Check children for hearing difficulty

LEARNING TO LISTEN— Khymberleigh Herwill-Levin, owner of the Brain Insititute in Westlake Village, performs a test on one of her clients. According to Herwill-Levin, many children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder may actually be suffering from auditory processing difficulties. At 21, Steven Miller couldn’t hold down a job. On some days, he couldn’t even get out of bed.

Anna Marie Miller, Steven’s mother, was frantic to help her son, who had been diagnosed at a young age with severe attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression and other difficult syndromes. Miller’s life had become defined by what he couldn’t do. He had always had trouble concentrating in school, but now he c o u l d n ’ t w o r k , c o u l d n ’ t sleep at night and couldn’t function.

M i l l e r was prescribed a variety of medications, but they lost effectiveness over time, and the constant juggling of drugs was taking its toll.

Miller searched the Internet to find other solutions for her son and discovered Learning to Listen—The Brain Fitness Center, in Westlake Village. Khymberleigh Herwill-Levin, a special education specialist, owns and operates the center and several others in the United States, Israel, South Africa and Canada.

Herwill-Levin diagnosed Miller, as she has more than 4,800 other patients over 14 years, with a central auditory processing disorder. The underdiagnosed syndrome is often at the root of learning disabilities and behavioral problems, according to Herwill-Levin.

To make the diagnosis, HerwillLevin creates a “listening skills profile” by transmitting sounds through headphones that patients wear. Sounds at varying frequencies are transmitted to each ear separately, she said. Herwill-Levin graphs patients’ responses, and when the results fall below a certain norm the diagnosis of “hyposensitive processing” is made, she said. Such patients hear a full range of sounds, but their reactions are often delayed.

C l i ents who score above the norm are considered “hypersensitive,” described by H e r w i l l Levin as “ a u d i t o r y s e n s o r y overload.”

“Sounds come so quickly, the child switches off,” she said.

Students with sensory overload often have problems in school. Herwill-Levin said teachers commonly complain that such children are daydreamers, in a world of their own, or simply can’t pay attention.

The auditory disability’s disruption of focus mimics attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other learning problems, Herwill-Levin said.

“I believe about 35 percent of children who have a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD have a misdiagnosis,” Herwill-Levin said. “If a child is diagnosed simply with ADD/ADHD, what came first—the inability to focus due to distractions or a sensory overload?”

Her therapy program includes two 30-minute sessions daily for 10 days. Herwill-Levin desensitizes her patients by bombarding their ears with electronically distorted music.

The Brain Fitness Center’s program addresses more than auditory problems. HerwillLevin offers a variety of “neocognitive” therapies centering on rhythm, balance and movement. She also works with patients who have tactile and visual problems.

Patients—oftentimes children—jump on trampolines and follow a chart on the wall to perform cheerleading movements—arms up, left, right and so forth. Then they’re asked to do the same tasks backwards. Drills and other decoding games help children who have reading problems, she said. Computer games are used for those with vision disorders.

“The brain can do lots of associative tasks but only one cognitive task at a time,” HerwillLevin said.

She likens the skills taught at the Brain Institute to the use of songs in memorizing information. She suggests younger children tap out the letters of a word, or skip rope while spelling words aloud.

Herwill-Levin said one young boy she treated chewed on his clothing and hummed all the time, much to his teacher’s dismay. After therapy, the boy was able to listen and close out all other sounds.

Health insurance companies will not pay for educational therapy, Herwill-Levin said. The Food and Drug Administration classifies the treatment as educational, not medical. The cost of treatment ranges from $180 to $300 per session and includes once-a-week follow-up sessions for three months and a sixmonth follow-up to track progress through feedback from teachers, speech pathologists, psychologists and other professionals.

“Sometimes (the therapeutic effects) last for life,” HerwillLevin said. Children’s physical growth sometimes affects the program’s longterm effectiveness, she said. Some parents bring their children back for follow-up treatments every few years.

Miller said his auditory integration training had a miraculous effect. The El Segundo man now works full time and has cut down on the amount of medication he uses.

“The results have been phenomenal,” his mother said. “He’s a different person.”

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