Auditory Processing Disorder
Basically Understanding Auditory Processing Disorders
in Children
In recent years, there has been a
dramatic upsurge in professional and public awareness of Auditory Processing
Disorders , also referred to as Central Auditory Processing Disorders .
The term auditory processing often is used loosely by individuals in
many different settings to mean many different things, and the label Auditory Processing
Disorders has
been applied (often incorrectly) to a wide variety of difficulties and
disorders. As a result, there are some who question the existence of Auditory Processing
Disorders as a
distinct diagnostic entity and others who assume that the term Auditory Processing
Disorders is
applicable to any child or adult who has difficulty listening or understanding
spoken language. To avoid confusing Auditory Processing
Disorders with other disorders that can affect a
person's ability to attend, understand, and remember, it is important to
emphasize that Auditory Processing
Disorders is an auditory deficit that is not the result of other
higher-order cognitive, language, or related disorder.
There
are many disorders that can affect a person's ability to understand auditory
information. For example, individuals with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) may well be poor listeners and have difficulty understanding or
remembering verbal information; however, their actual neural processing of
auditory input in the CNS is intact. Similarly, children with autism may have
great difficulty with spoken language comprehension. In some cases, however,
Auditory Processing
Disorders may co-exist with ADHD or other disorders.
Diagnosing Auditory Processing Disorders
Children with Auditory Processing
Disorders may exhibit a
variety of listening and related complaints. In school, children with Auditory Processing
Disorders may
have difficulty with spelling, reading, and understanding information presented
verbally in the classroom. Auditory Processing
Disorders cannot be diagnosed from a symptoms checklist. No
matter how many symptoms of Auditory Processing
Disorders a child may have, only careful and accurate
diagnostics can determine the underlying cause.
A multidisciplinary team approach is
critical to fully assess and understand the cluster of problems exhibited by
children with Auditory Processing
Disorders. To diagnose Auditory Processing
Disorders, the audiologist will administer a series of
tests in a sound-treated room. Other tests that measure the auditory system's
physiologic responses to sound may also be administered. Most of the tests of Auditory Processing
Disorders require that a child be at least 7 or 8 years of age because the
variability in brain function is so marked in younger children that test
interpretation may not be possible.
Once
a diagnosis of Auditory Processing
Disorders is made, the nature of the disorder is determined. There are
many types of auditory processing deficits and, because each child is an
individual, Auditory Processing
Disorders may manifest itself in a variety of ways.
Treating Auditory Processing
Disorders
Notwithstanding anecdotal reports of
"miracle cures" available in popular literature or on the internet,
treatment of Auditory Processing
Disorders must be highly individualized and deficit-specific. Treatment
of APD generally focuses on three primary areas: changing the learning or
communication environment, recruiting higher-order skills to help compensate
for the disorder, and remediation of the auditory deficit itself. Suggestions
may include use of electronic devices that assist listening, teacher-oriented
suggestions to improve delivery of information, and other methods of altering
the learning environment so that the child with APD can focus his or her
attention on the message.
Compensatory strategies usually
consist of suggestions for assisting listeners in strengthening central
resources (language, problem-solving, memory, attention, other cognitive
skills) so that they can be used to help overcome the auditory disorder. In
addition, many compensatory strategy approaches teach children with APD to take
responsibility for their own listening success or failure and to be an active
participant in daily listening activities through a variety of active listening
and problem-solving techniques.
Finally, direct treatment of Auditory Processing
Disorders
seeks to re mediate the disorder, itself. There exist a wide variety of
treatment activities to address specific auditory deficits. Once again, it
should be emphasized that there is no one treatment approach that is
appropriate for all children with Auditory Processing
Disorders. The type, frequency, and intensity of
therapy, like all aspects of Auditory Processing
Disorders intervention, should be highly individualized
and programmed for the specific type of auditory disorder that is present.
The degree to which an individual
child's auditory deficits will improve with therapy cannot be determined in
advance. Whereas some children with Auditory Processing
Disorders experience complete amelioration of
their difficulties or seem to "grow out of" their disorders, others
may exhibit some residual degree of deficit forever. However, with appropriate
intervention, all children with Auditory Processing
Disorders can learn to become active participants in
their own listening, learning, and communication success rather than hapless
(and helpless) victims of an insidious impairment.
