In the spring of 2001 a grant was awarded for The Listening Program® (TLP) to be used in the Clearfork Elementary located in Andrews, TX and in the spring of 2002 another grant was awarded to extend this program to the other elementaries within the district. This is an auditory retraining program designed to help with a variety of learning disabilities including, but not limited to, attention disorders, auditory processing disorders, articulation disorders, developmental delays and autism. Some of the Clearfork staff implemented TLP beginning in August 2001 with a total of 55 students participating in TLP. These students ranged from mild learning/attention problems in a regular class to severely affected students in self-contained special ed classes.

Following are some observations by the Clearfork teachers of these students:

"When she comes in late and does not get the listening her grades for the day are significantly lower."

"Without the program she is just flustered and can't get focused and settled."

"The program settles her down and gets her mind targeted to curriculum."

"My students who are usually very active return to class more focused and calm."

"The kids enjoy the program."

"(Student) showed notable improvement in her ability to stay focused and maintain a longer attention span after participating in TLP." She made gainful academic progress during the year." (Student was previously failing.)

"(Student) has definitely benefited!! Her TAAS scores are up, focus and behavior are better."

"Several students who were not talking at all yet have started talking. The attention span on some of my students has dramatically improved as well as their ability to listen in circle time to stories. Articulation has improved on many of my students. Out of my 23 students, 21 greatly benefited from TLP, 1 saw a small benefit, and only 1 saw no benefit."

"TLP has made a huge difference in my student with autism. She is able to sit and listen for 2 sessions and loves it! This has made such a difference in her behavior. TLP is just a small part of her NACD program (National Academy for Child Development) but it is a big part of her life."

"I have tried many, many different programs over the years with my students and I have never seen the anticipated progress with the other programs like I have seen with TLP. This, combined with an entire NACD program, has brought about the most changes in my students in all the 18 years that I have been teaching."

(Quote from parent) "My son has made a 180° turn around with this program and now I've requested the program for my daughter at her school. He is talking now!"

We do have to report that TLP has not helped every child. At least 3 out the 55 students saw no change but we feel this program has definitely been worth the time and money invested.