TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 18 March 2024 DOI 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1357453
OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY
Eduardo Mercado, University at Buffalo, United States REVIEWED BY
Stacy Moppert, University at Buffalo, United States Roberta Monterazzo Cysneiros, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Brazil *CORRESPONDENCE
Wenfeng Chen wchen@ruc.edu.cn Huang Li lh2yl1314@126.com RECEIVED 18 December 2023 ACCEPTED 01 March 2024 PUBLISHED 18 March 2024 CITATION
Fu Y, Tian M, Chen J, Chen W and Li H (2024) Improvement of symptoms in children with autism by TOMATIS training: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 18:1357453. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1357453 COPYRIGHT
© 2024 Fu, Tian, Chen, Chen and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Improvement of symptoms in children with autism by TOMATIS training: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study Yujia Fu1, Mei Tian1,2, Jiaxi Chen1, Wenfeng Chen1* and Huang Li3* Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China, 2Hai Perui Education Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China, 3Affiliated Haixia Hospital of Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, China 1
Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological condition that is marked by deficits in social interaction, difficulty expressing oneself, lack of enthusiasm, and stereotypical conduct. The TOMATIS training method is an effective music therapy for children with ASD for its individually developed programs to improve behavioral deficits. Methods: The research employed both longitudinal and crosssectional designs. Results: In the cross-sectional study, the experimental group showed significant improvement in symptoms after TOMATIS training compared to the control group of children with ASD. The results validated the effect of TOMATIS treatment for ASD-related deficits, including perceptual-motor, attentional, social, and emotional issues. Discussion: ASD’s auditory hypersensitivity hampers social information processing, but TOMATIS enhances cochlear frequency selectivity, aiding in capturing relevant auditory stimuli. In addition, the longitudinal study confirmed these findings, which proved TOMATIS training effective in clinically treating ASD. This study focused on audiometric indicators and behavioural improvement, elucidating the mechanisms behind the training’s success. Behavioral improvements might stem from TOMATIS’ frequency selectivity, reshaping auditory organ-cortical feedback loops to filter interference and focus on valid information. KEYWORDS
autism spectrum disorder, TOMATIS, training, music intervention, behavior improvement
1 Introduction The presence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can lead to social interaction issues and repetitive stereotyping, resulting in serious difficulties for individuals in their professional, personal, and academic lives (American Psychiatric Association and Association, 1994). Children with ASD often struggle with eye-to-eye gaze, gross motor, fine motor, language, attention, and learning ability, accompanied by auditory processing issues, particularly in verbal processing and social communication, which remain incurable (Corbett et al., 2008). People with ASD exhibit atypical reactions to auditory stimuli in contrast to individuals with normal development. The auditory pathway exhibits a wide range of diverse manifestations in this atypical response, including heightened processing of both localized and simple stimuli, as well as reduced processing of holistic and complex stimuli (O'Connor, 2012; Ouimet et al., 2012). Although the pathogenesis of ASD has not yet been determined, many treatments have been developed to alleviate the various symptoms of ASD. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
01
frontiersin.org