What is it like being an occupational therapist?

My 5 year old niece's occupational therapist recommended listening therapy. What is this and is it beneficial?

• My great niece has a mild expressive disorder. She sees a play therapist, speech therapist and occupational therapist. She gets brushed 3 times a day and now they want her to listen to tapes twice a day. Anyone know what I am talking about? Any info would be helpful. Like I said she is five and has some pretty heavy emotional and psychological baggage already. She lives with my sister who is a social worker and she has legal guardianship. The mother is trying to get her back. We went to court and now she has visitation which is not helping the kid at all. Any personal experience with brushing or listening therapy will be helpful:)

• Answer:

  The previous responder is correct about sensory integration disorders, however, he's a bit off track about Therapeutic listening (TL), and the brushing program. Although they can both treat sensory defensiveness, they were developed for much more than that. Brushing originally was developed as a calming and organizing technique, however, it has very obvious applications for treating tactile defensiveness. TL is about integrating the WHOLE body. It uses numerous CDs that vary in musical style. The music on TL CDs is electronically altered to elicit the orienting response which sets up the body for sustained attention and active listening. The CD's are specifically chosen by the occupational or speech therapist based on the child's individual needs. Each CD uses organized musical sound patterns to impact all levels of the nervous system. It provides direct input to vestibular system. 'The emphasis of TL is on blending sound intervention strategies with vestibulo-proprioceptive, core development, and breath activities so as to sustain grounding and centering of the body and mind in space and time.' Therapeutic Listening coupled with SI tends to speed the emergence of: - Attention - Organized behavior - Self regulation - Postural control Your sister is smart for providing these therapies to her!!