Auditory processing disorder

[mrssparkle123]

Again posting here for traffic - sorry!! I wrote a recent post about my 4 year old son being referred for an adhd assessment and had amazing response and support..

I've now come across auditory processing disorder, as he appears to be having some hearing problems, always asking me to repeat what I said and say things louder. I'm thinking if there is a hearing problem/auditory processing this could actually be the issue.

However my son has managed to learn phonics and is just beginning to blend CVC words, so he can read c a t and put it together to make cat, I've read that someone with auditory processing disorder can't learn to read phonetically, obviously we are still at the very early basic stages of reading so I'm not sure if this counts!?

I was going to pay privately to have an extensive hearing test done next week but the audiologist doesn't assess for auditory processing disorder and did say it would end up costing a lot of money for testing and treatment so might be worth waiting for the nhs referral, but if it's not likely to be auditory processing disorder I'd like to get his hearing tested ASAP, does this make sense? Just wondered if anyone had any input or experience in this! Thank you :-)

I do!! Did my dissertation for bmedsci speech therapy degree in APD (and the effect of fish oil supplements on it). People with APD can learn to read phonetically, so being able to blend cvc words doesn't mean he hasn't got APD. Can tell you more tomorrow, poorly baby needing my attention now.

My dd has auditory processing disorder, she was diagnosed at 11 as her secondary school thought she had a hearing disorder. She was referred and after a 4 hour test, they confirmed.
They told me that children couldn’t be diagnosed.until at least 9 as they couldn’t mentally do the tests to prove it.
She has always been hard work, the health visitor did say that she had traits of adhd. She had extra help at school and was put in smaller classes so she could concentrate. She doesn’t have a lot of confidence and always feels she is not as clever as others, but with lots of support from teachers, extra tuition and us she has just started a level 3 course in the field she wants to work in.

I'm in my 50s, was diagnosed a few years ago...following hospital tests...only now I realise how it impacted me as a child...good luck OP with helping your little boy..

Thank you for your responses, kind of hoped the blending phonetically meant it wouldn't be that 🙄

If it was auditory processing disorder, would a hearing test come back as fine? So maybe it is an idea to get his hearing assessed and then if that's ruled out at least I know?

Is that definite that it cannot be diagnosed until 9+ or has anyone had any different experiences?

I guess what I'm asking is; would I be wasting my money taking him to see the audiologist next week to just get a general hearing test, she said it would take an hour and is £150?

I worked with a 7 year old child who has a private diagnosis of APD. I think children need to be at least 7 as some skills won’t have developed until then.

The thing with it is that volume is fine..it is distinguishing the sounds...and lots of sounds bombarding me can even now feel overwhelming. Taking notes is physically difficult for me...as your child gets older that could be an issue...I realise now why I couldn't do it...in my job I got a rollicking for not taking notes in a meeting..
Phones ringing..tannoyed music...etc.. then trying to talk and listen..hard going!
As a child classroom noises meant I didn't hear instructions..I struggled to remember stepped tasks..only after I realised what the issue was did it make sense.

I find this interesting because I have recently had Cochlear Implants after losing my hearing and I hear fine now. They take a long time to get used to and while I was getting used to them, although I was hearing the same sounds as I am now, it took longer for my brain to processs the sounds and for me to understand them.

I know my reason for it was different (Cochlear Implants), but surely what I experienced is APD? If so, I can tell you that it may not be deafness in itself, bit the result is the same- you can’t make sense of speech.

I took my dd 20 for a private hearing test recently as she was complaining of missing things. Test normal hearing but she KNOWS she misses things people say. So to me APD is as damaging as hearing loss as it has the same effect. At 4 years of age, I would 100% have your son tested for speech in background noise and any other tests they are able to do at his age, and then again in a few years time.

www.chears.co.uk

DS was diagnosed here.
It was explained to me, like being at a noisy party and not being able to focus in on individual sounds. DS has normal range hearing, very poor phonic awareness and poor pitch - don’t know if these are related.

I don’t think ‘normal’ hearing tests are the same.

DS has auditory and visual processing disorders, diagnosed at 11. Likely related to his glue ear and grommets at 3. He was diagnosed by a behavioural ophthalmologist, who also looked at this and motor skills. Cost about £180, I’ll happily pass on the information if you are in East Anglia.

He simply doesn’t always register that the sound he hears is speech that he is meant to tune into. You need to check he is aware you’re talking too him and that he needs to focus. He uses a dictaphone to help with information overload in lessons, he uses speech to text to help with spelling as he struggles to spell because he can’t remember the next sound in a word- it’s a loooong process. He learned to read based on visual recall pretty much.

School are great- he’s in top sets- they understand an inability to spell isn’t linked to intelligence.

I went to the gp as I was concerned about my daughter, and I was referred. The appointment was free, it shouldn't be something to spend so much on. We waited 6 weeks.

My daughter was exactly on the line of having/not having an issue. We followed through with all the exercises the audiologist recommended, gave the recommendations to school for them to implement too. The results are great, she's really improving and may well be within normal now.

The audiologist did say that a lot of kids suffer from this but grow out of it as the brain develops.

So the adhd symptoms definitely could be a result of APD if it were that!? And the fact he's asking me what I said and to speak louder could indicate that? He hates loud noises too.

Is there anything I can do at 4 years old!?

He also thinks I've said words differently, for example I'll say crop, he thinks I've said croc and he always calls people by different names or pronounces things slightly differently?

Is there anything I can do at 4 years old!?

Look ar the activities in The Ultimate Guide to Phonological Awareness (free online). They will be fun and age appropriate.

Hi #mrssparkle123 I'm interested to know if you have taken this any further for your DS as yet, having similar issues with DD who is just 5. She frequently tells me I've said a different similar sounding word to what I know I've said, often says 'what' when conversation is ongoing and she misses something, seemingly can't hear you when TV is on (although my DH does that too!), really struggles to hear a female swimming instructor who occasionally fills in for her normal much louder male teacher etc

Thanks

My DN has ADHD and APD. My daughter is deaf (moderate bilateral hearing loss). I treat Niece and daughter the same. Get their attention before speaking to them by tapping on the shoulder. Ask question or make comment. Don't be surprised if you need to repeat. Try not to get annoyed or frustrated when they just don't seem to have a clue what you are talking about!

DN is 8 and had suspected APD for 2 years before they were able to fully confirm.

@Cath2907 what was the route you took to get the diagnosis, via NHS referral?

My DD has Johansen Therapy which resolves all her APD issues when she was three.

It was a bit of a fluke as was seeing therapist for a different child. She scored very poorly on a hearing test but massive improvement after listening to a generalised Johansen CD. Moved onto the proper customised ones and ended up with near perfect hearing.

Obviously I never perused a formal APD diagnosis in the first but she had shockingly passed 3 NHS hearing tests with an inverted hearing curve

@lucyb162 sounds exactly like my son. Does your daughter have any other issues, sensory or emotionally? I believe auditory processing can't be assessed until at least age 7, so first things first I've been to the doctors and been referred for a hearing test with the nhs and I will go from there!

My friends son was diagnosed with this as a child. The school would never test him so my friend went to speech and language Therapy.
Ironically, when he went to uni years later, it turned out he had a form a dyslexia.

My DD has speech & Language Disorder (the title of which keeps getting changed!) and APD. The APD was diagnosed at Great Ormond Street which was an NHS referral. She has other processing disorders too.

APD doesn’t require the speaker to be louder - although DD had recurrent glue ear so did have some intermittent hearing loss too. So she can now hear but can’t always understand what she hears.

GOSH have lots of great information on their website.