Are you worried that your child is behind at school, but no one can tell you why?

[AJ2008]

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a condition that is believed to affect 1 in 10 children, but currently the majority of sufferers are undiagnosed and there's still a lot of people who work with children who have either not heard of it or have no experience dealing with it.

Children and adults with APD have perfectly normal hearing but the brain does not process the sounds properly. A book about the condition describes it as "listening through water". For the undiagnosed child, life at school can be pretty tough as all the normal background sounds in the classroom drown out what they need to hear and their academic attainment suffers.

If you have a child who is not doing very well at school but no one can tell you why, then you may need to get them checked for APD.

I have written an article about APD here. I describe the process we went through to get our daughter diagnosed on the NHS and there's links to other websites, where you can get more free info.

Once a child is diagnosed, then for many all you need do is implement simple strategies at home and at school and you should see an improvement.

I hope you find the info helpful.

I am taking my dd for an initial assessment from a practitioner of the Listening Program next week...I have no diagnosis of APD as I had never even heard of it until a few months ago. My dd is dyslexic. HAs anyone had any experience of this program?

aj2008 - how does this disorder tie in with dyslexia? I know that many dyslexic chn can have difficulty with auditory processing skills.

APD, Dyslexia, ADD and ADHD are a group of conditions that can be related and can "mask" each other. The problem is that once you get a diagnosis of one, then you can stop & not realise that another condition can also be present.

We were lucky, we got the diagnosis of APD very early on. But, through some sort of instinct, we realised that there was another problem and within a year it was confirmed that out daughter had a phonic dyslexia as well.

This website www.apduk.org/ has a lot of info and a forum that discusses a lot of the conditions that seem to be related.

Thanks op.

thanks. very interesting link to the APD website too.

I'm going to put a link on the SN board to this thread, as the SN board tends to be busier.

yes, great link, we're also considering it for ds as we think his father had it as a child..

Glad you all found my posts helpful - The main thing is, that if you think that there is something with your child, then trust your instincts and dont give up trying to find an answer.

Our daughter is now hearing noises in her head at different times and gets regular headaches. This may be tinnitus and she is now going to see a paediatrician. I suffer from a disease of the inner ear called Otosclerosis so it could all be linked and when I see my own Consultant later in the year, she may want to see my daughter as well, as it is a research hospital. Otosclerosis can be hereditary so the consultant wants to know about any relevant family history.

APD is such a relatively "new" condition that they are learning new things about it all the time. So, although we have not got any answers as to the causes of APD, we have learned how to manage the condition and give our daughter's teachers the info they need to support her learning.

However, the other crucial thing that people need to be aware of, is that at times a child with APD may not process something someone is saying to them, so in an emergency situation, if there's a lot of children and a lot of noise the child with APD may be confused as to what is happening. It is crucial that everyone who cares for the child in an academic and social situation is aware that they have to make sure the child has heard and processed what they are being told.

That's interesting. My 6 year old dd was diagnosed dyslexic a few months ago. She also continues to mispronounce words, has difficuty finding the "right" word, does not seem to hear us sometimes (I have had her hearing checked twice as my SIL is an audiologist - and she has no apparent issue).
Now you have me wondering about APD...

Podrick - would be really intersetd to hear is listening programme is helpful.

thanks

My dd was diagnosed today with APD. She misses lots of words but fills in the gaps (not always correctly) using compensation strategies.

We are definitely going to try The Listening Program.
AJ2008 I also have otosclerosis! Have had 2 stapedectomies and now hear normally both sides.

I would love to hear from anyone who has done either the Listening Program or SAMONAS.

Podrick - thank you for visiting my webpage on Auditory Processing Disorder. No, I have not heard of the Listening Program - can you let us have links to info?

As for you having Otosclerosis - that is incredible!

AJ2008 have you had ops for your otosclerosis? The Listening Program is here and her is Samonas which is a similar idea

Podrick, a colleague of mine who is a Behavioural Optometrist also does a program which appears to be similar to that one. He finds that in children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD they respond much better to sound therapy combined with vision therapy then they do to vision therapy alone and they nearly all improve in some way. My ds1 has a diagnosis of ADD but a huge part of his problems appears to relate to Auditory processing.

Hello chipmonkey. From what I have read auditory processing problems are present for a lot of different conditions, it is quite interesting. I have never heard of vision therapy, do you know what children do in that therapy?

haggisaggis it sounds to me as though your daughter may well have apd. I found this diagnosis very helpful although I do not know how much I will be able to help my child or not...apparently there is no "cure" but I am hoping that the Listening Program may help.

Podrick, vision therapy takes a more holistic approach to vision and visual processing. In a typical eye test the optometrist will check vision, refractive error, muscle balance and look for any signs of eye disease. The behavioural optometrist will look at other things like peripheral awareness, the ease with which a child can change focus from distance to near, the ability to visualise and how the vision in that individual child relates to sound, rhythm and balance. So you could end up in vision therapy with a child standing on a balance board and at the same time calling letters off a chart to the rhythm of a metronome! I think for any child with a specific learning difficulty it is well worth having an assessment by a behavioural optometrist. Most practitioners will do an initial assessment after which they will be able to tell you whether they feel vision therapy would be helpful. You can find a list of behavioural optometrists Here In your own situation, I would do the listening program first as a problem with auditory processing does not necessarily indicate that there would also be a visual processing problem but at some point it would probably be worth an assessment. Approximately 80% of brain function is usually given over to visual processing so it can impact on a lot of areas.

Chipmonkey thanks so much for that advice, I was not aware that I could access this kind of assessment.

Is your son getting help for his APD - I would be very interested to hear about it.

Wow, I have never heard of this before and have just sat here reading open mouthed because it so describes my ds.

He is 6 next month and I have lost count of the amount of times I have said that if he hadn't got a normal hearing test result I would swear he had hearing problems. I also remember saying to my mum 'it's like he hears me but he just doesn't get it'.

I can literally say something to him and then ask him what I said and he doesn't know. He is also having reading difficulties, and gets accused of not listening when in class.

Well done for finding out whilst he is so young, my dd is 9 and I am only just getting to grips with her problems and how best to help her...the US is way ahead of us on APD apparently

We are starting a course of sensory integration next week which will involve some sound therapy. After that, depending on how it goes, I may bring him over to the UK to visit my colleague. I am just starting out in Behavioural Optometry myself so can do vision therapy with him myself ( not sure if it's wise, having your Mum do therapy with you but hey, we'll give it a shot!). I am desperately trying to avoid the use of Ritalin-type drugs but have not ruled them out entirely.

Thanks for the links everyone. I would be really grateful if you would post info about any personal experiences you have with these therapies as it may be usefule for my apd article - with your permission of course

Chipmonkey - Ritalin type drugs? Is this for the ADD? I have not heard of it being used for children with APD.

Podrick - no I have not had op for Otosclerosis. I only have in one ear at the moment and hearing loss not yet bad enough to warrent it. It's a question of waiting to see. I am currently doing Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) and have posted about it in my otosclerosis article, which also shows a video of a stapdectomy - if you are not too squeamish to press the play button!

no, ritalin for the ADD, Podrick. But I really believe that APD plays a huge part in his ADD, so Im trying to address that first.

Good luck Chipmonkey. Keep us posted as to how you get on.