Auditory Processing Disorder
What is auditory processing disorder ?
Is a hearing problem that affects about 5% of school-aged children. Kids with this condition can't process what they hear in the same way other kids do because their ears and brain don't fully coordinate. Affecting the ability to understand speech.
How is it diagnosed ? How common is it ?
- It's difficult to diagnose children with APD before age 7 or 8
- Some of these auditory skills don't develop until then
- Getting a diagnosis requires finding a trained audiologist who can run electrophysiological tests,these tests record how the brain responds to sounds
Symptoms
- Difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments
- Following directions
- Distinguishing between similar sounds
- Inability to understand speech
Outcomes
- Generally occur in tandem with spelling, reading, language, and other learning problems
What Can Be Done
- Speech therapy
- Improve perception of individual sounds in words, which can help with reading skills
- Develop active listening skills, like asking a person to repeat directions
- Use language appropriately in social situations