auditory processing

[Eva]

Hi everyone,

 

this is a strange question but I was wondering what people with CAPD hear or don't hear, when they find it difficult to follow what someone is saying? I want to explain to my son's teacher more about CAPD - she relies on verbal instructions in the classroom despite me asking her to use visual supports - and so I thought some real-life examples could help, (nothing else has, and I've given her lots of info to read too).

 

Thanks for any replies!

 

Eva

[Ian Jordan]

Auditory processing problems incorporate some or all of the following

 

hypersensitivity to some tones sound often causing physical pain - tinnitus is common

inability to filter out unwanted background noise

spoken words appear to run together and sound like gobblygook

timing of sounds can be wrong

fast attack sounds can be problems eg clapping

spatial awareness of sounds can be inappropriate

tones may be heard but not discriminated

echo / reverberation may be present

 

balance and dizzyness are often comorbid

 

effects include inabilty to listen in class, pain, withdrawal / shyness,

 

It may be difficult to assess in ASD

Normal hearing tests do not address APD

 

Usually if APD present there will be a visual processing / other sensory deficit.

Treatment may be by modifying visual processing (often will stop APD immediately) or using auditory training.

IT SHOULD BE TREATED

Edited September 14, 2007 by Ian Jordan

[spectrummum]

Auditory processing problems incorporate some or all of the following

 

hypersensitivity to some tones sound often causing physical pain - tinnitus is common

inability to filter out unwanted background noise

spoken words appear to run together and sound like gobblygook

timing of sounds can be wrong

fast attack sounds can be problems eg clapping

spatial awareness of sounds can be inappropriate

tones may be heard but not discriminated

echo / reverberation may be present

 

balance and dizzyness are often comorbid

 

effects include inabilty to listen in class, pain, withdrawal / shyness,

 

It may be difficult to assess in ASD

Normal hearing tests do not address APD

 

Usually if APD present there will be a visual processing / other sensory deficit.

Treatment may be by modifying visual processing (often will stop APD immediately) or using auditory training.

IT SHOULD BE TREATED

[spectrummum]

An auditory processing disorder interferes with an individual's ability to analyze or make sense of information taken in through the ears. This is different from problems involving hearing per se, such as deafness or being hard of hearing. Difficulties with auditory processing do not affect what is heard by the ear, but do affect how this information is interpreted, or processed by the brain.

 

An auditory processing deficit can interfere directly with speech and language, but can affect all areas of learning, especially reading and spelling. When instruction in school relies primarily on spoken language, the individual with an auditory processing disorder may have serious difficulty understanding the lesson or the directions.

 

Common areas of difficulty and some educational implications:

Phonological awareness

 

Phonological awareness is the understanding that language is made up of individual sounds (phonemes) which are put together to form the words we write and speak. This is a fundamental precursor to reading. Children who have difficulty with phonological awareness will often be unable to recognize or isolate the individual sounds in a word, recognize similarities between words (as in rhyming words), or be able to identify the number of sounds in a word. These deficits can affect all areas of language including reading, writing, and understanding of spoken language.

 

Though phonological awareness develops naturally in most children, the necessary knowledge and skills can be taught through direct instruction for those who have difficulty in this area.

 

Auditory discrimination

 

Auditory discrimination is the ability to recognize differences in phonemes (sounds). This includes the ability to identify words and sounds that are similar and those which are different.

 

Auditory memory

 

Auditory memory is the ability to store and recall information which was given verbally. An individual with difficulties in this area may not be able to follow instructions given verbally or may have trouble recalling information from a story read aloud.

 

Auditory sequencing

 

Auditory sequencing is the ability to remember or reconstruct the order of items in a list or the order of sounds in a word or syllable. One example is saying or writing "ephelant" for "elephant."

 

Auditory blending

 

Auditory blending is the process of putting together phonemes to form words. For example, the individual phonemes "c", "a", and "t" are blended to from the word, "cat".

 

Interventions:

First, a few words about interventions in general. Interventions need to be aimed at the specific needs of the child. No two children share the same set of strengths or areas of weaknesses. An effective intervention is one that utilizes a child's strengths in order to build on the specific areas in need of development. As such, interventions need to be viewed as a dynamic and ever changing process. Although this may sound overwhelming initially, it is important to remember that the process of finding successful interventions becomes easier with time and as the child's learning approach, style, and abilities become more clear. The following examples provide some ideas regarding a specific disability. It is only a beginning, which is meant to encourage further thinking and development of specific interventions and intervention strategies.

 

The following represent a number of common interventions and accommodations used with children in their regular classroom:

 

Do not rely solely on an area of weakness.

 

If instructions are given orally, try to supplement this with written or other visual cues. While it is important to address the area of need directly and try to build up areas of weakness, it is also necessary that the student be able to function successfully in the classroom. A simple accommodation like backing up verbal directions with visual or written cues is one way to facilitate this.

 

Keep the area of difficulty in mind.

 

Simplifying verbal directions, slowing the rate of speech, and minimalizing distractions can make a big difference to a person with auditory processing difficulties.

 

Plan specific activities for the areas of difficulty.

 

There are many activities that can help build auditory processing skills, whether it be in the area of phonological awareness, auditory discrimination, or any of the other areas in this realm. Rhyming games, for example, can help build phonological awareness as well as discriminating between similar and different sounds. Sorting games can help build auditory memory, as the number of variables and steps involved in the sorting can be easily controlled to adjust the level of difficulty.

 

What to do if you suspect a problem?

The following suggestions are presented in a sequence which should help ensure that your concerns do not go ignored. Of equal importance, this sequence should help avoid setting off any premature alarms, which may not be in the child's best interests.

 

Write down the reasons you suspect a problem might be present or developing, carefully documenting examples in which the concerning behavior is taking place.

 

This will help in two ways. First, it will help confirm or alleviate your concerns. If there is cause for concern, it will help you get a more focused idea of where the difficulty lies. This list will also be helpful if further action or meetings with other professionals are necessary.

 

Contact the school.

 

Speak to the child's teacher and other professionals who interact with your child to see if they see similar behaviors or have similar concerns. If the child is already working with specialists or receiving special education services, a consultation with these people can be helpful in identifying the problem and working out solutions.

 

If concerns remain, an evaluation by a specialist familiar with these issues could help isolate the problem.

 

Evaluations can be done through the public schools or through private practitioners. Please refer to NCLD's legal rights packet for a full explanation of your rights, the process, and the school's responsibilities to you. In addition, the evaluation should help identify strengths and weaknesses in general and the therapist should be able to recommend accommodations and strategies to best facilitate your child's learning.

 

If it is felt that special services or accommodations are warranted, arrange a meeting with the school professionals involved in your child's education to make plans for meeting the specific needs of your child.

 

In some cases, children meet the requirements to be legally entitled to special services. In other cases, children do not meet the criteria for legal entitlement. In either case, it is the school which will have to arrange and implement these decisions. Legally bound or not, some people and school systems are more responsive to people's needs than others. For this reason, it is important to try to establish and maintain a useful rapport with the people to whom you entrust your child's education. Often there are local resources available to help meet and support the variety of needs which accompany any person and his/her family when a disability is discovered. These organizations often prove tremendously valuable in providing additional resources and strategies which can make the difference between your child receiving the help s/he needs or not.

[Ian Jordan]

The affects of auditory processing problems were well put - but it is not true that all problems are cognitive, some auditory processing problems are directly related to sensory input and the processing difficulties can be non cortical.

 

whilst I agree that educational intervention is helpful - you must get the physical problems sorted out first. So hearing tests, hearing procesing tests, speech and language, sensory integration assessments are all indicated.

 

Its like teaching a child to hop with a broken leg - they can be taught to get from a to b but sort out the physical condition is the priority. Education can then deal much better.

 

And you will be very lucky to get your LEA to respond - I wish I wasn't so pessimistic - but they rarely do!

[Mumble]

For me, and I think mainly covered by what Ian wrote in the first post, is a difficulty with foreground/background sound. I have to go to conferences where there are often 5 or 6 discssion groups in the same room. I am supposed to attend just to my group (of around 8 people) - I can't. I hear all the others as well but not as some little background irritation (as someone thought when I was trying to explain) but all as part of the same conversation. In addition, where there is one speaker, I can find it difficult to pick out the voice speaking against other noises and visual distortions in the room. Even without background irritations/distractions such as when my supervisor is talking to me, he can say something and although I understand the words he uses and could read it, I sometimes just don't process the sound that goes in - it's quite difficult to explain - luckily he is very understanding and helps me here by using different methods, lots of email so I know what we're talking about in advance etc. It adds to my problems I already have with socialising because I can't follow conversations in the usual 'socialising' environments.

 

fast attack sounds can be problems eg clapping

This one's really interesting - stupidly I hadn't linked it but I find clapping really hard. It was at the final presentations at the conference where there was lots of clapping that my supervisor really noticed my distress at this - it is so difficult to explain to people that something that is supposed to signal pleasure can be so physically painful and leave me so stressed/tense (as I also am in anticipation of clapping).

[Mumble]

I have a question:

spatial awareness of sounds can be inappropriate

I'm assuming this means not knowing where noise is coming from. I'm now living on the top floor and there is no loft or roof terrace put I was woken up at 1am this morning by students who sounded like they were above me. I knew this was impossible but couldn't work out where the noise was coming from - I went outside my room where it was light and the noise seemed to 'jump' - totally freaked me out. I guess this is the same as not being able to tell in which direction sirens are coming from (but I though everyone had this problem because there was something on tomorrow's world ages ago where they were redesigning sirens to make them direction specific).

 

Can most people pick out fairly acurately the direction from which sound is coming?

[spectrummum]

i can not nor my children with autism

my hubby can with accuracy

if an ambulance ,police or whatever comes past us he knows which way it is coming from

i am the same as you i heard a tapping noise the other night

and i sat trying to work out what it was, to be honest it started to p--- me off a bit because i knew this noise but just could not tell at the time where it was coming from.

I got up and stood still alert listening but the sound stopped and ya know what it was lol

Thomas down the sofa

love shell

[Eva]

Thanks for all the replies, they've been very helpful <'>

 

We have one more term (11 weeks) left with this particular teacher, so I'm going all out!

 

I usually can't tell which direction a siren is coming from but I'm sort of okay with most other sounds. I do have something like tinnitus - certain sounds really hurt my ears. For example, I have to have the tv and music on really quietly whereas my partner has to have everything up loud because he's as deaf as a post. Watching tv together is interesting, (I make him wear headphones so he can have the volume up as loud as he wants )

 

I'd like to learn more about visual processing...what is meant by 'modifying visual processing'?

[Ian Jordan]

big question - too much for post

 

go to Jordanseyes.com and you can download books / see videos etc (all free)