What Parents Need to Know if Your Child is Diagnosed with an Auditory Processing Disorder
According ot the Mayo Clinic, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), sometimes called Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), is a type of hearing loss caused by something affecting the part of the brain that processes how you hear. It is not due to peripheral hearing loss or multilingualism.
APD is often misdiagnosed as other conditions, such as ADHD, but is its own condition, though it can coexist with other diagnoses such as attention, language, and learning difficulties. The cause is unknown but is linked to stroke and head trauma (in adults) and issues at birth (prematurity or low birth weight) or repeated ear infections.
APD is diagnosed by an audiologist using a specific battery of tests that assess hearing, listening, and language processing. For children, connecting with the school for educational evaluations is also crucial to get a full picture of the student’s challenges and whether other attention, language, or learning difficulties are also present.
Students with Auditory processing disorder may struggle with:
- Telling where sound is coming from
- Understanding words that are spoken quickly or in a noisy room
- Paying attention
- Reading and spelling
- Following directions unless they are short and simple
- Learning a new language
- Singing or enjoying music
- Understanding and remembering spoken information
They also might:
- Take longer to reply to someone who is talking to them
- Often need others to repeat themselves
- Not understand sarcasm or jokes
Treatment of APD generally focuses on three primary areas: changing the learning or communication environment, recruiting higher-order skills to help compensate for the disorder, and remediation of the auditory deficit itself (ASHA).
Environmental Modifications might include:
- Hearing aid amplification
- Assistive listening devices
- Some use of ADHD stimulant medications
- Acoustic dividers
- Sound proofing
- Reducing competing sounds
Direct Skills Remediation includes:
- Auditory training
- Computer-based training
Though it is still up for debate how effective the auditory training tools are in remediating or improving APD.
Compensatory Strategies include:
- Special listening strategies
- Metacognitive strategies
In addition, general processing supports can also help students with APD function better in a learning environment. Those include:
- All of the strategies for EF and ADHD
- Providing nearpoint references
- Use of technology (like text-to-speech and word predictive software)
- Extra time to complete tasks and assignments
- Giving finished models of longer assignments (what does “done” [aka final product] look like?)
- Providing wait time (think time)
- Finding ways to engage the students’ interest in lengthy assignments
- Shortening repetitive assignments
- Reducing the need for handwriting
- Limiting homework time
- Reducing distractions by using blank paper to cover all but one question on a worksheet
- Active reading using highlighters or sticky notes
(Mayo Clinic)
If you are unsure if DVFriends serves your student's learning profile, please contact the Admissions Office to speak to Jim Miller or Kavitha Patel.
Kavitha Patel
Assistant Director of Admissions, Director of Financial Aid
(610) 640-4150 x2120
Assistant Director of Admissions, Director of Financial Aid
(610) 640-4150 x2120