CHILDREN and adults in need of help with learning and sensory difficulties have a chance to receive pioneering treatment thanks to Manx Mencap.
In August, specialists from The Sound Learning Centre, in London, will visit the island for the fourth time to provide treatments.
Manx Mencap is again sponsoring the specialists coming over and providing the treatment for about 10 people.
Pauline Allen, principal of the London centre, said: ‘We are still getting excellent results on a regular basis so we are delighted to be coming back to the island, where we always receive such a warm Manx welcome.’
Since their first visit to the island in 2009, the specialists have treated about 40 people here.
Pauline said: ‘We have had excellent feedback from people we have helped here before, their lives have changed quite dramatically. A couple of parents have reported their children are doing well in exams and socialising.
‘One girl is now able to socialise and get on with her education and her exams. She is much more independent of her parents and she is happy and more out-going.’
The centre aims to get behind problems such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and find the sensory problems – such as hearing or vision – which are the underlying causes.
Pauline said: ‘One of our mantras is a label doesn’t tell you what is wrong with a child. We are looking beyond a diagnosis.’
Individual assessments, which involve taking a look at the auditory, visual and neurodevelopmental systems – will take place in March.
‘In that time we can garner sufficient information to know what the underlying causes are for a person’s difficulties and give individual feedback.’
In August, individuals will receive 10 days of treatment at Centre 21, in Homefield Road, Douglas. Treatment involves sound and light therapy to target the auditory and visual systems.
Auditory integration training involves listening to music that has been specially modified and filtered through an electronic device, the Audiokinetron.
Meanwhile, lightwave stimulation uses low intensity, pulsed, coloured light to rebalance the sympathetic and parasympathetic sides of the autonomic nervous system.
Pauline said that the treatments hadn’t changed since the centre started coming to the island: ‘The treatments haven’t changed because they are still excellent. They are still non-invasive and still seeing people come off medication.’
In a message to parents struggling to understand their children’s difficulties, Pauline said: ‘Never give up hope. There’s always a possibility for a child to improve – brains can change.’
For more information contact Heather Benghiat at The Sound Learning Centre by calling 020 8882 1060 or email {mailto:info@thesoundlearningcentre.co.uk|info(at)thesoundlearningcentre.co.uk}
