Jean Pierre Granier
Jean Pierre is a 47-year-old clinical psychologist with a PhD in visual word recognition. He trained in the Tomatis® Method under Dr. Alfred Tomatis and Simone Nicoloff, and has been a practicing registered Tomatis® consultant for 22 years. He is also trained in cognitive therapy (rational emotive behavior therapy) and uses this approach with some of his clients in conjunction with the Tomatis® Method.
Based in Marseille (France), he has been involved in an important research project in collaboration with the CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique—National Center for Scientific Research) on the effect of the Tomatis® Method on the regulation of stress and emotion. The first article written on this research has been recently published in the Journal of Emotional Disorders under the title: “Pure tone auditory thresholds are decreased in depressed people with post-traumatic stress disorders.”
Jean Pierre has worked very actively with Tomatis® Développement SA to develop the Tomatis® Method by writing new training courses and curriculums, and aiding in the birth of a new generation of programs and services. Jean Pierre is one of the foundations of the Tomatis® international training team and he conducts Tomatis® training all over the world.
Kay Distel
Kay has practiced as a Tomatis® consultant for 15 years and finds the work continually exciting and challenging because of the diverse clients she can help. Coming from a background of body therapy, counseling and an attitude of inclusivity, she offers her clients practical awareness of auditory processing and the connection to health and learning. Outreach work with the elderly stimulated her interest to take Tomatis® ideas and experience into formal research. She is now completing a PhD, which uses her vast knowledge and specialized training in the context of facilitating adults in higher education with diverse learning needs. She runs a Tomatis® consultancy and practice in Brisbane, Australia.
You can find out more about Kay’s practice at: www.soundeducation.com.au
Eve Wiznitzer
Eve was born in New York, raised in Miami, Florida, and has been a resident of the Republic of Panama for 37 years with her husband and partner, L eo. She graduated from Tulane University with a love for learning and a double major in 1973. When her eldest son was diagnosed with autism at two years of age she began a new career to help him reach his greatest potential.
She participated and studied with Glenn Doman at the Institutes for the Development of Human Potential in Philadelphia for five years while learning how the central nervous system develops in a healthy child and what was needed to achieve these same milestones in a hurt child.
Eve’s next step of study and learning was training in the Tomatis® Method under the direction of Dr. Alfred Tomatis, with an incredible team of professionals from Canada, Mexico and Paris. She opened a Tomatis® center in Panama in early 1991 as a private clinic. Noticing that many families did not have the resources to participate in the program she then began the long process to receive non-profit status. For the last four years Eve has run a non-profit center, reaching the neediest people in the country. FUNDET-TOMATIS ® provides orientation to each family, nutritional guidelines, sensory integration strategies which can be completed at home, and classes to teach families how they can best help their child.
Eve’s son Alex, diagnosed with autism so many years ago, has been living semi-independently in Coconut Creek, Florida, for the last ten years in his own apartment. He speaks, reads and writes English and Spanish perfectly, and is her inspiration for everything she does.
You can find out more about Eve and FUNDET-TOMATIS ® at: www.fundettomatispanama.org
Ellen (Len) Craver Young PhD, RCTC
Len has been a practicing Tomatis® consultant since 1996, and is a founding member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants (IARCTC ). She serves as an active member of the IARCTC International Research Committee and is on the editorial board of Ricochetonline journal, the network’s professional peer-reviewed journal.
Len worked originally with Billie Thompson, PhD, in Phoenix, AZ, and Pasadena, CA , to expand the Tomatis® Method throughout the United States. She then started her own company, Listening Clarity, Inc., in Arizona and South Carolina in 2003, offering the first portable generation of Tomatis®—the Mini-Electronic Ear. Her Tomatis® clients range from very young children to adolescents, adults and the elderly.
Len has a doctorate in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology (Jungian psychology) from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. For the past two years, while continuing her practice, Len has led the American introduction and training for the new small digital Tomatis® device called Solisten®.
You can find out more about Listening Clarity at: www.listeningclarity.com
Angela Mañosa (Gem)
Gem, together with her partners Ria Vecin and Joanne Pedrosa, launched the Tomatis® Method in the Philippines in 2007. Gem started out as an educator, teaching children in elementary and high school for ten years. She then completed her master’s degree in family life and child development (specializing in special education) at the University of the Philippines, and trained as a Tomatis® consultant under Françoise Nicoloff. Gem has been administering the Tomatis® Method for the past four years, and she is the only registered certified Tomatis® consultant in Manila today. Along with her partners she owns and runs three centers in the Philippines.
Gem is married to Dino, and has three children, Sabina (15), Martin (ten) and Basti (five), all of whom have completed the Tomatis® Method at some point in their lives. She is also the owner of Sabina’s Books, a publishing house that creates books for mothers and their children.
You can find out more about Gem, Ria and Joanne and their work in Manila at www.tomatis.com.ph
Hilde Tinkl
Hilde was born in Vienna in 1958 and is married with two children—Bernhard, born in 1985, and Gregor, born in 1988. After a pedagogic study, she spent ten years teaching at a general secondary school. Since then she has also been active working with children in several institutions in her spare time.
Hilde started a Tomatis® program in 1993 due to her own hearing problems and her son Gregor’s severe handicap. Convinced by the effectiveness of the Tomatis® Method, Hilde completed a Tomatis® consultant training program in Paris and Germany in 1995, and opened a Tomatis® center in Vienna in the same year, which she leads together with Barbara Thima. In 1997 she opened a second center in Salzburg, in collaboration with her colleague Carla Sommerauer.
Hilde is a founding member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants, and she can be contacted at www.tomatis.at
Barbara Thima
Barbara was born in Vienna in 1974. As a student, she worked in a youth center, giving lessons in English, German and mathematics to pupils between the ages of eight and 15; she also spent time taking care of children with special needs. While studying educational science and special education, she was required to complete work experience in several institutions. Consequently, she discovered the Tomatis® Method, and started working in Hilde Tinkl’s center in 1997.
Barbara completed her Tomatis® consultant training in Germany in 2001, and she now specializes in depression, pregnancy, prenatal experiences, and children and their families. She also began studying to become a psychotherapist in September 2010.
Barbara is married with two children—a son born in 1996, and a daughter born in 2000.
Helga López
Helga is the director of Centro Tomatis® Colombia and has 36 years of experience as a psychologist and educator in Bogotá, Colombia. She earned a master’s degree in psychology, with an emphasis on child development and learning difficulties, from the University of Houston, is a master practitioner in neuro-linguistic programming (Colinde, Mexico), and was certified as a Tomatis® consultant by Christian Tomatis in 2000. Helga is proud to be a founding member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants (IARCTC ) and is the Director of Project Winnie: Kindergarten in Bogotá—an educational institution that pioneers the use of the Tomatis® Method in the classroom. She is also a dedicated founding member of Preescolares Solidarios, a foundation dedicated to creating therapeutic play areas for lowincome children.
Catalina Soto De Gamboa
Catalina is a phonoaudiologist. She obtained her degree from Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, and she has spent more than 20 years working with children from birth to 36 months in neurodevelopment programs. She has also helped school-aged children struggling with language, cognition and learning disabilities both in schools and in hospitals. Catalina was trained as a certified Tomatis® consultant by Gloria Assmar in Mexico City, Mexico, in 2002 and is a co-founder and consultant at Centro Tomatis® Colombia.
Maria Claudia Guzmán López
Maria Claudia is a phonoaudiologist with a degree from the University Museo Social Argentino de Buenos Aires. She has devoted 28 rewarding years to professional practice, both privately and with government institutions. She is an active founding member of the Research and Advisory Group Phonoaudiology, GUIA, and Group CON VOZ: Acoustic Analysis, in Bogotá, Colombia. She has also been a board member of the Colombian Association of Audiology.
Maria Claudia was trained as a Tomatis® consultant in Mexico City by Gloria Assmar in 2002 and was a co-founder of Centro Tomatis® Colombia in 2004.
Silvia Carrasquilla de Londoño
Silvia has a degree in phonoaudiology from Universidad del Rosario and underwent postgraduate studies at the University Del Museo Social Argentino and University Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has 30 years of experience in helping people with hearing problems and learning disorders both in government institutions and private practice. Silvia received her Tomatis® training from Gloria Assmar in Mexico City, Mexico, in 2002 and has been a devoted and active member and consultant at Centro Tomatis® Colombia since it was founded in 2004.
Patricia Garcia de Santaella
Patricia has a degree in phonoaudiology and a specialization in voice and speech development from Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. She was also trained in speech by Dr. Barbara Hudson. In addition to her 31 years in private practice as a phonoaudiologist, Patricia has dedicated her time to teaching others, both as a professor at the Phonoaudiology department at Universidad del Rosario from 1996-1999 and director of the Adult Community Practice: Vocal Promotion and Prevention Program from 1975-1980. She is an honorary founding member of the Colombian Association of Audiology and was certified as a Tomatis® consultant in Mexico in 2002 by Gloria Assmar. She is also a co-founder and consultant at Centro Tomatis® Colombia.
Maria Cristina Lievano de Cabrera
Maria Cristina is a speech pathologist at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, with 35 years of professional experience in clinical audiology. Maria Cristina is the founder of the Center for Adaptation and Rehabilitation of Deaf Children in Neiva, Colombia. She qualified as a certified Tomatis® consultant in Mexico City, Mexico in 2002, and is a co-founder of Centro Tomatis® Colombia.
You can find out more about the Tomatis® Method and Centro Tomatis® Colombia at: www.tomatiscolombia.com
Dorinne Davis
MA, CCC -A, FAAA , RCTC, BARA
Dorinne is the president and founder of The Davis Center, Succasunna, NJ. She is the author of four books including Sound Bodies Through Sound Therapy and Every Day a Miracle: Success Stories with Sound Therapy. She has demonstrated the scientific principles behind the voice-ear-brain connection in The Davis Addendum to the Tomatis Effect, and established The Tree of Sound Enhancement Therapy from which her Diagnostic Evaluation for Therapy Protocol (DETP) provides the correct administration of any sound-based therapy.
Dorinne is credentialed in 20 different sound-based therapies and her background as an audiologist, educator and sound therapist provides the foundation to The Davis Center’s unique “total person” approach, called The Davis Model of Sound Intervention. The Davis Center is considered the world’s foremost sound therapy center and Dorinne is recognized as the world’s leading sound-based therapist. She has worked with thousands of people, young and old—both with and without learning challenges—making changes in their response to sound using sound-based therapies. Dorinne is an international speaker in the field of sound therapy. Her AutismOne.org radio program is called Sound Effects with Dorinne Davis: Discussing How Sound Affects the Person with Autism.
You can find out more about The Davis Center at www.thedaviscenter.com
Yolanda Carrillo Vázquez
When Yolanda was a child, the most important piece of furniture in the family home was the bookcase. Her father, sometimes compromising the family budget, bought many books—and she was his accomplice. The love of books that her father instilled in her led her to study Hispanic letters and philosophy at the Universidad de Sonora. Her father also encouraged her to pursue the arts, and so she learned flamenco and folk dances, and later engaged in music, singing and cinema studies, giving her a remarkably rounded artistic background that celebrates the beauty that the human spirit is capable of expressing.
She has combined her exceptionally creative and joyous nature, and her profound respect for knowledge, in the educational materials she has created under the brand Viento Blance™, which aim to aid the development of linguistic skills and reading comprehension.
The loving influence of children—the “little ones” in her life—has moved her to write stories for them, and she has compiled a volume of works, published in both Mexico and the US, called When the Earth Was Still Soft.
As a teacher, she brings a wealth of experience and academic strength to her daily work as a Tomatis® consultant, which allows her to guide and assist parents as they take their children through the listening process. Her love for children has helped her build a therapeutic atmosphere in Centro Tomatis® de Sonora that is invaluable to the process. Yolanda believes that there is no doubt she is on the right path in life—she feels completely at home as a Tomatis® consultant, and her work brings great joy to her life.
Vanessa León Carrillo
Vanessa grew up in an extended family, living with both her parents and her grandparents, and this close contact with them made her appreciate and cherish older people. When she grew up she wanted to learn how to help older people enjoy the best life experience possible, so she channeled her energy into obtaining a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology from the Universidad de Sonora, followed by a postgraduate course in gerontology at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Vanessa also completed a variety of other courses in psychology and elderly health care in order to better understand and work with older people.
She believes that her educational background, combined with her musical and drama studies, have all been very important to her development as a person, and that her Tomatis® training has had a groundbreaking effect on her life and career.
In her work at Centro Tomatis® de Sonora, Vanessa takes particular pride in writing individual programs for her clients—being part of their recovery gives her great joy and has a deep, positive impact on her life, which she celebrates every day.
Leticia T. Varela Ruiz
Leticia has loved and studied music since childhood: she participated in her school choir, took piano lessons, and enjoyed listening to her father play the violin. After studying music at the University of Sonora, she was then offered a scholarship for a PhD in musicology at the University of Cologne in Germany. When she encountered the Tomatis® Method in her reading it had such a profound impact on her that she closed the music school she was then running and began studying the Tomatis® Method. She received her certification as a Tomatis® consultant in Paris, and has since devoted her time to helping people through Tomatis®. She has written and translated a variety of works, both on music and related subjects and on the Tomatis® Method particularly.
When working with clients, Leticia makes a particular effort to assist them during their active session in order to help them improve their voices as much as possible—because, as Dr. Tomatis wrote in Écouter l’Univers, “It is God who speaks through the human being. And it is also God who listens when man is being his instrument.”
You can contact Centro Tomatis® de Sonora at tomatisson@yahoo.com.mx
Valérie Gas
Valérie is a clinical psychologist who was trained in the Tomatis® Method by Dr. Alfred Tomatis. She has spent over 20 years as a Tomatis® consultant, using all of the fields of application of the Method to help her clients. Valérie holds a DESS in psychopathology and a DESS in psychology and justice. She is also trained in systemic family therapy.
She worked on Dr. Tomatis’s team for eight years before opening a Tomatis® center in Tours, France, which she ran for five years. Following this, she returned to Paris, where she managed the Tomatis® Children’s Center for ten years. She is now living in Lorient, Brittany, where she has opened a new Tomatis® center and a center of systemic family therapy.
Valérie is a founding member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants, where she held the position of secretary until she was elected as vice-president in Dublin in 2009. She has been a member of the Tomatis training team for many years, and travels around Europe and the United States to train new professionals in both the Tomatis® Method and Solisten®.
You can contact Valérie at gas.v@wanadoo.fr or tomatislorient@gmail.com
Sonia Montoya
Born in Colombia, Sonia relocated to France, where she studied developmental psychology at the University of Paris VIII, and linguistics and language acquisition at the University of La Sorbonne Paris IV between 1973 and 1984. She then went on to conduct research on epilepsy with dyspraxia in collaboration with Miss Leman, director of the psycho-pedagogical Valadon school. Sonia began developing her own method of teaching reading, writing and grammar in an effort to change the institutional approach to the study of school failure.
From 1990 to 1997 she worked with sick children at the Institut Curie, and between 1996 and 2009 she did a pedagogical follow-up of children with learning difficulties at the psycho-pedagogical center Tomatis® Écoute Communication in Paris. Her work takes a psycholinguistic perspective more involved in the development of language acquisition in children and in the process of professional self-efficacy.
Maude Le Roux
Maude owns and directs A Total Approach, a therapy and education center just outside Philadelphia in the United States, and has several years of field and supervisory experience in a variety of occupational therapy fields. She is an experienced occupational therapist, holds a DIR® certificate (FloortimeTM), and has completed several sound therapy certifications, including Interactive Metronome. Maude is currently an elected board member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants (IARCTC ) and also serves on the research and conference committee for the same organization.
She works with a team of occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, physical therapists and mental health counselors in her practice, and she is well known for her experience and work with children who carry a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, sensory processing disorder, and dyslexia/learning disabilities. Maude believes in being a lifelong learner, and attends conferences on an almost-monthly basis. She is also a co-trainer of the Solisten®/Tomatis® training team for the USA and South Africa.
You can find out more about Maude’s center—and her incredible work—at www.atotalapproach.com
Françoise Nicoloff
Françoise, the founder and director of the Australian Tomatis® Method, is a renowned psychologist with over three decades’ experience in applying the Tomatis® Method around the world. Françoise was trained by Dr. Tomatis in the late 1970s, and since 1983 has been involved in the training of Tomatis® consultants in France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, and, lately, the Philippines. Françoise has worked in four continents, helping thousands of people of all ages (from infants to the elderly) with challenges ranging from auditory processing to learning and communication difficulties to improving pitch for singers and energizing elderly people. Her passion is helping people to reach their potential or recover lost abilities, to bring a new level of joy and happiness in their lives. She was part of the group who founded the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis® Consultants in 2001, and has been its president since 2004. She has lectured in many countries around the world and is also a life coach and painter.
Françoise is happily married with a 20-year-old daughter and two stepsons. She lives in Sydney and travels both in Australia and overseas to share her knowledge and skills.
Françoise can be contacted at fnicoloff@tomatis.com.au, and you can find out more about her work at www.tomatis.com.au or www.solisten.com.au