Do any of the following statements sound correct about your child?
- My child often mishears sounds and words.
- “Huh?” or “What?” are common responses when starting conversations with my child.
- My child struggles with spelling and/or phonics.
- Noisy environments are overwhelming when my child is trying to listen.
- My child has trouble following verbal directions.
- My child struggles with verbal (word) math problems.
If these statements ring true about your child, it might be time to look into testing regarding an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD).
Auditory processing difficulties are thought to affect up to 20% of school aged children and are very often misdiagnosed due to other diagnoses such as other speech-language delays, various learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and depression.
Sandra Reddish, a Speech-Language Pathologist with Rehab Specialists of Idaho (RSI) explains that an APD can affect everything from how a child hears, to how they read, to even how they remember things.
“When a child (with APD) is reading an unfamiliar book they are more likely to read the sound wrong or change the words. Their mind gets mixed up with the sounds and letters in the words. They will often mis-hear words. When asked, “Do you want some cheese?” they may wrongly hear, “Do you want a tease?”. If there isn’t anything visual to connect what they are hearing they will struggle with comprehension. Even if they clarify what was said, they might have a hard time remembering what was said. They might only remember 1 or 2 words where another child might remember 6 or 7 words without visual context.”
Recently though, RSI has partnered with Acoustic Pioneer, a company created by an audiologist that provides testing and treatment resources for both the clinicians and families. The program is designed to target specific auditory processing difficulties and help improve auditory processing skills that are most important for academics and that the clinician can’t easily replicate. Training can look like anything from working one-on-one with the speech therapist, to using auditory training software with headphones under the supervision of the therapist while at the clinic, and eventually at home for additional practice.
“The great thing about this treatment is that it can be utilized to help clients better engage with therapy activities that are difficult but very important. On average, duration for the treatment can vary from two months to a year and the effects of successful treatment will improve the academic trajectory of these children in incredible ways,” said Reddish.
Reddish says that research shows that 6-12 months of properly tailored APD treatment has an average improvement of two years of improvement for academic reading skills–which could dramatically change and improve reading, writing, conversational fluency, and the ability to follow directions independently.
For more information about APD or for a brief free screening to see if your child may benefit from APD testing, give us a call at 208-228-0625.