Now that you know a little about Auditory Processing (and I say little because there is too much information out there that I have only scratched the surface) where do you go to get help?

Unfortunately, audiologists can not make a reliable diagnosis of Auditory Processing Disorder, or Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), until a child is seven (and it takes specialized testing) because of the way the neurological system develops. However, visual processing can be diagnosed early and a neurologist can determine if a child will or is having trouble processing auditory information.

Educational therapists, neuropsychologists, and educational psychologist can give parents and IEP teams an indication early on that an APD (CAPD) is present by testing things like auditory memory, sequencing, tonal pattern recognition and sound blending, and general information storage. This is what our neuropsychologist did and found huge gaps in all of those areas.

He described AJ’s auditory processing as not being able to make connections between pieces of information. For example, if he was asked the question: “Can you show me what cuts paper?” my son could answer the question because because there were several pictures of scissors in front of him. However, if asked “What cuts paper?” with no visual prompts he could not answer the question, thus the lack of connections between pieces of information.

When it comes to working with schools the IEP teams works together to form a program for the student with APD (CAPD) and VPDs. An Occupational Therapist and Speech Therapist create a program that incorporates the speech and the OT component. For example, modifications and accommodations like headphones and an amplifier might be suggested by the speech therapist to help modify sound but the OT might suggest earplugs in loud places to muffle overstimulating noises so that your child can work more efficiently.

Other accommodations?
1. Get information in writing or tape lectures for later. Other devices type for you or the lecturer that can aid the child with VPD’s as well.

2. Auditory trainers are electronic devices that allow the child to focus only on the speaker. The teacher wears a microphone and the child wears headphones to receive the sound.

3. Environmental modifications like placement in the classroom and even acoustics.

4. Language building exercises.

5. Auditory memory enhancement, a procedure that reduces detailed information to basics.

6. Auditory integration training or therapeutic listening to help retrain the auditory system and decrease hearing distortion.

Some Occupational Therapy Treatments
NeuroNet
Balametrics
BrainGym
Interactive Metronome

More Information:
LD Online-Auditory Processing

Homepage of Classroom Acoustics
CAPD/APD Symptoms and Subtypes Checklist
Audiologist who perform CAPD Evaluations