Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100123
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Annabel Stehli knows firsthand about life with a child who has learning disabilities. By the time her autistic daughter, Georgiana, was 11, the child had spent most of her life in mental hospitals.
That was in the late 1970s, and Stehli was desperate for a solution. She found it in something called auditory integration training, which involves music that is filtered through a machine invented by a French doctor and played into earphones.
No one knows why the therapy works, but who cares?, says Stehli, a Connecticut resident who has spread the word about auditory integration. After the therapy, her daughter finished high school, college and got her doctorate.
Auditory integrated training was developed by French physicians Alfred Tomatis and Guy Berard, whose work appeared to help many people with hypersensitive hearing or other hearing difficulties.
Stehli, who says auditory integration does not work for everyone, documented her foray into the alternative therapy in "The Sound of a Miracle." The book first 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 completed editing a second book, "Dancing In the Rain." It is a collection of stories about exceptional progress by parents of children with special needs.
On Oct. 21, Stehli will join several other professionals as a speaker at an "Integrating the Senses Symposium" at the Lewis-Gale Foundation Auditorium at Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem. The event is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. and costs $25 for professionals and $15 for parents and students. Reservations should be made by Oct. 19 by calling Innovative Therapies, PC, at 776-1805.
Aditi Silverstein, a speech and language pathologist who is director of Innovative Therapies, will be on the program, as will Dr. Richard Harrell, an audiologist and Radford University assistant professor, and Diane Korsch, a pediatric occupational therapist.
The program will include a panel of parents of children with learning disabilities who will discuss the role of sensory integration in the management of learning disabilities, autism, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder, among other conditions.
Record copies
School is under way this year, and youngsters who needed birth certificates to enroll in kindergarten or the first grade already have them. But anyone who needs a copy of his or her birth certificate or a copy of a record of death, marriage, divorce or adoption can get it from the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Vital Records.
To get a record, write the office at James Madison Building, P.O. Box 1000, Richmond, Va. 23208-1000. A request should include sufficient details so that the certificate can be found. Birth certificate requests should include the person's name at birth, date of birth, race, sex, place of birth, mother's maiden name and father's name. A request for a death certificate needs to include the name, date of death, city or county where death occurred, and spouse's name if married.
The turnaround time for getting certificates from 1978 on is about five working days. Records prior to 1978 are not on computer and getting a certificate can take three to four weeks.
The fee for a birth certificate is $8 and it should be sent as a check or money order made out to the Virginia State Health Department. By using a service called Vital Check, a certificate can be obtained in a shorter time, but payment is $25.50 and needs to be by credit card.
Be prepared to stay on hold if you phone to speak to a customer service representative. The number is (804) 786-6228.
- 981-3393, or sandrakinfi.net.
by CNB