THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504300087
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Like any proud parent, Edwin Gabuya was showing photos of his 6-year-old son, Egan.
``He is a beautiful child,'' Gabuya told the woman standing next to him.
But Egan, he explained, is different.
``I try to picture what he is thinking,'' Gabuya said. ``I try to imagine how he is responding. I know his perception is different.''
Egan is autistic. And, his father admitted, like many autistics, Egan is in a world of his own. That's why Gabuya was in Smithfield on Saturday. He was reaching out for help.
And he was joined by more than 100 others - parents, grandparents, teachers, therapists and physicians - all of them beginning to realize that there may be more for children with problems like autism, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities and developmental delays than traditional medicine has to offer.
``I will try anything,'' the Chesapeake man said.
That's exactly the philosophy of Annabel Stehli, keynote speaker at the first Hampton Roads Conference on Exceptional Strategies.
In the late '70s, with an autistic 11-year-old who had spent much of her young life in mental hospitals, Stehli was willing to try anything.
``My cry is only to investigate,'' the Connecticut woman told the group that gathered to hear her story. ``Contempt prior to investigation is so destructive.''
Stehli and her husband were living in Switzerland when she investigated auditory integration training for her daughter. Music, she learned, is filtered through a machine invented by a French doctor and played into earphones. Today, some who believe it can make a difference are calling it ``exercise for the brain,'' but they still can't explain how it works.
For Stehli's daughter, Georgiana, it worked a miracle. When she returned to this country after receiving the therapy from Dr. Guy Berard, its inventor, she finished high school, graduated from college and went on to receive her doctorate.
``She is working on her sixth language - Arabic - both spoken and written,'' Stehli said. ``She's a crack backgammon player, getting ready to go on the tournament circuit. She would have been making ashtrays if I hadn't said, `Hey, wait a minute.' ''
Stehli waited until 1990 to write a book about her experiences, because, she said, ``I was afraid nobody would believe me.''
A condensed version of ``The Sound of a Miracle'' appeared in ``Reader's Digest'' in December 1990 and was released by Doubleday in 1991. CBS is working on a script for a television movie about Stehli, who just finished her second book, a collection of stories from other parents who have tried AIT. She's working on her third book.
Like Gabuya, Stehli always knew that her daughter didn't think like normal children. But now, she said, experts are beginning to realize that neither do these children hear, see, taste or touch like others. All of it causes frustration, confusion, and learning and behavior problems.
``It's all in the sensory processing part of the brain,'' Stehli said. ``Perception is really important. It is a sensory dysfunction.''
Stehli has developed a following of parents and even some physicians who are beginning to investigate alternative therapies. But it has never been easy.
``Trying to pitch AIT to the status quo is like trying to pitch AA in a barroom,'' she said. ``But every parent needs to investigate.''
And there is much to investigate. There's vision training, nutrition, even spinal manipulation.
``I don't think medicine and alternative medicine is in conflict of each other,'' said Dr. Vincent T. Joseph, a Newport News chiropractor who talked about the importance of nutrition in learning and social behavior. ``There has to be a blending.''
``There is nothing that affects one part of the body that does not affect another,'' said Dr. Howard Kahn, a Virginia Beach optometrist. ``We learn through taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight.''
If one sense is out of kilter, it affects the other senses. In Stehli's daughter's case, it was hyperacute hearing.
``She could hear toilets flushing all over the building when she was in school,'' she said.
The sounds caused anxiety, withdrawal and bizarre behavior until auditory training.
``Soon after she'd completed AIT,'' Stehli said, fighting tears, ``she asked to go out and play. It was raining. She said the rain didn't sound like machine guns anymore.''
Stehli is credited with bringing AIT to the United States. And now, she's spreading the news to other countries - to China, Germany, Korea, England. But she's the first toive her home telephone number to Sylvester Stallone, who has an autistic son.
``I said, `I'll talk to Sly, su-ah,' '' Stehli said, laughing at her New England accent. ``His ex-wife actually called me. Their son, Sergio, had AIT in April of 1991. I understand he's doing quite well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/STAFF
Annabel Stehli, author of ``The Sound of a Miracle'' and ``Dancing
in the Rain'' talks about alternative strategies for children with
autism and other developmental disorders Saturday at Benns Methodist
Church in Smithfield.
by CNB