Should my child be tested for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)?
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) sometimes called Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is a complex disorder which effects many areas of a child’s development, including learning, communication and social development.
To effectively listen and interpret information, children require multiple skills. These include:
Attention: How a child pays attention to speech and sounds in their environment. Some children with APD may have difficulty blocking out background sounds and concentrating on the sounds they need to be listening to.
Discrimination: This is a brain’s ability to ‘hear’ the differences between different speech sounds e.g. hearing the difference between ‘f’ and ‘th’. These sounds are very similar and telling them apart can be difficult for a child with APD.
Associative skills: These are a brain’s ability to link incoming sound with information stored in the brain.
Integration skills: This is a child’s ability to hear groups of sounds and put them together with other information to make sense of a message. This skill focuses on looking at the ‘whole picture’ of the language and allows them to process information quickly.
Output or organization skills: These are about how well a child is able to put together, sequence, organise and recall what they have heard.
It is important to have good skills in all these five areas in order to be able to communicate well with others, to learn new information and to be engaged in learning.
A child with APD may show the following signs:
Difficulty understanding speech in noisy situations
Trouble hearing in groups
Difficulty listening
A short attention span
Lack of concentration
Has difficulty following instructions
Seems to hear but not understand what people are saying
Has trouble remembering what was said
Has poor speech or language skills
Has poor reading, phonics or spelling skills
Has impulsive behaviour
Poor engagement in class and/or low motivation at school
It is important to understand that having any or all of these characteristics does not automatically mean your child has APD. Many other disorders and learning difficulties have similar characteristics. During an APD Assessment a series of hearing tests must be undertaken to determine if a child has APD or something different. This is done by a qualified audiologist. It is recommended to talk to your family GP or local paediatric audiology clinic to book your child in for an APD hearing assessment.
To book an APD assessment at the Hear Today clinic please call 08 9328 4574.