Annabel Stehli's Story

“It would be better, to refer to them as ‘sensory processing anomalies’ rather than ‘disabilities’, to foster increased focus on the formidable assets which accompany the liabilities.

When conditions are lumped together in a ‘disability’ category, prejudice is encouraged and a glass ceiling in special education often results.”

 ~ Annabel Stehli

Annabel Stehli's mission in life is to publicize Auditory Training, the pivotal intervention in her daughter's recovery from autism in 1977 that led to the publication of Sound of a Miracle, a Child's Triumph over Autism and on the same theme, Dancing in the Rain and Sound of Falling Snow. In addition, she wrote the afterword for Hearing Equals Behavior (Keats, New Canaan, '93) by Guy Berard, M.D. who developed Auditory Training in France in the last century.

When Sound of a Miracle appeared in condensed form as the Book Section in the December 1990 issue of The Reader's Digest, and a month later, complete and un­abridged in hardcover*, it captured the attention of the general readership as well as professionals and parents of children with special needs who were eager for non-drug interventions. After receiving favorable reviews in Booklist, Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly and the London Sunday Times, the book was purchased by public libraries and continues to be widely read today. It is available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and similar sites, and copies are also sold at The Georgiana Institute to support its work. It has been translated into numerous languages and is not only an inspiration to parents and professionals world-wide, but is often required reading in special educa­tion courses. At last count Google has 140,000 mentions of Annabel Stehli, and over a million for Auditory Training.

The late Bernard Rimland, PhD, of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego, wrote the introduction to the first edition of Sound of a Miracle in 1991 and ran the first double blind research studies that same year, without which Sound of a Miracle would not have been published as Ms. Stehli thought no one would believe her without research. Summaries of twenty-eight research studies can be accessed on the Autism Research Institute website. Dr. Rimland updated his introduction for the 2005 edition of Sound of a Miracle, and deserves much of the credit for the validation and popularity of Auditory Training. As a pioneer in the field of autism and a champion of parents of autistic children, he is unequaled.

Annabel Stehli has built a network of parents and professionals who endorse Auditory Training. A variety of their case histories are collected in Dancing in the Rain, Stories of Exceptional Progress by Parents of Children With Special Needs (1995, Georgiana Institute, currently Beaufort Press, NY) and Sound of Falling Snow, Stories of Recovery from Autism and Related Disorders (Beaufort,'05). Noted pediatrician and autism specialist, Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., is the author of the foreword for Sound of Falling Snow.

Auditory Training is a ten-day therapy designed to remediate auditory discrimination in children and adults with hyper-acute hearing and auditory distortion. The training consists of randomly filtered and modulated music heard through headphones for half an hour, twice a day, for a total of ten days. Side effects, if any, are temporary, and results are cumulative over a three-month period. The therapy may be given once a year until improvement is no longer needed. Although Auditory Training is categorized by the PDA as an educational intervention, insurance coverage is sometimes available under codes for speech therapy, aural rehabilita­tion, abnormal auditory perception, hyperacute hearing, and impairment of auditory discrimination. The Georgiana Institute endorses Berard-based Auditory Training, specifi­cally Digital Auditory Aerobics (DAA), researched by Laurie Ross-Brennan, CCC/SLP, Albuquerque, and as Auditory Integration Training under the aegis of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego.

Annabel Stehli is founder and director of The Georgiana Institute, Inc., a non-profit organization formed in response to the thousands of inquiries received after the publication of Sound of A Miracle. Spending countless hours on the telephone with parents of children with special needs, Ms. Stehli formed a network, conceived as a “pay it forward” organization for mutual support and information that resulted in creating a demand for Auditory Training in the U.S. where it was not yet available. Organized by Peter Stehli, Guy Berard, M.D., who developed Auditory Training in France, was invited to the U S. to train speech pathologists, audiologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals in the implementation of his method of Auditory Training. Many of his trainees are still in practice today and are listed on the website of the Georgiana Institute, www.georgianainstitute.org. Ten-day Auditory Training sessions for children and adults, including evaluations, consultations and listening tests are available at the Institute. Auditory Training equipment, specifically Digital Auditory Aerobics, may also be purchased by qualified professionals.

Since Sound of a Miracle was published, Ms. Stehli has given over a thousand speeches and interviews and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, includ­ing Larry King Live, ABC News 20/20 and NPR. She has given talks throughout the United States, and has also traveled to the U.K., Canada, Ireland, Israel, Kuwait, and South Africa. In 2006 alone, the Philippines, China and Singapore were on her itinerary along with Indiana, Florida and Arkansas. Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) are awarded for attendance at Ms. Stehli's lectures.

Auditory Training has been available in the United States since 1991, and Digital Auditory Aerobics Auditory Training was evaluated by the FDA in 1 998. The FDA regards DAA as a safe and effective means of remediating impairments in auditory discrimination associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, PDD (Pervasive Developmental Delay), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder), Dyslexia, language delays and communication disorders. Improvement in auditory discrimination can result in better social skills, sleeping habits, behavior, concentration, reading ability and academic performance in children. Occasionally special talents and gifts become evident after Auditory Training. Adults report increased focus and decreased tension levels, anxiety and depression, and corresponding improvements in relationships and job performance.

interview

written by Rebecca Ransom  ·  photographed by Laurie Gaboardi

     As a child, Georgiana refused to blow out the candles on her birthday cake - the sound of air passing through her lips echoed like the voices of monsters in her head.

     Sounds had a bizarre effect on Annabel Stehli's daughter, Georgiana. Insects pounded her ears with the force of chainsaws, the methodic pump of blood through her veins petrified her. Yet Georgiana, unable to speak during her earliest years, suffered in silence in her own private world.

     Georgiana was autistic.

     It was the late 1960s, and Ms. Stehli feared the Georgiana was destined for a bleak future. Never could Ms. Stehli have imagined that through a groundbreaking therapy, the Berard Method of Auditory Integration Training (AIT), Georgiana would escape the constraints and isolation of autism.

     A Roxbury resident and founder of the Georgiana Institute, Ms. Stehli has detailed her daughter's troubling childhood and recovery from autism in her book, "The Sound of a Miracle: A Child's Triumph Over Autism" (Doubleday; New York, 1991).

     Ms. Stehli is credited with bringing AIT to mainstream America, sparking a revolution in the international medical and autism community, and raising awareness about how special-needs children and their parents are treated. "One of the things I love to do is validate the intelligence of so-called retarded people," she said.

     "My life is an open book - literally," said Ms. Stehli referring to her book, which has become a mainstay for parents with special-needs children and a worldwide phenomena, featured in Reader's Digest and on the "Sally Jesse Raphael Show," "Larry King Live," and "20/20."

     It's difficult to imagine that Ms. Stehli, with her radiant smile and exuberant energy, could have ever been the shattered housewife, desperately searching to find a cure for her two ailing daughters, so eloquently and heartbreakingly described in her memoir.

     "I'm on a mission," Ms. Stehli said confidently while being interviewed in her Roxbury home. "I'm a housewife who hangs over the back fence. I don't have an axe to grind. I have options to give."

     Ms.Stehli knew immediately that something was wrong, It was May 24, 1965, when Georgiana entered the world, a month early, barely letting out a cry or grasping an outstretched finger. As the months wore onto years, Georgiana's behavoir remained oddly withdrawn and unresponsive. Though Ms Stehli had her suspicions, it wasn't until she read a newspaper article on autism that her misgivings seem to be confirmed.

     According to the Autism Society of America, "autism is a complex developmental disability" caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function. Characteristics such as uneven motor skills, unresponsiveness, repetition and difficulty communicating are common. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million Americans are autistic, with it being four times more common in males.

     In the book, Ms. Stehli recounts the downward spiral of events that unfold in her life - her first child, Dotsie, is diagnosed with leukemia and dies, her first husband abandons the family and she is urged to institutionalize Georgiana.

     In an era when developmental disabilities were still misunderstood, Ms. Stheli faced endless condemnation over Georgiana's disability. Doctors told her point blank it was her fault, that "the mother's of such infacts fail to react appropriately to their baby's needs." Other mothers criticized her for "babying her too much," and paradoxically, "not giving her enough attention." Strangers in the grocery store made snide remarks, linking Ms. Stehli's disorganized purse with bad parenting. At some points, even Ms. Stehli blamed herself.

     Today, is is known that "children with autism are born with the disorder or potential to develop it," according to the Autism Society of America. "Bad parenting does not cause it. It is not a mental illness. Children with autism are not unruly kids who choose not to behave."

     Despite Georgiana's dismal prognosis, and despite the girl being labled "retarded" and "serverely emotionally disturbed," Ms. Stehli refused to give up. While living in Europe with her second husband, Peter Stehli, she learned of an avant-garde autism therapy called AIT, performed by a French otolaryngologist, Dr. Guy Berard.

     AIT corrects auditory sensitivity and distortions through intensive music therapy, played at varying frequencies, 30 minutes twice daily for 10 days. The wide-frequency essentially "massages" the brain, reducing painful hearing and allowing the brain to better comprehend sounds.

     Sensory distortions, particularly auditory, are common in autistic children, and may account for many " austistic behaviors." Although AIT is primarily used on autism, Dr. Berard's research has fond other disorders that benefit from AIT, such as dyslexia, depression and attention deficit.

     Not long after receiving AIT, Georgiana began to change, For the first time, noise was tolerable, sounds made sense, She excelled in European public schools, earning A's in German taught in French, going on to complete college and graduate school with honors. Today she lives in Oregon with her husband and child, is a successful artist, businesswoman, international autism advocate and public speaker who is fluent in nine languages.

     After returning to America, Ms. Stehli was contacted by Dr. Bernard Rimland, director of the Autism Research Institute in California, who had run double-blind trials on AIT, finding the results impressive. Hearing of Georgiana's success, he urged Ms. Stehli to write a book on her experiences.

     "People would stop me on the street," Ms. Stehli remembered after the book was published. Parents of special-needs childrem would call her, looking for advice, support, and information on AIT. "I always had time to talk to anyone who called," she said.

     Inspired, Ms. Stehli founded the support and informational network The Georgiana Institute. But there still remained a problem - AIT was only available in Europe.

     But Ms. Stehli couldn't be discouraged. "We had found a miracle, and I just wanted to run with it," she said.

     In the 1990s, the Stehlis invited Dr. Beard to America to train medical professionals on AIT, and found an American company to manufacture AIT equipment with FDA approval. Currently, there are many medical professionals who administer AIT across the country.

     Ms. Stehli became the editor of two more books, "Dancing in the Rain: Stories of Exceptional Progress by Parents of Children with Special Needs" and "Sound of Falling Snow: Stories of Recovery from Autism and Related Conditions," which have been reprinted in numerous languages.

     In addition, she travels the world speaking on autism and AIT. "I like to treat people who are never treated normally, normally," she said. "There are so many people locked away [in institutions] who could be redeemed if we gave them a break."

For more information, see the web site, www.georgianainstitute.org

from the March 2006 issue of
The Litchfield Times Monthly
published by the Litchfield County Times
55 Bank Street, New Milford, CT 06776

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Annabel Stehli, President
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