The Ear-Voice Connection Workshop

DATE	LOCATION	PRESENTER(s)	REGISTRATION
The Ear-Voice Connection in Singing and Exploring the Ear- Voice Connection April 16-17, 2004	National Association for Teachers of Singing Conference (NATS) Minnesota, USA	Paul Madaule

The key role of the ear-voice loop in the acquisition of speech and language is well established, yet the role of the ear-voice connection in the development of self-regulation and self-control is less well known. Amazingly, the ear-voice connection is a fabulous integrator of body and mind, influencing sensory-motor, emotional, communicative and cognitive functions. Breathing patterns, sleep and eating habits, bladder/bowel control, level of energy, temperament and affect, sociability, attention, focus/concentration and learning along with academic such as reading, writing and spelling may be related to this far-reaching mechanism.

The Ear-Voice Connection workshop is an experiential and interactive workshop designed to promote awareness and understanding of the ear-voice loop in both adults and children. A series of activities including " EARobics" and "Voicening" will facilitate participants' inner recognition of the integrating influence of the connection between ear and voice, as well as trigger questions and discussions related to the application of the ear-voice connection in education and therapy.
This workshop is particularly relevant for professionals in the fields of physical and occupational therapy, speech/language therapy and education.

Workshop Objectives

The goals of the workshop are to give the participants:

• A greater awareness of their own voices and its impact on children in their care
• Tools to enrich their voices and those of the children with whom they work
• Experience and insight related to the importance of listening and voice quality in the general learning process, and more specifically in learning to read and write
• A greater sense of the ear's role as a "conductor" of our body movements during voice production
• Ideas to include ear-voice exercises in children's sensory diet (children within the autistic spectrum and those with Sensory Integrative Dysfunction, ADD, Central Auditory Processing problems, speech and language delays or Verbal and Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities).

Presenters

Sophie Garceau studied Special Education at the University of Montreal and was an interpreter for deaf and deaf-blind children and adults. She worked as a Special Ed teacher with at risk youth in a public high school in Montreal.

In 1994 Sophie joined The Listening Centre in Toronto, a clinic using the Tomatis Method. During this time, she was head Listening Therapist and then Co-Director with Paul Madaule. They developed collaboratively Listening Fitness with the LIFT, a portable audio device, and the Instructor's Course and Certification for professionals wanting to use this technique in their practice or in the school system.

Sophie is Director of the LIFT Network of professionals. She is the lead teacher and supervisor of the LIFT Instructor's Course and Certification. She now lives in Montreal where she is the Director of Centre de L'Ecoute, a satellite of The Listening Centre.

Paul Madaule is the Director of The Listening Centre in Toronto that he founded in 1978. The Listening Centre was the first clinical facility using the Tomatis Method in North America. Paul has also helped create a dozen Centres throughout the US and Mexico.

Graduating in Psychology from the University of Paris - Sorbonne in 1972, Paul spent several of his formative years working with Dr. Tomatis in his Paris Centre.

Paul is the author of When Listening Comes Alive (1993), now available in six languages. He is also author to numerous articles on subjects related to the educational and therapeutic value of music, voice and listening training with children with developmental and learning problems.

Two TV documentary programs on his work at The Listening Centre were produced in 1995, one dealing with autism (The Child That You Do Have) and one on adults with reading disabilities (The Key to the World). His work with autism is described in a recently published book by Stephanie Marohn entitled "The Natural Medicine Guide to Autism" (2002).

Paul often gives lectures and workshops on his work including the "Listening Experience Workshop" (1988) and the "Ear Voice Connection Workshop" (1999). He has also drawn from his 30 years of clinical experience to develop a portable audio-device called The LiFT Listening Fitness Trainer. Together with the staff of The Listening Centre, he has written The Listening Fitness Instructor's Course in order to teach professionals how to use the LiFT Program in their practice or the school system.