TO HER
PARENTS Sharon and Dave, Ashley was perfect — the second daughter
they’d always wanted.
Sharon, says, “She looked beautiful, she looked perfect, I
was elated. I wanted another child so Kacey could have a playmate —
they were14 months apart. Kacey would be a great role model.”
But Ashley had a different idea, at 16 months she preferred
to be left alone.
“She would tune us out when you called her name, kind of be
in her own world. I couldn’t imagine that there’s something wrong
with my child,” says Sharon.
But there was something wrong with Ashley. After a hearing
and speech evaluation, it was determined that while her hearing was
fine, her speaking ability — at 19 months — was the equivalent of a
6 month-old.
“My heart just sunk,” says Sharon.
Dr. Chuck Conlon, a neuro-developmental pediatrician at
children hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, examined Ashley. “We really
looked at the hallmark of her social interaction abilities and her
communicative abilities, it was autism spectrum disorder.”
“Autism? Ashley’s not autistic,” said Sharon.
While devastated, Sharon was also determined to find help for
her little girl.
Around Ashley’s second birthday, she started speech and
occupational therapy.
But despite a 20-hour a week program for almost a year she
made little progress.
So Sharon decided to try a special listening program
developed by French doctor Alfred Tomatis, who theorized that
autistic children have under-developed inner ears that can be
re-trained through intensive sound therapy.
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