Hi Sharon, I would like to share some feedback with you.

We are in the midst of preparing for a move to Thailand so things have been extremely hectic around here, but we have faithfully followed the program without fail. I know I should be sending in the feedback forms, it’s just that my son has been improving so quickly that I do not know where to start grading the improvements.

3 days ago, his teachers in pre-school actually cornered my wife and told her that our son has begun joining in the sing-along sessions as well as verbal participation in class lessons. He can now respond accurately to simple instructions and comprehends most of our conversation with him. His eye contact has improved to a level where he shines emotions out of them, and his tip toeing has decreased significantly. He is also very keen to share anything that he finds interesting, and pointing them out to us now on a regular basis. For those familiar with autism, I believe this is a key area of improvement that they will look for.

We are very excited to see his progress and can’t wait for him to complete his first 16 week cycle. Please accept our heartiest gratitude for creating this program and sharing it with the world, I use the word “share” because you can’t really put a price on something this remarkable. Thank you.

PS: Quick note to share on the headphones, in case anyone brings this up in the future. He absolutely hated to have anything on his head, but by the 2^nd session (Week 1) he doesn’t notice it anymore, and he started asking for “music” towards the end of Week 2, now he is the one demanding for his “music” every evening, so the Gregorian Chants came in handy for the weekends.

Best wishes,

Brian, Malaysia

To try Lollipop, go to www.SoundTherapySystems.com and learn how we can make lasting changes in YOUR child.

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Lollipop Listening Therapy is really making its mark in the world of auditory training. We just launched it last year, and the data that is coming in is proving that our exclusive protocol of retraining the ears and brain to process sound better – different than any other listening program out there- is very effective in helping a child overcome their obstacles. We are seeing changes rapidly. Even faster than I expected. Granted, every child is different and progresses at their own pace, but what we are seeing with Lollipop so early on in a child’s program that is getting their bodies back in sync and normalizing their auditory processing at such a rapid pace is making me believe that we are touching upon something very unique and special in Lollipop that other listening therapies just can’t match. The data don’t lie!

A listening therapy program is something that is done for sometimes years in order to create sustaining changes. In only 6 short weeks, this little boy is seeing such fabulous changes. He is only about 1/3 of the way through his “initial” program of 16 weeks and this is what is happening with him so soon that has his parents tremendously satisfied with Lollipop Listening Therapy. 

We don’t need peer-reviewed journals spilling over with data to show how effective a therapy can be. I don’t know too many parents that scour journals looking for data to back a therapy. They rely on parents who have tried it and have reported on it. Their child’s progress on it is what drives a therapy forward and makes a buzz with other parents. We are most grateful for the buzz parents have made about our product. Lollipop Listening Therapy should be on EVERY parent’s radar!  To try Lollipop, go to www.SoundTherapySystems.com and learn how we can make lasting changes in YOUR child. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!

Ratings Key

1 – much worse than usual; 2 – a little worse than usual; 3 –  no change (or not applicable due to age); 4 – slight improvement, still needs work on; 5 – a lot of improvement, still needs a little more work; 6 - steady weekly improvement, very satisfied with changes; 7- goal almost met; 8 - goal met

Lollipop Testimonials

I have noticed great improvements on my adoptive daughter’s emotions while using your program. She use to cry about anything all day long causing exhaustion for the whole family. She also was a terrible sleeper. After one week of using your program we notice a remarkable improvement. She now sleeps without interruption from 8pm-7:30am( she is asking to go to bed at 8:00) and the crying has nearly ceased. Thank you for your very affordable program.

Bonnie, PA

Kali’s Story

8 years ago I did an in-clinic Tomatis based music therapy. It was a year of time consuming music therapy, costing over $3,000.00.  It changed me!

I am reading, writing, and even spelling better. Of course the more I do these things the better I will get. Before the therapy it was too hard to read. I just did it when I had to. I was very slow, making it hard to improve. Now I read for fun!

The other exicting thing that happened to me after the therapy, is that I am able to draw and paint what I see. I enjoyed photography and craft before the therapy, but I could definitely not draw or paint. I had even tried a paint by numbers a few years before the therapy. It didn’t go well and was never finished. Music therapy opened a new world to me. I am calmer, more organized, and a happier person.

Thanks to Dr. Tomatis. I Love Life!

My Lollipop Music Therapy Experience

In January 2011 by chance I found the Lollipop Listening Therapy! Sharon Ruben had just set up her new website, when I just happened to Google Tomatis Music Therapy ( I do that now and then just to see what is new), Awakening Ashley and the Lollipop came up. I had read the book Awakening Ashley a few years back, I found the website very interesting. I e-mailed Sharon right away and she phoned me the next day. She told me about her program and my husband and I decided to buy a Lollipop. We both started the program. It was easy for both of us do the half hour a day. We enjoyed it!

I also started a few seniors in a total care nursing home on the Lollipop. I found they all calmed down. One woman was on antidepressants because she was very angry, swearing and even getting physically aggressive. After 9 months of medications she was sitting in a wheelchair because she was so dizzy that she kept falling. She was not eating well and was rapidly loosing weight. She didn’t know who anyone was. When I started the Lollipop therapy I asked her Doctor if we could stop the medication she was on. He took her off the daytime meds and she just had them at night. After the first month of Lollipop therapy she was totally off the medication for her anxiety. She was smiling, singing, walking around and very pleasant. After my husband finished 4 months of the Lollipop he felt he was thinking more clearly, feeling calmer, and my daughter and I have found him to be more social. We definitely see a difference in him.

I also started a friends daughter on the music, because all through kindergarten and into grade 1 she was very anxious about going to school, crying everyday and even getting stomach aches before school. Her Mom was at her wits end. After just 2 weeks into the Lollipop therapy she was going to school with no tears. The whole family is happier.

I believe the hardest thing about any therapy or exercise program is following through to the end. I found that the Lollipop is easy to use, convenient and inexpensive as it can be used over and over again.

Happy listening everyone!

Kali, Canada

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I have this programme….And my daughter absolutely enjoys her sound therapy. I saw growth and improvement from her first session which she completed…Has made a HUGE difference already….Thanks Sharon!

 Marlene, South Africa, daughter 9 – Autism

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Week 2 of Lollipop, I got a call from my son’s teacher and all day long my son has been making eye contact with her the entire day. I thank you, Sharon!

Sakina, Florida, son 3 – Autism

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He is really much more interested in coloring – when we were eating breakfast at a restaurant he was scribbling all over the kiddie place mats. He is trying to say what sounds like “oval”. He got his latest OT progress report and it was good so we are revising his goals to include dressing and undressing and some eating with utensil skills. His OT said she was actually very happy when completing the report. 

Some of the things he is now doing:

Makes an oink noise for pig
Makes a high pitched sound for ambulance
Is rolling his hands/arms in the motion you do when you do “the wheels on the bus go round and round”
He completes the entire alphabet puzzle and will choose correctly from 2 letters
He completes all of his other puzzles and chooses correctly 90-95% of the time from 2 pieces. He completes the shape puzzles choosing by both color and shape name.
He is doing an ipad game that hides pictures in each screen and gives the shape of the picture but in black along the bottom – he is starting to drag those pictures over to match them with the black shape on his own!!! I was stunned.
Is attempting to mimic sounds more and is really trying hard to communicate things to us – at school they commented “gosh, he is trying SOOO hard to talk to us!”
He is playing chase games in ernest with his brothers, is often initiating it by taking something of theirs, flaunting it in front of them and taking off while laughing like crazy. 
He is laughing when the boys make faces
He is offering up his cheek when you say you want a kiss
When you ask him where is your_____? He can point to his ears, eyes cheek and nose (sometimes mouth) and toes (if they aren’t in shoes). 

So, he is doing some very cool things, and is not quite as frustrated or aggressive as he was.

Angie, CA, son 4 – Autism

To get started on your Lollipop System today, visit www.SoundTherapySystems.com or call to speak with us about your child at 571-435-3518.

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Do You Have A Child With Autism or Developmental Delays?

You Don’t Want to Miss this Boot Camp!

If you want to learn from experts we’ve brought together in the field of autism, nutrition, biomedical intervention, a DAN Dr. (Defeat Autism Now), sensory integration and auditory processing disorder, play therapy, behavior therapy, exercise for children with autism, auditory training and Lollipop Listening Therapy®, plus so much more, then this event is for YOU!

 Click Here For More Information

Keep in mind that children who are premature often lack the muscle strength and cognitive skills delaying their timeline in development to that of typically developing children. This may also make a pediatrician lax about jumping on intervention because they realize that the child arrived with some deficits; that the delays are to be expected but “we’ll watch them”,  so they take a “let’s wait and see” attitude. As a very pro-active mother, just heed the warning signs. By the very nature that the child was pre-mature, early intervention should be sought out to give that child every possibility to catch up and be age-appropriate with their peers.

When children are behind in speech or comprehension, ear infections can be the culprit. But parents or doctors can again take a “laisez-faire” approach by just giving the ears time to clear and all will be better. But the culprit can steal months, maybe even years off the child’s development unbeknownst to the parent. When our ears are tied up with fluid and infection, they don’t process sound correctly and this usually happens at the time that most children are just learning language. They can start to be over-sensitive to sound, holding their ears, or even under-reacitve and not turn around when we call their name. It’s crucial to have our ears working properly and not to just let a hinderance of childhood (ear infections) lull us into a false sense of security where your child’s development is concerned. It’s at this early time in a child’s development that intervention is extremely important…and effective!. All children get ear infections, yes, but too many times, parents or even pediatriicans don’t realize the fall-out from them. They affect everything! The ear infections your child had at 1 year old could affect their jumping on the playground in daycare or their writing and reading in Kindergarten! Am I hitting close to home, yet?

Be on the lookout for a speech problem in conjunction with a socialization issues. Even at 12 months, if you have a child that’s really quiet, that’s not babbling or doesn’t respond to your voice, it’s a RED FLAG!.”While some parents think, “but how can the child socialize if they can’t speak; if they have a speech delay?” Exactly my point! While we need language in order to interact verbally, and there is a maturation factor here, there could be an underlying disorder of AUTISM that they may be overlooking, not knowing what to look for, or brushing it off because a pediatrician told them to “wait and see”. Get your child to a specialist right away. But don’t also forget about the “non-verbal” communication that your child should be doing even when they can’t talk. Like eye-contact, smiling, pointing…! Very Important! Don’t let those go unnoticed by you and don’t foget to bring those up to your doctor if they are a concern to you. Your doctor may forget to ask all the right questions, like “Does your child watch the fan spin, or spin around and around and never seem to get dizzy?” Not always on their checklist….But this is a sign of sensory integration dysfunction. Keep a journal. If these red flags are showing up in your child, even minimally, the child should be screened for autism. Let a neurodevelpmental specialist who is trained in finding these issues confirm or deny. Time doesn’t “fix” these issues. Early intervention does! So don’t take a “wait and see” attitude! To read about the signs of autism go here: http://soundtherapysystems.com/ear_and_brain.html

Early Intervention Is Key

In the U.S., 2% of children have a serious developmental disability (www.webmd.com), and many more have moderate delays in language and/or motor skills. Yet, less than half of children with developmental delays are identified before starting school. That needs to change. I am a mom who got her daughter diagnosed at 21 months. Don’t let any doctor tell you they can’t diagnose that early! They can and they should. They are doing a dis-service to you (who pay them!) and to your child (who they won’t see for possibly a year after you leave their office!) if you have concerns and they are not addressing them. Run the other way. Get a new pediatrician. I did! Read my book “Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on its Ear“. I devote a whole chapter to my pediatrian and how I left him for someone who knew something about autism. www.AwakeningAshley.com.

According to the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, there are studies that are now reporting that children who have intervention early do better than children who do not have intervention. Developmental delays should be treated extremely seriously and you need to pursue the following avenues immediately:

• Evaluation with a neurodevelopmental special or D.A.N. Doctor (Defeat Autism Now)
• Occupational therapy for fine and gross motor delays as well as sensory integration issues
• Hearing evaluation and speech therapy for language and speech delays
• Special nutritional intervention such as the Gluten-Free/Casein-Free diet for “Leaky Gut Syndrome”
• Auditory Training or Listening Therapy for auditory processing disorder or sensory processing disorder (I recommend Lollipop Listening Therapy www.SoundTherapySystems.com)  
• Special schools or programs for children with autism spectrum disorders
• County services from the Early Intevention Program in your area

According to the CDC, early intervention not only improves the child’s functioning, but improves the relationship between parent and child and the parent’s understanding of the condition. Early intervention not only benefits the child, but to society in the long term, such as better performance in school and less contact with the juvenile justice system.

How Parents Can Help

As your baby is developing, be mindful to what their needs are and how you can facilitate them developing and maturing age appropriately. Consider the following:

Gross Motor Skills

• Place infants on their tummies while awake to develop neck and back muscles
• Create a safe home environment and put babies on the floor to explore
• Give older children time outside where they can run and jump

Fine Motor Skills

• Provide toys with different textures that encourage babies to explore with their fingers
• Provide age-appropriate puzzles, blocks, paper, and crayons
• Encourage older babies to feed themselves

Language Skills

• Play music for newborns to stimulate their ears and brain
• Talk to your child
• Read to your child
• Name objects as you point to pictures in a book

Social Interaction

• Laugh and smile with your baby
• Limit television and play with your child

Social interaction is more important than we realized in the past. Don’t leave children off by themselves. Being engaged with your child on a daily basis is key to their acquisition of skills they need to move up the develpmental ladder and their maturation into productive young adults. www.webmd.com

To read about my daughter’s recovery from autism, go to www.SoundTherapySystems.com. To learn more about me, Sharon Ruben, and my mission to help these kids, go here: http://soundtherapysystems.com/media_room.html

Pediatricians look for signs of emerging motor and language skills in the very first months of your baby’s life.

Babies begin to vocalize around 1 month. At 3 months, they should push their head up when they’re on their stomach. By 4 months, they chatter in response to you and squeal with laughter.

It’s a good idea for parents to watch for these early childhood milestones, along with the more obvious “firsts” such as walking and talking. Just be careful about comparing your child with peers or older siblings. Each child is an individual and there’s a wide range for when children achieve a particular milestone. But like all moms, including myself, http://soundtherapysystems.com/media_room.html an older sibling is all we have to compare our child to and though there is variation in development from one child to the next, sometimes it’s that older child and an attentive parent that can spot a delay early on and seek out the early intervention needed to get the child back on track. So how can you tell the difference between a child who is just taking his or her time and one who has a true developmental delay?

When Does Lagging Behind A Bit  Send Up a ”Developmental Delay” Red Flag?

A developmental delay is when a child does not reach a milestone by the upper range of normal. Even though babies develop at their own pace, every child should do certain tasks by a certain age, even boys who have a stigma attached to them as being “late bloomers”. These tasks fall into five main categories:

• Gross motor skills, such as crawling and walking
• Fine motor skills, such as stacking blocks or coloring
• Language skills, including speech and comprehension
• Thinking skills
• Social interaction

Using input from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, WebMD compiled a rough timeline of milestones in the above areas. A child can stray from this timeline and still be within the range of normal, but it’s best to discuss any concerns with your pediatrician (www.WebMD.com)

Timeline of Develpmental Milestones

2-months: Smiles at the sound of your voice.

4 months: Laughs and tries to imitate sounds.

6 months: Rolls from back to front and front to back. Transfers objects from one hand to another.

7months: Responds to own name. Can find partially hidden objects.

9 months: Sits without support; crawls.

12 months: Walks with/without support; imitates people.

18 months: Walks independently; drinks from a cup; says up to 15 words.

2 Years: Runs; speaks in 2-word sentences; starts ”make-believe” play.

3 years: Climbs well; talks in multi-word sentences; can sort by shape/color.

4 years: Starts getting along with other people outside family members; draws circles and squares; rides a tricycle.

5 years: Can tell his/her name and address; jumps, hops, skips, gets dressed independently, counts 10 or more objects (www.WebMD.com)

If you think your child is lagging behind in their developmental milestones, you may want to consider retraining their ears to “listen” better. Different frequencies of sound control different brain and body functions. Lollipop Listening Therapy can help put your child back on the path to meeting their milestones. Remember, early intervention is key! Visit us at www.SoundTherapySystems.com to learn more about how you can retrain your childs ears to listen using Mozart and the mother’s voice. See all of our Lollipop Listening Packages http://soundtherapysystems.com/lollipop_listening_therapy.html.

Tomorrow we bring you how to know if your child is on track or veering off the developmental path headed for a developmental delay.

Dysfunctional immunity and impaired brain function are core deficits in ASD.  Aluminum (Al), the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant, is a demonstrated neurotoxin and a strong immune stimulator. Hence, adjuvant Al has the potential to induce neuroimmune disorders.When assessing adjuvant toxicity in children, two key points ought to be considered: (i) children should not be viewed as ”small adults” as their unique physiology makes them much more vulnerable to toxic insults; and (ii) if exposure to Al from only few vaccines can lead to cognitive impairment and autoimmunity in adults, is it unreasonable to question whether the current pediatric schedules, often containing 18 Al adjuvanted vaccines, are safe for children?

By applying Hill’s criteria for establishing causality between exposure and outcome, research was conducted as to whether exposure to Al from vaccines could be contributing to the rise in ASD prevalence in theWestern world. Results showthat: (i) children from countries with the highest ASD prevalence appear to have the highest exposure to Al from vaccines; (ii) the increase in exposure to Al adjuvants significantly correlates with the increase in ASD prevalence in the United States observed over the last two decades and (iii) a significant correlation exists between the amounts of Al administered to preschool children and the current prevalence of ASD in sevenWestern countries, particularly at 3-4 months of age. The application of the Hill’s criteria to these data indicates that the correlation between Al in vaccines and ASD may be causal. Because children represent a fraction of the population most at risk for complications following exposure to Al, a more rigorous evaluation of Al adjuvant safety seems warranted.

During prenatal and early postnatal development the brain is extremely vulnerable to neurotoxic insults [1,2]. Not only are these highly sensitive periods of rapid brain development in general [3] but also, the blood brain barrier (BBB) is incomplete and thus more permeable to toxic substances during this time [2,4,5]. Furthermore, immune challenges during early development, including those induced by vaccines, can lead to permanent detrimental alterations of nervous and immune system function [6–9]. Experimental evidence also shows that simultaneous administration of as little as two to three immune adjuvants, or repeated stimulation of the immune system by the same antigen, can overcome genetic resistance to autoimmunity in animals [10,11]. Moreover, in adult humans, a variety of conditions encompassed by the ”Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants” have been linked to aluminum (Al) vaccine adjuvants.

In many Western countries, by the time children are 4-6 years old,they will have received a total of 23-32 vaccines[12,13], many with Al adjuvants, through routine pediatric vaccine schedules [2,14]. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), safety assessments for vaccines have often not included appropriate toxicity studies because vaccines have not been viewed as inherently toxic [15]. However, if a few vaccines administered to adults can result in adverse outcomes, such as the “ASIA Syndrome”,should we assume without experimential evidence that the current pediatric schedules are safe for children? Analysis of the relevant data shows that the number of vaccinations recommended prior to school entry increased from 10 in the late 1970s to 32 in 2010 (18 of which contain Al adjuvants) [16]. During that time period, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the US also increased by as much as 2000% [16]. While such observations have been of interest, the potential role of vaccines in the development of ASD remains controversial. ASD are characterized by marked impairments in social skills, verbal communication, behavior and cognitive dysfunction.

To read the entire article about the vaccine toxicity controversy, go here http://sanevax.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Aluminum-adjuvants-autism-Chris-Lucija.pdf

Lollipop Listening Therapy re-trains the ears and brain to process sound better and in doing so to reconnect the child with language, communication, socialization and help correct the sensory integration and auditory processing issues that hold children with Autism Spectrum Disorder back. Using modulated Mozart and the mother’s voice, listening therapy can take children back to the time in the womb, where listening begins to re-wire them all over again and jump start these processes. You can learn more about Lollipop Listening Therapy and what it can do for your child with autism at www.SoundTherapySystems.com and to learn more about my daughter, Ashley’s, recovery from autism using listening therapy, to see our segment on the Today Show with Katie Couric, or to purchase my book, “Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on its Ear” go to www.AwakeningAshley.com.

It’s Time to “LICK” Autism!

Autism research will get continued Federal support for the next 3 years now that President Obama signed legislation renewing the landmark Combating Autism Act. This legislation had much support but nearly didn’t make it out of the Senate. Passing the House with a bit of controversy from some Republicans who had budgetary concerns, it was approved by the Senate just days ago, allowing for nearly $700 million over three years devoted to autism research, its cause(s), and early intervention and treatments. President Obama signed the bill into law today in the Oval Office sending a message of hope to millions of families and individuals affected by autism which is nearly 1.5 million people in this country (67 million in the world). To thank President Obama and your member of Congress and Senators for their support, please visit www.autismvotes.org/ThankPresidentObama.

The inner ear plays a role in giving us energy. When we move our body, the vestibule (in the inner ear) senses movement, helps us stablize, and pulls against gravity transforming that movement into energy. From bending, stretching or using our muscles, our ears transmit these movement sensations to the brain togive it energy.  The vestibule also responds to sound. The lower the frequency, the better the response. Low frequencies affect the body and the sensory system. They make us move, dance, tap to a beat or follow a rhythm. When we move, we increase our energy. Children with sensory integration dysfunction usually can’t perceive the low frequencies which help get them back into their body and ground them and correct their sensory issues.

The cochlea (the snail-shaped part of the inner ear) transforms sound into energy through the analysis of high frequencies.  High frequencies by nature carry more energy. There is an abundance of hair cells in the inner ear that recognize and respond to high frequencies. This accounts for its charging effect on the brain. The vestibule contributes about 50% of our energy, with the cochlea contributing about 30%. Food and other supplements account for the rest. So it’s really amazing the capacity our ears have to be able to generate energy for us to use. Knowing this, you can ditch those energy drinks that are really not good for you anyways!

But in order to benefit from high or low frequencies to charge the brain, the two middle ear muscles MUST be tense enough (toned up) to keep the inner ear (the vestibule and the cochlea) working optimally. Anything less than this can cause the analysis of sound to be sub-par creating too little information coming in, too much information coming in, the wrong information coming in, or distorted information coming in. That will translate into too little or too much energy that gets sent to our brain to keep us functioning. And what ultimately can follow as a result is an auditory processing disorder, sensory integration disorder, attention deficit disorder or other learning disabilities - all because of the way our ears process sound.

Retraining the ears with sound by toning up the middle ear muscles is what listening therapy is all about. In Lollipop Listening Therapy you feel the pull on the middle ear muscles day by day and week by week to tighten them and tone them up so that the auditory information comes in and can be processed efficiently and effectively. Your child has never had a lollipop like THIS before!  www.SoundTherapySystems.com

Since her recovery, I have made it my mission to reach out and help children on the autism spectrum. To that end, I have developed my own listening therapy called Lollipop Listening Therapy. I hope that this blog can help you help your child too. You can learn more about Ashley’s recovery from autism and my new listening therapy at www.SoundTherapySystems.com and www.AwakeningAshley.com.

Please post your comments and how I can help you.

Sharon