WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM
JOHANSEN SOUND THERAPY?

Johansen Sound Therapy can be of benefit to children, adolescents and adults with a variety of speech and/or language difficulties, both spoken and written (including specific learning difficulties and dyslexia).

These include difficulties with the following:

• Speech Sounds (pronouncing speech sounds correctly)
• Receptive Language (understanding of language)
• Expressive Language (speaking)
• Auditory Processing
• Written Language (including dyslexia)
• Reading
• Spelling
• Phonological awareness (awareness of speech sounds)
• Speech
• Dyspraxia
• Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• Understanding and remembering information and instructions
• Concentration
• Self confidence and self esteem
• Behaviour - when it may be due to poor communication skills
• Hypersensitivity to loud or particular sounds / noises

Children, adolescents and adults of a wide age range can benefit from Johansen Sound Therapy. Children as young as three years old have successfully followed the programme and adults have also benefited, although for older individuals, the programme may take longer to complete than for younger people.

Young children - Johansen Sound Therapy helps individuals to hear sounds more accurately and efficiently. For young children with speech that is difficult to understand, JST can enhance their ability to improve the accuracy of their speech sound production and works very well alongside any speech and language therapy input they may be receiving. Children who have difficulty in understanding what is said to them, or in expressing themselves effectively can also benefit greatly from JST.

School age children - Johansen Sound therapy improves auditory processing efficiency. Children who find it difficult to follow instructions, do not seem to listen to what is being said to them, or need extra time to respond to a question, may have a problem with auditory processing. Johansen Sound Therapy can improve these underlying difficulties which may be part of the cause of their difficulty with understanding. This may include children with spoken language difficulties, including specific language impairment (SLI), dyspraxia, ADHD or dyslexia. JST can also be very helpful for children with expressive language difficulties and with speech sound difficulties. Johansen Sound Therapy can also be helpful for children on the autistic spectrum.

Children for whom reading and spelling are problematic, find it easier to analyse the sound structure of words following listening to Johansen Sound Therapy music. Together with good targeted teaching this can help their literacy skills significantly.

Adults - Johansen Sound Therapy has not been used with adults as widely as with children. However, those who have been through the programme have reported improvements with processing incoming auditory information as well as with their reading and spelling. 

Johansen Sound Therapy is not a magical answer to all a child's problems. It is important that children are assessed prior to starting on the programme to ensure that Sound Therapy is an appropriate approach for their particular difficulties. For a small minority of children with language difficulties JST may not work, though there are very few in our experience, who will not gain some benefit from it. For the vast majority, who through assessment are identified as being likely to be helped, it can make a very great difference.

It is always important that a fully qualified JST practitioner delivers and monitors the implementation of the programme.