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Auditory Processing Disorder
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Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), is a complicated problem affecting about 5% of school-aged children. These children cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do because their ears and brain are not fully synchronized. Something negatively affects the way the brain recognizes and understands sounds, most notably the sounds comprising speech.
Children with APD often do not recognize a slight modification between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. These kinds of problems usually happen with background noise, which is a natural listening environment. So, children with APD have the simple difficulty of understanding any speech signal presented under less than optimal conditions.
Problem Areas for Children With APD
The five primary problem areas that can affect both home and school activities in children/students with APD are:
- Auditory Figure-Ground Problems
These occur when a child cannot focus if there is noise in the background. Noisy, low-structured classrooms can be very frustrating.
- Auditory Memory Problems
These are seen when a child has difficulty recalling information such as directions, lists, or study materials. It can be immediate (“I cannot remember it now.”) and/or delayed (“I cannot remember it when I need it for later.”).
- Auditory Discrimination Problems
These are noted when a child has difficulty hearing the disparity between words or sounds that are similar (COAT/BOAT or CH/SH). This can affect following directions, as well as reading, spelling, and writing skills. If a student mispronounces a word, he is likely to read it that way.
- Auditory Attention Problems
These are problems that occur when a child cannot concentrate listening long enough to complete a task or requirement (such as listening to a lecture in school). Students with APD often have trouble sustaining attention, although health, motivation, and attitude also can play a role.
- Auditory Cohesion Problems
These are suspected when higher-level listening tasks are problematic. 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 1 through 4 above) are intact.
- Auditory Processing Disorders
- Auditory Processing Disorder treatment
- Auditory Processing Disorder in children
- Testing for auditory processing disorder
- Reading therapy
- Phonics-based systems
- MaxScholar Software
- Phonological approach
Serving Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe Counties.
Levy Learning Center auditory processing disorder training institute also provides auditory processing summer school for students, giving them a much-needed boost for the following school year.
How can MaxScholar help?
- MaxScholar’s Read Aloud function helps auditory processing skills by allowing students to hear words being pronounced as the students are reading a passage.
- MaxReading improves listening comprehension.
- MaxReading improves summarization skills.
- MaxPhonics helps auditory discrimination of phonemes through the visual association of pictures.
If you know someone who has challenges with auditory processing disorder, we strongly encourage you to take the following steps:
- Contact Levy Learning Center (305) 496-7208.
- Arrange an assessment or free screening.
- Enroll for intervention tutoring.