Testimonials

Marie-Paul Gay mother of Arnaud and Thomas, Herbeville, Yvelines. 20th October 2014

In testifying I would like to encourage parents who have children with learning difficulties that it isn’t a fatality.
Since coming to the Waddells at Quiberon my two adolescents Thomas (17) and Arnaud (14), now have a very different relationship with their schoolwork.

Arnaud, detected with dysorthographia, had sessions with a speech therapist twice a week from the age of 5 through to the age of 12, without any noticeable changes. Since the sessions in Quiberon he no longer complains when doing his schoolwork. And when I met his French teacher just before the break he said that he hadn’t really noticed Arnaud’s spelling problems. What a victory ! It’s true that he no longer jumbles up his letters !

As for Thomas, it was he that wanted to do the sessions, when we were in Quiberon, to help him with his concentration.

I find that he has changed a lot after this first course : he is more master of himself and his concentration is there when he needs it.

If I can give some advice to parents who want to help their children : do these Tomatis techniques.
A stay at Quiberon will give you a break from your daily routine and help recharge your batteries in spectacular scenary.

I will finish by thanking Mr and Mrs Waddell for their kindness and their availability.

Sessions for School difficulties

Mother of Damien 8 years old Melun, 6 february 2013

Dear Mr & Mrs Waddell,

Hoping that you are well here is a little news concerning Damien’s progress since his last sessions in December.
We are delighted to say he has improved on several levels: concentration, behaviour (at school and at home), enthusiasm for learning in general as well as for memorizing his lessons.
For the last 3 weeks now we have seen a very marked development.
– Damien has more much desire and will to do things at school
– he memorizes his poems in record time !
– he can formulate questions (with some errors) and reply to questions both orally and written.
– he can project himself into the near-future and recount what he has done over the last few days…

Concerning his behavior:

– he is calmer for longer periods
– at school he no longer has problems with his classmates
– he has more discipline to do his daily half-hour reading out loud! And I’ve introduced a little bit of reading in Spanish (10 minutes) on top of the French.
His entourage, who didn’t know that Damien had been having sessions in your establishment, have noticed that Damien has gained in maturity!
The speech therapist is very pleased with Damien’s evident progress. So only a few more speech therapy sessions and it will soon be over. (The speech therapist was interested in your work and I have given her your details. That is undoubtedly a good thing !)

Thank you once again.

Sessions for School difficulties

Robert James 8 years old, British School of Paris, Croissy-sur-Seine. Written by his mother. 27th June 2012.

Robert was 8 years old when he started the listening therapy. He was having learning difficulties particularly with writing. Since undergoing the listening therapy we have been delighted with the improvements in his school work. The teachers and myself noticed improved levels of concentration and more accurate reading after the therapy. He is now writing fluently in a neat cursive style using his right hand.

I have just received his results from the standardised tests in Literacy and would like to inform you that before the therapy his reading for accuracy score was 85 and after the therapy it is 97. His test results in comprehension has improved and his spelling age has improved almost 2 years in just 6 months. We are continuing to follow your advice and Robert reads out loud on a regular basis.

We are very grateful for your help.
Regards
Kate James

Sessions for School difficulties

Elouan Olivier 5 year old, Vigneux. 1st July 2011.

(Elouan came to our Centre in January 2011 for problems at school, a great anxiety and a school phobia. Here is what his mother writes after his sessions).

I wanted to write to you with news of Elouan.
For six months now Elouan has been progressing daily.
He will be starting his first year of Primary school (French CP) and for him this is a big step. We wanted to measure where he was and it turns out that he is in advance and that all is well. I wanted to thank you personally because I am certain that we couldn’t have done it alone and that in particular we would never have managed to relieve him of all his anxiety.

Both of us continue to read out loud as regularly as possible.

Thanks again for everything.

Nathalie Olivier.

Sessions for School difficulties

Jeremy Jolivet-Habiby 9 years old, Lycée International, St Germain-en-Laye, written by his mother, 17th June 2010

I heard about the Tomatis method from my sister-in-law who lives in Spain and who had her very prematurely-born daughter, suffering from attention deficit, follow the sessions. She was very enthusisastic about the results but had warned that the improvements had taken several months to be felt. She hugely recommended that I undertake this therapy for my son aged 9 and it was due to her advice and the results on my niece that I decided to take an appointment.

Jeremy was suffering from lack of concentration in class and for his extra-curricular activities. His notes were coming back with comments like “doesn’t listen…” , “is on the moon”, “dreamer”. At swimming classes he was chided for not listening and for distracting the others instead of doing what he was being asked to do. For his pony riding lessons he had to do the same level all over again owing to his lack of concentration and inability to listen. I chose the Audio-Vocal Centre in Le Vésinet because Dominique Waddell had been Tomatis’s assistant and because they follow strictly his method, in contrast to other centres.

Jeremy followed the two sessions of therapy in 2009. About 6 months later we have started to reap the benefits. His mistresses tell me that there is no longer a listening problem in class and his school results have improved. We no longer have any comments about his absent-mindedness. His swimming teacher has noticed the changes and informed us that he now listened and followed the lessons very well. We received the same remarks at the pony club where the improvements in his listening capacity had also been noted.
Jeremy loved his sessions and always went happily, especially as he was able to do puzzles which he has always enjoyed doing.

Sessions for School difficulties

Simone et Anastasia Bateson aged 11 and 7, diagnosed dyslexic, and who came to see us in July 2005 at Verbier in Switzerland, London, 31st May 2005

I feel ashamed that we have only just got around to contacting you. All is well with Simone and Anastasia they have had a very busy year. Anastasia has amazed her teachers as you know she was classed as a non reader when we came to you and now she is almost in the average reader category. She has had a lot of extra support from school and we are continuing to pay for regular private lessons to help her with her English reading and writing but she has proved better able to make full use of her opportunities. However best of all is her improved confidence and self esteem also improved speech. Further she is more open to making new friendships and defending herself and others I feel she is much more discerning.

Simone’s reading was tested last October and was considered to have a reading age of 12.5 she was just about to turn 12. The February before that she had been one year behind. Again Simone was tested in February this year and she was assessed with a reading age of 13.5. Simone had to complete her end of junior school exams named SATS she found the run up to the exams very stressful as the school had the children practising papers every day for several weeks. However during the actual week of the exams she seemed calmer and said she found the actual SATS easier than the practice papers she only hated the mental arithmetic and felt very confident and at ease with her reading and reading comprehension paper.

Sessions for School difficulties

WILLIAM VAN LALLERTON 13 1/2 years old, by Mrs Van Lallerton, October 2003

Our son William, 13 1/2 years old did 12 audio-vocal sessions this Summer in July. I accompanied him for the twelve consecutive days, Saturday, Sunday and 14th July included !

This was quite an intense rhythm for a result which proved to be very beneficial.

William started to read real books as opposed to comics. Then he went on to give us an oral resumé of the books, which was good enough to make his sister want to read the same books.

What struck me most in our son’s behaviour is that he started to speak out in public, then to divulge himself more to others and especially his self-confidence grew. He is now more relaxed and those around him as well.

Sessions for School difficulties

ARNAUD & THOMAS (12 & 14 years old) by Mrs Levillayer, February 2003

I had my two sons do sessions of audio-psycho-phonology at the Audio-Vocal Centre in Vésinet during the Christmas holidays; one has just turned 14 and is in the 3rd form and the second will soon be 12 and is in the first form. It was for the second in particular that urgent intervention was needed. Thomas was completely lacking in self-confidence to the point where for a number of years he had become physically ill ; he no longer slept at night, he had sort of anxiety attacks, you could physically see his stomach contracting, he was in great pain and this finished with appalling diarrhoea lasting half the day ; there was no chance of sending him to school and he ended these ordeals completely exhausted. At home he clowned around a lot, but it was only a way of protecting himself that he developed little by little. At school the teachers didn’t hear him. He tried to do the least possible and even at times handed back a blank piece of paper for fear of making a mistake…

At the beginning of December I heard of your sessions from a friend who had had spectacular results on her son.

Over the Christmas holidays I therefore put my sons through the same treatment, 12 days in a row. I didn’t notice any ” miraculous” changes.

And then at the beginning of the January term, little by little the boys changed. They came back from school happy with their day. The second couldn’t believe it himself, he now had his arm raised throughout the lessons, he understood and replied correctly ! The eldest changed also, he had the impression to understand better, learn his lessons much more quickly and be able to recall the facts whenever he wanted. Today the second has practically no more diarrhoea, he wakes up in great shape without complaining of a headache (previously he used to start the day with a paracetamol), he no longer has stomach aches and sleeps much better with a truly ” refreshing ” sleep.

And then just before the February school holidays there were the parent-teacher meetings at school and I was speechless when one of my younger child’s teachers asked me if it was the same boy that I had given back to them at the start of the new term after the Christmas holidays ; they had never seen such a change ; really all said that it was no longer the same boy as the first term ! it was like night and day ; he now participates fully in lessons, replies always correctly to questions and his foreign language teacher said that she was convinced that he was completely inattentive to her lessons in the first term and today she sees that it is no longer the case, in fact he “remembers” everything because he makes none of the faults of grammar that the other boys in the class make.

For the eldest the change is less obvious, but the teachers have all been in agreement in saying that there has been a change. He has increased his average by between 1 to 2 1/2 in the space of a month and a half and all feel something has changed without being really able to define what it is ; he is more sure of himself and feels at greater ease.

I had not told the childrens’ teachers and many of them that I have now spoken to want to know more about the sessions, as they have never seen something like this – and these are not just young teachers… ; they would even be interested in an explanation from Mr & Mrs Waddell who direct the Vésinet’s Audio-Vocal Centre, so as to know more about the sessions and to speak to other parents such as I, who in December what at a loss to know what to do. I truly do not regret having undertaken this ” therapy”, when I see the happiness of my second son and this new ” joie de vivre ” that both my sons now have.

Sessions for School difficulties

JEAN written by Mrs de Falandre, Boulogne Billancourt, France, October 2002

I have been wanting to write to you to say a big, big, thank you and to convey my complete satisfaction with the audio-vocal sessions. Jean finally can write in his 3rd year of primary school. What happiness !! His writing suddenly changed on 20th September. His mistresses can’t believe it. I have enclosed an example of his writing (before the sessions) at the end of his 2nd year of primary school, text at the side, that the mistress had kindly photocopied so that I be informed of the important end of year instructions, and that Jean could not copy out owing to its length, and then a text of the same length ( after the sessions) – if not more – that Jean copied out wonderfully without faults or omissions. It is unimaginable !!!! but true. I am a fulfilled mother and I give your address to all the mothers that I meet who are having problems with their children.

Thanks to you, Jean starts his third year of primary school in good conditions. He has greater confidence in himself and does his schoolwork alone..

Thank you, thank you and above all please continue as what you do is really worth it.

TESTIMONY

Jean, my son is a lively, active child, interested in the activities proposed to him, taking his turn in conversation with ease, conversing naturally with an adult, sporty and possessing a high IQ.

As for his negative points, before the sessions at Le Vésinet, he was very nervous, agitated, not able to concentrate himself on anything, posessing very little memory – his homework lasted 1 1/2 hours in the evening, with no autonomy, done very quickly and poorly, carelessly – he wouldn’t read at all, couldn’t take up a game without the intervention of an adult, didn’t know how to be alone, wanted to be looked after permanently, and above all he wrote very badly.

Today he is relaxed, calm, serene, doing his homework without me having to be seated next to him, more autonomous, memorising his texts much more quickly, having greater self-confidence because he knows how to write, he is more structured, more careful, understands precise instructions and to my great joy finally takes up a book all alone in the evening before going to bed or in the morning. His writing changed completely, on one day, suddenly, the 20th September, without me having made him write during the two months’ Summer holidays. Before the audio-psycho-phonological sessions, Jean was unable to copy out a text without faults, without forgetting a letter or a word, and if the text was too long he was discouraged in advance and wrote out anything just so as to be rid of it as quickly as possible.

I did 12 days of audio-vocal sessions between 15th and 30th July 2002, 2 and 1/2 hours each day with, myself, the mother having to listen to the music as well at the same time as the child. I then, during the Summer holidays, made Jean read every day 20 minutes out loud speaking into his right hand. It is an exercise that Tomatis recommends and insists on, so as to continue to train the right ear. This exercise the mothers can do as well, it gives energy, positivity in the education. One must not do this exercise after 5pm in the evening as it can stop one going to sleep. I continue to ask Jean to read, out loud, in his right hand, whilst doing his homework and to learn his texts speaking into his right hand.

Tomatis wrote his books listening to Mozart, and speaking into his right hand. Do the same if you have a difficult letter to write, the ideas come more easily and you will write better.

Following this I did another week at the end of August 2002, still following a rhythm of 2 1/2 hours per day. The course is intensive.

I have put together this dossier, so as to help other mothers, and testify to this marvellous, so effective experience and to show that I am neither making up or exaggerating anything. Jean did not know how to write and he now knows. I can’t believe it myself. My son will finally have a year without running to see the many, different specialists required in such difficult circumstances and experience a reassuring schooling. Thank you Tomatis.

NB : 1999-2000 : 8 sessions of psychotherapy + 15 sessions of psychomotricity;

2000-2001 during his first year of primary school : 2 sessions per week of speech therapy for one year

2001-2002 during his second year of primary school : 2 sessions per week for one year of speech therapy + 8 sessions of kinesiology.

And at the end of his second year : audio-vocal sessions in the Centre at Le Vésinet

Sessions for School difficulties