Possible Effects of Specific Auditory Stimulation (Johansen-IAS) on Language Development of a Group of Dyslexic Students

Abstract

A group of dyslexics with auditory processing difficulties showed significant improvements in language skills following intervention using non-linguistic auditory stimulation to enhance sensitivity and obtain a ‘healthy’ right ear advantage. Twenty–eight participants aged thirteen to seventeen years were divided into three groups: a dyslexic intervention group, a dyslexic control group and a non-dyslexic control group. The intervention used was Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation (Johansen IAS). The intervention group listened individually for ten minutes daily over fifteen to eighteen months to CDs of computer-generated music customised according to the results of their hearing tests. Improvements in technical reading (decoding) and spelling abilities in the dyslexic intervention group support a link between basic sensory perception skills and language-related skills at a phonological level. The study supports the use of non-linguistic auditory stimulation to optimise auditory perception, and the notion that such interventions benefit language in dyslexics whose auditory sensitivity and laterality is atypical. Further research is suggested to investigate the link between fundamental auditory processing abilities and our ability to learn and process language. The importance of assessing basic auditory perception, and the potential for its ‘re-education’ to optimise phonological awareness (widely accepted as a crucial process in literacy) is highlighted.