What Is APD?
Auditory processing disorder occurs when the ear and the brain do not coordinate fully. Assuming your child's hearing is good (and this should be verified by an audiologist), auditory information breaks down somewhere beyond the ear. The causes of APD are varied and can include head trauma, lead poisoning, possibly chronic ear infections - and unknown reasons. Because there are many different possibilities - even combinations of causes - each child has to be assessed on an individual basis.
Children who are candidates for a APD assessment include those with:
- A hearing or listening disability which includes difficulty following instructions, inattentiveness or distractibility due to background noise
- Poor memory for auditory information
- A history of chronic otitis media with associated conductive hearing loss
- ADHD or ADD
- Poor general academic performance despite: normal hearing sensitivity, normal non-verbal intelligence, normal visual processing skills.
- A medical history especially with heightened risk of neurological sequealae eg. bacterial meningitis, head injury, neurotoxic exposures, antidepressant medication (Prozac)
- A family history of developmental speech difficulties, non-verbal learning difficulties and hearing loss
- There is a high rate of comorbidity between APD and the following disorders:
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- Learning Disabilities
- Dyslexia
- Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity
- Developmental disabilities/mental retardation
Problem Areas
Here are the five main problem areas that can affect both home and school activities in children with APD:
- Auditory Figure-Ground Problems: This is when the child cannot pay attention when there is noise in the background. Noisy, low-structured classrooms could be very frustrating to this child.
- Auditory Memory Problems: This is when the child has difficulty remembering information such as directions, lists or study materials. It can exist on an immediate basis ("I can't remember it now") and/or a deferred basis ("I can't remember it when I need it for later").
- Auditory Discrimination Problems: This is when the child has difficulty hearing the difference between sounds or words that are similar (COAT/BOAT or CH/SH). This problem can affect following directions, reading, spelling, and writing skills, among others.
- Auditory Attention Problems: This is when the child cannot maintain focus for listening long enough to complete a task or requirement (listening to a lecture in school). Although health, motivation and attitude may also affect attention, among other factors, a child with APD cannot (not will not) maintain attention.
- Auditory Cohesion Problems: This is when higher level listening tasks are difficult. Auditory cohesion skills - drawing inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems - require heightened auditory processing and language levels. They develop best when all the other skills (levels one through four above) are intact.
As part of our Auditory Processing assessment, our audiologists will assess all all of the above areas and identify those areas that require specific attention. Based on this real information, your audiologist will be able to recommend the most appropriate course of action.
For further information regarding APD click here.
