website news page

August 2009
Annabel writes . . .

This year I have put the completion of my new book, Silver Linings, on hold in favor of increasing my focus on setting up new practices, marketing Digital Auditory Aerobics Systems, and giving Auditory Training to children here in Roxbury and the surrounding area.

May 11, 2009

Read the Web MD article:
Research suggests children can recover from autism.

February 2008
Annabel writes . . .

Georgie and I went to Manila to give a seminar on Saturday, Feb 2nd. Almost 600 people were in attendance, and Georgie made a triumphant return to the circuit after a seven-year hiatus. Now that her daughter Hannah is six, Georgie feels free to do some traveling again. Cases of books, her OVERCOMING AUTISM and my Sound of a Miracle, Dancing in the Rain and Sound of Falling Snow sold out almost immediately. We were autographing them for an hour, following a very long Q&A. It was a great experience and Auditory Training is off to a marvelous start in Manila.

The Manila Conference is summarized in the WithNews article,
A mother’s love for her autistic daughter.
WithNews is an internet news website covering topics
concerning the disabled and poor.

January 2008

Read a personal letter from Annabel about this past year at the Georgiana Institute.

Annabel writes . . .
I heard today from my editor at Beaufort Books, New York, that Sound of a Miracle has been bought for translation by an Italian publisher. This will make five translations - Italian, Korean, Chinese, German and Dutch. I'm told a Spanish edition may also be forthcoming. It seems that the new book, Silver Linings (stories about faith), that I'm currently writing, is creating buzz for Sound of a Miracle even though Sound of a Miracle is a very old lady in publishing having been in print and in the library for almost twenty years.

June 14, 2006

On June lst, I returned from three weeks in the Far East where I gave a talk in Singapore for DAA (Digital Auditory Aerobics) Practitioner June Webb and stayed with the hospitable Webbs for four days of good food, bridge games far into the night, and sightseeing (most notably the Night Safari and the Nature Preserve/rain forest). June offers DAA in her spacious, breezy office with a lovely view of the city.

I left Singapore to go on to Shanghai, hosted by Jane Shaw, a Network Parent, to give another talk in one of those fabulous buildings you can see in Mission Impossible III. The next two days were spent giving evaluations (I brought my Maico Audiometer with me for listening tests). I stayed with NP Fiona Thomas, dazzling hostess and Class A haggler, who took me on several meaningful excursions to the Shanghai Knockoff Market.

From Shanghai I flew to Cebu, in the Philippines. The Network Parents who invited me put me up in a charming hotel where they were trained to become Auditory Training Practitioners under the aegis of an Occupational Therapist. Their five sons with autism, ages eight to ten, received ten days of DAA, sitting still for the headphones with a few temporary problems solved by "holding therapy" and similar strategies.



The photograph above is of Network Parent/DAA Practitioner Suzanne Kaw, R.N., (left), her son, Hendrick (center) and me. I was honored to be served the magnificent yard-long roast pig at a family dinner at the Kaws, a memory to be treasured. It was a truly fabulous trip, all superlatives apply, and I welcome future opportunities to work here and abroad, setting new practitioners up in practice with DAA equipment and training, and/or giving talks, evaluations, listening tests, and ten-day sessions of DAA Auditory Integration Training.


April 2006

      Read Dr. Mercola's newsletter article
"Autism Rates Fall With the Removal of Mercury".


March 2006
A new Annabel Stehli interview

      Annabel is the subject of the Litchfield County Times Monthly interview "The Power of a Mother's Love".


Annabel writes:

August 6, 2005

Laurie Ross Brennan, SLP, Albuquerque, reports that her research on DAA vs. the BGC is yielding ever more interesting and encouraging results.

[And] Rebecca Welker, SLP, Tucson, has told me that the AZ Dept. of Developmental Disabilities is covering DAA therapy. Colleen Pockette, SLP, potential DAA practitioner in Prescott, AZ, reports similarly, as does Laurie Ross Brennan, SLP, Albuquerque. The DDD's are recognizing that DAA is cost-effective. Fewer therapies and medications may be needed post DAA.

When one of our most active DAA practitioners threatened ASHA with a class action suit in the light of ASHA's negative stance on sound therapies (they have since decided to do some decent research), she was told that members of ASHA who were using Berard-based methods of AIT were not in danger of having their memberships revoked. Although this heartening, we are looking forward to the results of their research initiative.

Summer 2005

CALLING ASHA MEMBERS -
SOUND THERAPY RESEARCH GROUP FORMING


      Dear Colleague,

      The use of sound as a therapeutic intervention is being used by speech-language pathologists and audiologists at increasing rates. Clearly, with these increasing numbers it is apparent to all that the effects of sound on the nervous system are resulting in behavioral changes associated with listening, communication and learning. The effects and changes that are observed and reported should be studied, researched and published.

       A group of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in California are in the process of forming a Special Interest Division (SID) with the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). The purpose of this group would be to develop structured methodologies and procedures for measuring changes in listening, communicating and learning when using sound as a therapeutic intervention. This group will consist of clinicians using the Tomatis Method, Samonas Sound Therapy, Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT), The Listening Program, Dynamic Listening Systems, FastForward, Music for Modulation and Interactive Metronome (IM).

       This letter is a call to action. In order to form a new SID ASHA requires a proposal be submitted and signed by no fewer than one hundred members of the association. So, we are asking all speech-language pathologists and audiologists who are active in ASHA and are using sound as a therapeutic intervention to join in our effort to develop this necessary and essential group for study and research purposes. It is vitally important that we begin to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice. The way to do this is to conduct research that is rigorous and meaningful to clinicians and have those studies published in peer reviewed journals. It is our hope that the Sound Therapy SID will provide the basis for sound therapy and evidence based practice that provides a framework to allow individual clinicians to share their results with others.

       If you would like to be a part of this group or know of other ASHA members who may be interested please contact Dr. Deb Swain (dswain@theswaincenter.com), Mindy Newhouse (mbnew@aol.com) or Carol Atkins (CarolAtkinsMA@cox.net) with your name, professional affiliation, contact information and sound therapy intervention that you are using.

      We are hoping to have an initial meeting of the Sound Therapy SID at the ASHA convention in November. At that time the organizing group will present members with preliminary proposal and outline for the group.

      Please join us in this exciting and much needed effort.


Sincerely,

Sound Therapy organizing committee




      The Georgiana Institute regrets having to cancel the conference at the Sheraton Bradley Field, Hartford's airport, on Friday, September 30th. Our keynote speaker, Laurie Ross Brennan, SLP, Albuquerque, will not be ready to present her research on Digital Auditory Aerobics until a date not yet established. However, given the experience, conscientiousness, meticulousness and credibility of Laurie Brennan, we can safely state, based on her preliminary findings, that DAA is comparable to the BGC equipment. Since Dr. Steve Edelson researched the efficacy of the BGC and the AudioKinetron in 1992 and found them to be comparable, we can deduce that the effects of DAA are comparable to those of the AudioKinetron.


   ~   Annabel Stehli


October 2004

ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF:


   
click here to see back cover


SOUND OF FALLING SNOW, Stories of Recovery from Autism and Related Conditions, edited by Annabel Stehli, Foreword by Jeff Bradstreet, M.D.(Midpoint Trade Books, NY)


A New Edition of: SOUND OF A MIRACLE, a Child’s Triumph over Autism; by Annabel Stehli, in print since 1991, updated introduction by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Director, The Autism Research Institute, San Diego (Midpoint Trade Books, NY) (The original hardcover of "Sound of a Miracle" is available in public libraries throughout the U.S.)


A New Edition of DANCING IN THE RAIN, Stories of Exceptional Progress by Parents of Children with Special Needs, edited by Annabel Stehli, in print since 1995 (Midpoint Trade Books, NY)


More information on these books can be found on the books page.

TO ORDER:
Please specify number of copies of each title, shipping address, and method of payment: Personal check, credit card, Amex, Master Charge or Visa. You may email your credit card information to georgianainstitute@snet.net, or phone it in to The Georgiana Institute at (203)994-8215. Please be sure to include the name in which the card is listed and the expiration date. Books are $15.00 plus $3.00 S&H for orders under $31.00, $6.00 for orders over $30.00. FOR ORDERS OF FIVE OR MORE COPIES: $10.00 per copy plus $6.00 S&H per order.


Books may be signed and/or inscribed upon request. Proceeds from the sale of books contribute to the operating expenses of The Georgiana Institute, www.georgianainstitute.org, a non-profit organization offering support and information on auditory training to the special needs community since 1991.


We appreciate your order and will give it our prompt attention.


Annabel Stehli,
The Georgiana Institute, Inc.




2001

Drs. Bernard Rimland and Stephen M. Edelson have published a new report entitled "The Efficacy of Auditory Integration Training, Summaries and Critiques of 28 Reports (January, 1993 - May, 2001)."

Their conclusion is: "Our review of the available literature on AIT has produced 23 studies with positive results and only 3 claiming no benefits from AIT. While none of the research done thus far on AIT is of Nobel Prize quality, the positive studies are far more credible than those with negative results. As we point out in our comments, the 3 studies that claim no benefits are deeply flawed, with conclusions that are not supported by the research procedures or the research data. AIT does, in fact, appear to be a worthwhile, frequently beneficial intervention which confers improvement in a number of symptoms, in a significant proportion of disorders on the autism spectrum."


To view the entire report, please go to  The Autism Research Institute
or the Society for Auditory Intervention Techniques.

Help support our endeavor; please send your tax deductible donations to:

The Georgiana Institute, Inc.
A Nonprofit Organization
Annabel Stehli, President
New Orleans, LA 70115 USA
Cell phone: (203)994-8215
Email: georgianainstitute@snet.net


The Georgiana Institute is a tax-exempt corporation
under section 501 (C (3) of the Internal Revenue code.
Federal EIN & tax-exempt no. 06-1500430.