A Quantitative Summary of The Listening Program (TLP) Efficacy Studies: What Areas Were Found to Improve by TLP Intervention?

A quantitative summary of existing research examining the effects of The Listening Program (TLP) on various functions in children is presented. Nine studies were used, looking at TLP intervention effects across studies, within each study and for various outcome measures. The studies looked at TLP intervention on children with autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, learning disabilities, auditory processing disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, Rhett syndrome, dyspraxia, cerebral palsy, fibromyalgia, arthritis and stroke. The magnitude of the TLP effect size revealed a mean value of 0.41 across all studies. For each individual study, effect size ranged from 0.23 to 1.28. Two studies yielded significantly larger effect size than the other studies. One of these studies (effect size 1.19) examined the improvement in auditory processing for children identified with autism. The other study (effect size 1.28) examined improvement in academically related skills of underachieving school children. Larger effect sizes were obtained for research that examined auditory processing/listening skills (mean effect size 0.72) than for research looking at non-auditory areas (mean effect size 0.31), although all revealed positive changes. The effect size of various outcome measures is discussed in order to identify variables that might affect the outcomes as well as what these results mean to occupational therapists who would consider TLP intervention for clients.