially modified music of TLP 1, half an hour a day, over a period of 10 weeks. Parents completed a questionnaire after the programme.

The Scan Test of Listening    

This test was used to assess how accurate the child was in the skill of the various aspects of listening.

Filtered words are words presented without background noise. Extraneous noise may distract the attention of the child so the child does not perceive the word presented accurately. This will be disturbing in a quiet situation where there are always isolated noises such as other children shuffling, pages being turned, doors opening or closing etc.

Auditory figure ground has background noise with words. They may score better in this test as continuous background noise may be easier for them to block out and with it the other extraneous noises can be masked.

Competing words has two words presented at the same time and have to say both words. This improves with maturity of the child.

Competing sentences has two sentences presented together but only one has to be said. The child can use context to help them get the appropriate words or produce a sensible sentence

The raw score are the number of correct responses. This is converted to a standard score between 1 and 20, which indicates the position of that score relative to the population of this age range. (mean 10) The confidence range indicates that you can be 95% confident that the individuals true score lies within this range.

Results    

 





  

Child 2 was distressed by the competing word test so that was not carried out.

Child 7 might appear to have gone down but her raw scores went up. She had to make extra improvement because she went up an age range for scores.

 

 - Parent questionnaire

The parents completed the questionnaire based on their experience of the child’s progress. Not all the children had difficulties in all the areas.       



 

         

 Conclusion

From Scan Test :-

All children improved on filtered words and only one did not improve on auditory figure ground but that one was already above average in this area.

All but one of the 11 improved on competing word test.

10 out of 12 improved on the competing sentence test.

Combined with parent questionnaire:-

Improved auditory skills can only be beneficial to the children and even without statistical data I think it shows clearly that the use of The Listening Programme from ABT is of benefit to the autistic children.

I would like to thank all those children and parents who took part in this study.

Copyright  Gwyneth Jeyes (2009)

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Down Syndrome study presented as poster at World symposium for Down Syndrome At Dublin August 2009

written up as article in Journal Music and Medicine Volume 2 Issue 4 October 2010 Pages 208-213

Study to evaluate the efficacy of The Listening Programme in improving  auditory skills and speech for children with Down Syndrome
Authors
Jeyes. Gwyneth   Independent Consultant and Listening Provider 27 Manners Rd. Balderton, Newark Notts. NG24 3HW    gwyneth.jeyes @btinternet.com  www.toolsforlife.co.uk
Newton.Caroline    Nottingham Down Syndrome Speech & Language Group Mulhouse, Loughbon, Orston, Notts HG13 9NJ
 
 
It is well documented that Down Syndrome children have difficulty with auditory processing and language development. This pilot study was undertaken to trial tests and questionnaires for suitability for use with the children, to see if any benefit could be established from the use of the Listening Training Programme ,as a prelude to a more formal study.
Since the children are educated in a variety of settings, main stream, special school and part time in both, the testing took place on a Saturday and the children were drawn from the Down Support Group, Nottingham. Nine children between the ages of 5 and 12years took part acting as their own controls. Where possible the programme was implemented in  school but where this was not possible it was undertaken by parents in the home setting.
The Listening  Training programme  from Advanced Brain Technologies was used with Sennheiser Headphones 555.The  children listened over a ten week period , to acoustically modified music, through headphones, for two fifteen minute sessions, five days a week . Testing took place pre and post intervention, mainly in the home of Caroline Newton.
A battery of tests, recommended by specialists in speech and language were carried out pre and post  intervention including,  The Mispronunciation Test from Maggie Vance where they have to identify whether words are the same or different with and without background noise  and The Rhythm Test where they have to tap out a copy of a rhythm sequence heard from Dilys Treharne (both Sheffield University), Celf Receptive & Expressive Language, Naglieri Non Verbal Cognitive Ability,  Renfrew Word Finding and  Digit Span. A questionnaire was completed by parents and teachers, if involved , at the end of intervention.
Most of  the standardised tests used were not found to be successful for use with these children, the questionnaires from teachers showed a very positive improvement in clarity of speech and active listening, highlighting the discrimination of sounds in words particularly at the ends (auditory closure) and the use of a greater number of words and connectives.  Parental questionnaires showed  particular improvements in communication and attention skills. The Mispronunciation Test from Maggie Vance  was beyond the comprehension of many of the children but those able to attempt it showed improvements  in the ability to discriminate sounds in words and some were able to attempt the test after intervention, where previously this was not the case which, is of significance in itself.
 
 

 





 conclusion : 

The children  on the study have shown improvements from the use of the programme in that they have clearer speech, more extensive vocabulary and are using greater utterances (more words which are strung together better.) In the school setting the child’s improved auditory discrimination gives rise to a greater attention span, with resulting improved communication with their peers and   the school staff . At home parents and relatives are more able to understand  their children. which reduces the frustration which can be felt by all parties.

The results mirror those found in research studies using the Listening Programme with typically developing children.

Our study highlighted  the fact that more appropriate tests need to be developed for children with Down Syndrome.

We then would recommend that a larger and more formal study be carried out by interested parties.

 

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A Series of case studies showing the common developmental thread linking  Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, ADHD , Autism and Underchievement unlabelled.

   Gwyneth Jeyes

Primary Movement is a reflex inhibition programme which uses slow replication of a specific series of foetal moves to inhibit or integrate primary reflexes. It produced a sound scientific study in the Lancet 2000 showing it was the effect of those particular movements which led to reduction of reflexes and much accelerated progress academically for dyslexics. A mass study followed involving 1000 children from Primary and secondary school showing significant improvements in maths, language and concentration. Training is now only available to full time teachers. Details can be found at www.primarymovement.org  Assessment involves tests for primary reflexes, balance, coordination and visual pursuit. They score 0 to 3 where 0 is no difficulty to 3 which  is a fully retained primary reflex or inability to complete the test.

THE LISTENING TRAINING PROGRAMME from ABT is a programme where children listen to specially modified music through headphones, half an hour a day, five days a week for 10 weeks on TLP, 8 weeks on Classic (now only available on Ipod) It is like aerobics for the ear and is used specifically to improve auditory discrimination and filtration of extraneous sound, though there can be other benefits for different individuals. More information can be found at www.advancedbrain.com. I wrote a paper on Listening published at the BDA international conference Warwick. The test used is the Scan Test of Auditory Processing Disorders and raw scores are standardized for each age group. The mean or average score is 10 on all the tests.

SS stands for standardized score

PHAB refers to the Naming speed tests in The Phonological Assessment battery of tests.

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ADHD

Mike was in his 18th year when he came for assessment. I’d known him since he was 10yrs old and alerted the parents to the problem. He had been assessed at the hospital but the mother always refused Ritalin. He’d gone from school to college to study ONC in computer studies. He acquitted himself well but the college did not want him for HNC as he was definitely ADHD and he would fail without tutor support which, was not available at that level. They accepted him because he was getting treatment which mother assured them would make the difference.

Primary Movement

Scores    pre intervention   20    post intervention          0

Listening Programme

Scan Test                                       Pre                       Post programme

Filtered words                                   6                                13

Auditory figure ground                    10                                10

Competing words                              4                                   8

Competing sentences                       1                                    4

Even though 4 for competing sentences seems low he could accurately get 17 sentences correct with only minor errors, which did not alter the meaning in the other 3, at the end of intervention

His SS naming speed for digits was 106 and for pictures 121  (mean 100) prior to intervention, so this was  not a concern

After intervention he was focused. He could concentrate. He was time aware and his work was in on time if not early, without any need of reminder.

He needed 180 points to get in university at 2nd year level and without any undue effort he achieved  a score of 260. He had no support during his HNC year unlike earlier years.

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 Dyscalculia    (Case study published in Daily Express  )

Most of the studies we see are of children but Alice was an adult,24 years of age. She was intelligent but all through her schooling her parents were told that despite this,  Alice had difficulties achieving for some reason unknown to them.

 In order to succeed Alice spent most of her time at home grasping and over learning information from the curriculum. She was a good reader, if a little slow but, had real problems with mathematics.

She had a goal. She wanted to be a construction engineer and build fine buildings. She worked very hard at school and at home to get the exam results she needed to go on to A level and then to university and she got herself sponsorship from a construction firm for a course at University to study construction engineering.

Alice was diagnosed with dyscalculia at a specialist assessment centre at university. She got extra time for exams and got her degree.  In the workplace it caused her problems and it blocked her way to promotion.
She was assessed for Primary Movement and Listening Training prior to following the programmes.
Primary Movement scores

Pre intervention   30     Post intervention   1.5

The Listening Programme



Other results

DIGIT SPAN TEST

Pre-programmes secure with 5 digits but no more

Post programmes secure with 7 plus digits

  PHAB Naming Speed Test

Standardized scores given where 100 is average

Pre programmes           SS 104

Post programmes          SS 131+

The whole process took about 9 months to complete.

Her difficulties evaporated and Alice got on the fast track scheme for higher management

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Dyspraxia with autistic traits

Jack  was 10 years 10 months old, labelled severe dyspraxia with some autistic traits. He had a classroom assistant with him during most of the school day. He was a non-reader, very immature in speech and behaviour and with very poor organizational skills. He could not cope with changes in routine and although he went on school camp in year 5 he had to be taken home because he was so distressed by it.
After the programme transition to secondary school went smoothly.
His teachers reported that his behaviour was excellent He was always polite, turned up on time and had the right equipment. He was keen to work and contribute orally to the lesson, illustrating understanding of the topic under discussion. His difficulties came from his inability to read and record and they were looking at other ways for him to do this via pictures or using the computer.
Developmental programmes enable the child to be a more effective learner but they need teaching to read and write if they have missed out in the earlier stages of education.  He went to secondary as a non-reader and  needed reading teaching to make up the gap.
Primary Movement

Pre programme  36    post programme   6

Listening Programme

Jack was at the top of the age range for Scan child standardized scores at the start and above that age on completion so they are not valid for comparison. The chart of results uses comparisons of raw scores with top scores possible.

 



 

PHAB Naming speed tests

                             Pre Prog            Post  programme

                         Time      SS                       Time       SS

Pictures           129      75                         96         89

Digits              101      -69                       86           -69 

(Time in seconds)(PhAB Test= Phonological Assessment Battery) (SS =Standardized score)

J is still slower than average but it is a big improvement on before.

He is happy to go to school, is socializing and making academic improvements

Dyslexia                       3 CASES

 Girl 12 years old
Primary Movement

Pre programme  22  Post programme 2

Listening Programme

Scan Test ofListening    (SS)          Pre            Post
Filtered words                                   4                6
Auditory figure ground                   8               10
Competing words                            7                13
Competing sentences                   4                  10
PHAB Naming speed tests               

                                                   Pre                 Post prog

Pictures                                      83                          105
Digits                                           94                           102
reading age                           9yrs 8m             10y 8m
Spelling age                           8y 8m                  10y
Time between pre & post tests             5 months
No additional teaching input                                                            
 

                    

Boy    9yrs 5 months
Primary movement 

Pre programme   30     post programme 2

Listening Programme

  Scan Test                              pre               post

Filtered words                         8                  13

Auditory figure ground          11                13

Competing words                   9                    14

Competing sentences           8                    10

PHAB Naming Speed  

                                         Pre             Post programme

Pictures                            107

Digits                                    97                  104

Reading age            9yr 6m             10yr 6mth

Spelling age            8yrs8m            9yr 4mth

Time elapsed since start of interventions 6mth

No additional academic input

Communicated my results with teacher at school and asked if she found the same.

‘   Yes they certainly are.  J is much more confident and has a positive ALMOST enthusiastic attitude to work.  Those improvements are indeed dramatic.  J completed our NFER spelling and reading last Wednesday and here are the results:

Reading – September 2007  ss99  Spelling ss93                                     

          September 2008   reading  ss112  Spelling ss96   ’

 

Toby 8yrs 9mths
Toby had been just an average youngster, doing alright at school- no problems and loving sport.
When he was 8yrs 9 months he got hit on the head in a football game. He was knocked out and taken to hospital where he was found to have some bleeding and swelling in the brain. He was treated and left hospital after a short stay though he still had to attend clinics and see neurologists.
The accident had the effect of reducing his listening ability though his hearing was unaffected, his coordination was not as good and he was diagnosed dyslexic.
 

Primary Movement scores pre and post programme



Listening Programme



His reading had regressed since the accident and he was reluctant to do it so after the dyslexia diagnosis the parents found him a tutor but he made very slow progress.
He came to me at 9yrs 9months and left after interventions at 10years 7 months.
At assessment he was found to be left eye and right ear dominant but it is not known whether this was always the case.
Over the time with me the parents reported great improvements in his listening at home, greater confidence, improved coordination and improved attitude and progress in reading. The school also reported  improvements in attitude and work quality and quantity there.
PhAB Naming Speed tests
Standardized scores given – 100=average

Test               Pre programmes       Post Programmes

For pictures         84                         102

For digits             87                           95

Reading age  pre prog        post – after 10 months

                       7yr 7mth          8yrs 7mths

Spelling          7yrs 6 mths      8yrs 7 mths

Toby is not losing further ground in reading and spelling but starting to make up the difference between chronological age and reading and spelling age. The tuition is providing the teaching to fill the gap and it is now progressing at a much faster rate. He is happier and more confident and keen to learn now. Swimming has improved as has football   

In Conclusion

Conclusion

The case studies are for subjects with a variety of labels, all involve work with Primary Movement and Listening Training. The subjects all showed  improvement in these areas with the consequent academic  improvement irrespective of label.

COMMENT
Re Dyslexia:-

I am a member of the BDA and acknowledge the excellence of their training, however Dyslexics also are known to have motor problems which go on into adult life and rapid naming is another difficulty. Dyslexics are  slower with their work. Whilst training can improve reading over time it does not address other problems .

Following programmes the dyslexic  subjects, in the case studies ,  can be seen to have improved in rapid naming and academic/reading progress plus motor areas and so much more. If there is a large gap between chronological age and attainment, the subject will need teaching input to catch up but will then be able to progress without input and reach the  level appropriate to them. Dyslexics can use computers but so can everyone else and if their reading has improved and they have improved phonological skills, specific reading programmes for computer are no longer an essential. When difficulties are addressed early and problems remediated subjects should be able to function at their level alongside their peers so there should not be a need for supportive counselling except in exceptional circumstances.

 

Developmental programmes address  effective learning but they do not teach the children.  If early intervention, using programmes to address development, took place in schools and all children were included, then those who have labels would be helped alongside those who may not be labelled but, would otherwise go on to underachieve because of developmental delay. There will always be children with additional difficulties but they will be highlighted for extra investigation.

 In my opinion it is better to adopt this approach,  than to wait till children have been demoralised by failure to achieve,  and then going through what is often a lengthy process to get a label for a child after which they may or may not get help. It is more cost effective to have children enabled to be effective learners than to ignore this need and offer intensive training  to a selection of children after failure.

Teachers teach but the children are actively involved in learning. To be effective learners they need to be learning ready.

( EASIE ( Exercise and sound in education) is a programme , researched by funding from the General Teaching Council Wales. It is for use with children from nursery onwards. It takes 15 minutes a day and is enjoyed by children and staff alike. Training provides a background in development, a CD  for classroom use, a manual including teaching notes and planning plus exercise sheets. This programme can then be implemented by teachers , who once trained, can deliver the programme year on year to children as they enter the learning institution. Children are then learning ready and can go on to make use of the effective teaching they receive as they move up through school.)

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