Over the course of my action research project through the Future Hope Project One with students at Wings Academy, a charter school in Milwaukee, I had the opportunity to work with several students whose behaviors could be categorized as within in the autistic spectrum. Their ages ranged from 8 to 18 years old. The intervention protocol is called audio visual entrainment, a form of brain wave training.
The behaviors of the study group participants ranged from autistic spectrum, ADHD to PTSD.
Dr. Raymond Lueck, a licensed psychologist practicing in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin served as the project investigator and Steve Taylor, a researcher and educator, served as the project manager. Mr. Taylor currently works at Wings Academy as a one-to-one mentor to at risk learners and children with behavior disorders. The school has a curricular and organizational focus of supporting children that learn differently achieve their academic goals in a safe and non-judgmental setting. Wings Academy is a college preparatory school.
The audio visual entrainment benefits are best delivered over a period of 36 to 40 training sessions of 25 minutes, four days per week.
Providing services to the underserved population of students
I have made a commitment to bring the technology of audio visual entrainment to our underserved student populations of Milwaukee; which is vast.
A large percentage of school aged children in Milwaukee live in poverty. As a result, they have little access to interventions and innovative technologies such as audio visual entrainment. I believe that it is incumbent upon clinicians, social entrepreneurs, educators and interested parties to come together in support of our very needy student population. I am confident that an innovative approach to outreach that would include the use of social networking via the Internet and person-to-person can overcome politics, poverty and organizational paralysis.
We must work for positive change in the lives of underserved children in urban areas.
The Future Hope Project interaction room
Paying close attention to the comfort level of the students as well as the ambient noise and light in the room was a worthwhile source of continued discernment.
Room conditions are important considerations when working with children in the autistic spectrum. Excessive ambient noise, bright lights and unfamiliar smells can impact the efficacy of the intervention. As a general rule of thumb, we try to make the room as devoid of personality as possible by ensuring that there is good ventilation, adjustable lighting and a location away from kitchens and other sources of potentially objectionable smells.
Encouraging a comfort level for using the intervention tools- The David Alert devices
Dr. Lueck and I were very pleased with how the students responded to the sensory nature of the audio visual entrainment gear.
The audio visual entrainment devices called the David Pal Alert, are a compact and portable training device that can go anywhere. The David Alert could have posed an initial problem because autistic students get a little fussy when devices are placed on or around their heads. In order to use the headphone and eyeglass entrainment tools it is necessary to place the headphones on the child’s ears, secured over the head and to place the glasses over their eyes.
I let the students handle to devices and also modeled how the equipment should be worn. In addition, I left the room lights on and had soft classical music playing in the room at specific intervals.
Ten year old female participant
The ten year old female participant demonstrated some anxiety during the early sessions.
A ten year old girl who participated in the study would pull the glasses up over her eyes a few minutes into the 24 minute the 4x per week audio visual entrainment experience. She was a bit anxious for the first four or five sessions. I encouraged her to keep her eyes closed and to keep the glasses on. The lights were turned up and that appeared to reduce her level of anxiety. Her mother presented a very touching video testimonial about the positive changes that had occurred in her daughter’s disposition over the first 4 plus weeks of using audio visual entrainment. The video is posted on the website at: www.ourlifedesigns.com
My friend’s 12 year old autistic son
My friends son is a high functioning young man with a pleasant demeanor and a willing attitude.
I have worked with my friend’s son for the past two months. He did fidget quit a bit during the first several sessions because the room was too dark. After mom turned the room lights up to a brighter setting, the young man seemed to enjoy the experience. He even told his mother that he liked the B4 setting of the David Alert the best. His mother reports that his performance in school has improved significantly with an observed improvement in focus from his teacher.
Tomatis Method-similar benefits from audio visual entrainment
The stimulation of the auditory system and vestibular area is a hallmark feature of the Tomatis Method intervention model. While the David Pal Alert device does not target this area it achieves similar results with the audio stimulation provided by the device and managed with a simple push button selector that delivers the programmed audio stimulation.
The benefit of using both audio and visual tools
The primary benefit of using the glasses in conjunction with the headphones is the stimulation of the optic nerve and pre-frontal cortex. In addition, the flow of helpful neurotransmitters are improved.
Anticipated and observed improvements in behaviors
Over the course of the audio visual entrainment intervention we have observed improvements in social behaviors, better eye contact, sleep patterns and academic performance. Other behavior improvements that should be observed upon completion of the 36-40 sessions include:
Decreased hypersensitivity to sound, reduced tactile defensiveness, improved language skills, improved appreciation for food and less picky behaviors, better self image, less aggression, improved social skills and better eye contact.
Project programming is replicable
Over the past ten years, I have helped to develop a number of project design initiatives for at risk learners. I served on the design team or was directly responsible for the design, development and management of several after school programs for at-risk learners. I was part of the design and implementation team Community Learning Centers (CLC’s) through MPS. I also served on the initial assessment team with UWM. While a member of the faculty and staff of Marquette University, I created and managed the Young Webmasters Project 1 and 2. These projects became summer school programs that provided an academic bridge benefit for at risk learners.
This past year, I developed the Future Hope Project One for at risk learners as an after school program. Buoyed by the successful interventions experienced by our student participants, I designed the Future Hope Project 2 as a brain centered intervention program using a combination of innovative assessment tools including Brain SPECT analysis.
I would be happy to work with your school to design a program tailored for the needs of your at risk students.
Key Words
- Action research project
- Autistic spectrum
- Audio visual entrainment
- Wings Academy in Milwaukee
- Future Hope Project One
- Ambient noise and lighting
- Female autistic participants
- Tomatis Method
- Neurotransmitters
- Auditory stimulation
- Visual stimulation
- Sensory nature of audio visual entrainment equipment
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