Auditory Processing Disorder

In short there is no surefire way to treat APD. Each person responds differently. As Teri Bellis says in the American Speech and Hearing Association’s website “with appropriate intervention, all children with APD can learn to become active participants in their own listening, learning, and communication success rather than hapless (and helpless) victims of an insidious impairment. Thus, when the journey is navigated carefully, accurately, and appropriately, there can be light at the end of the tunnel for the millions of children afflicted with APD.” 

Auditory Processing is basically the role the brain plays in the hearing process which ultimately enables us to develop learning skills. Essentially, it is our brain and not our ears that hear. The ears play the part of sending raw information on for further analysis where, all being well, it is eventually deciphered by the hearing centres in our brain. 

People with Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) have difficulty understanding instructions and sustaining attention, particularly in the classroom environment where there is frequently competing background noise. The sounds of peers whispering or talking, traffic, as well as lawnmowers or children playing outside, are just some of the common classroom distractions that make learning very difficult for these children. They need to expend far too much mental energy and cognitive resources trying to sort through the various sources of auditory information that their brains are receiving, such that they cannot learn.

It is important to understand that if your child does have a processing deficit, it is unlikely they will outgrow these problems without appropriate intervention. The difficulty lies in choosing the best way to assist your child’s learning, given that there are so many options available. Most of the parents we meet have tried various programmes and tutoring, with limited success. This may be because the intervention is not addressing the underlying processing deficit. It is as though the builders are trying to stabilise the roof before the walls are completely built. Equally it is essential to establish fundamental oral language skills before learning to read and write.

Current literature uses the term co-morbidity to relate Auditory Processing Disorder to other diagnostic labels. This means that the two may coexist with each other or with a multitude of other individually labelled disorders such as LD, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, autism, and PDD.
Auditory Processing Disorder, however, is one of the few that is “measurable” through established audiology and otology instrumental tests. ADHD, autism, are usually diagnosed by case history and observation of overt behaviours.

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