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Original poster

Auditory memory issues.

27 replies

FitForLife · 23/01/2012 18:50

My DD (11) has been diagnosed with auditory memory issues.

She's currently going through testing with the educational psychologist at school and his preliminary report says she has some level of dyslexia, general learning difficulties and auditory memory issues based on a SaLT assessment.

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with similar problems?

Any good tips or sites to help us get our head around everything ?

Do you explain your child's SN them?

I'm feeling a bit like a rubbish mum because it's frustrating when she forgets so much of what I'm telling her. How do I adjust my thinking on this? I'm working hard not to be cross but I feel guilty about how I've reacted in the past before we knew.

OP posts:
ohmeohmy · 23/01/2012 20:37

A bit different but my ds has poor working memory and forgets everything just been told. We get around it by writing things down to remind him as he is a good reader. Perhaps pictorial representations might help if reading difficult. It is incredibly frustrating. Being concise and precise and repetitive also helps. One simple instruction at a time in as few words as possible. Try to let go of the guilt, won't help either of you. No one knows your child better than you, think about practical changes you can make that would suit her and will make her life easier. And I will bet anything you are not a rubbish mum.

nothinginthefridge · 23/01/2012 21:14

Agree with ohmeohmy totally.

My DS is 11 and only recently been diagnosed. I feel totally rubbish about it too, not sure when I'll get over that.

We have just got my DS proposed statement through and it reads that he should be given visual prompts/symbols in school to assist (not that they have done - its been in his IEP since September).

At home, we must get DS to look at us before an instruction is given - only one. I sometimes ask him to repeat it back to me to check he has it in mind (at the moment this doesn't frustrate him, but it might do in the future me thinks!) One thing I read on here before (sorry not sure who it was) is that if you re-phrase something, sometimes it is like you are giving them a whole new set of instructions and it could confuse them even more. I'd not even thought about that.

DS writes very important things on his hand. It's not ideal but when you need him to remember to bring his coat home from school before the weekend for example, needs must.

Can I ask fitforlife, are you finding that your DD's behaviour is deteriorating at all? It's difficult to describe - DS is not really badly behaved, but totally hyperactive. I'm just getting my head around things and I'm not sure why this change in behaviour is happening. I have an older son who has gone through the usual teenage stuff, but this seems different.

Original poster
FitForLife · 23/01/2012 21:23

Thanks for the reply.

I've done a simple checklist and put it in a frame so it's dry wipe friendly. It's just the simple daily stuff that used to be the biggest things we'd fall out about like tidying away clean clothes and making her bed. I can then just tell her to check her list after dinner so she can see what needs to be done.

Hopefully this will become a habit in time. Her reading is coming along nicely with her one to one so it will be easier to use lists with time I guess.

I don't think she knows the extent of the memory stuff though. She gets upset she has forgotten something again but I reassure her I know it's not her fault. I don't know if it would be better for her to be told that she will always have this?

OP posts:
Original poster
FitForLife · 23/01/2012 21:24

Nothing - cross posted. Will reply in a bit!

OP posts:
nothinginthefridge · 23/01/2012 21:27

oooo you are much more organised than me. Might try the wipeclean checklist. I have to pick my way across the bedroom floor hoping that I don't tread on anything important that is hidden underneath the mound of stuff.

Original poster
FitForLife · 23/01/2012 21:35

I hadn't heard about the rephrasing thing before but that makes sense. I always used to rephrase things for her if she looked a bit lost at what I was saying. Poor thing must have thought I was giving her even more things to remember!

I have found that she is getting more argumentative. She is questioning why I'm saying no to things which is new for her. Tbh I thought that was normal pre teen stuff! I'm worried she'll notice differences between her and her friends though. They are getting more independent as they head for secondary school but I'm worried about her going to town alone etc. she has a mobile simply because she was always late home from friends.

She seems more forgetful but I don't know if I'm just more aware of it now.

OP posts:
dolfrog · 23/01/2012 21:36

FitForLife

Unfortunately an educational psychologist (EP) is not qualified to diagnose any auditory issues. So what is trying to do is to make out he is the expert on these issues. You should ask for a referral to a local consultant audiologist who assess and diagnose Auditory Precessing Disorder (APD) or a referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), which could be the cause of poor auditory memory.

Dyslexia is a man made problem, about having problems with a man made communication system the visual notation of speech, or decoding and recoding the graphic symbols society chooses to represent the sounds of speech. There are two types of dyslexia. Alexia (acquired dyslexia) which results from brain injury, substance abuse, stroke, dementia, or some form of progressive illness where the individual has lost or is losing their ability to read. Developmental dyslexia has a genetic origin, and has three cognitive subtypes: auditory, visual and attentional. Which means that an auditory processing disorder, a visual processing disorder, an attention disorder, or any combination of the three can cause the dyslexic symptom.

Living with APD can be difficult and frustrating at times you might find the APDUK web site has some useful information, or you could have a look at my own web site Living with an Invisible Disability

dolfrog · 23/01/2012 21:39

ohmeohmy

You might like to have a look at my PubMed Working Memory research paper collection

Original poster
FitForLife · 23/01/2012 21:49

Dolfrog thanks for all the links!

I'll be browsing tonight then :)

That's interesting about the ep. The school sorted out the speech language and communication assessments first as they knew it was based there mainly. I think he added the apd stuff bases on the report. He's yet to finish the full testing for the statement but I'll certainly be asking about seeing an audiologist too.

I'm glad I'm not alone with this now. It felt pretty devastating at first. She wants to desperately be a vet but to me it seems such a mountain with all those years of study and I don't know how much support would be there in that environment.

OP posts:
dolfrog · 23/01/2012 21:56

FitForLife

All our family have a clinical diagnosis of APD; 3 DSs, my DW and me. According to the Medical Research Council 10% of the population have some degree of APD, but at this point in time not many know what APD is let alone know that they may have the disability.

nothinginthefridge · 23/01/2012 22:14

Dolfrog - can you tell me what the difference is between APD and poor working memory? Sorry I don't know, I'm just getting to grips with diagnosis and what all the reports that we have actually mean. Thanks in advance.

IndigoBell · 23/01/2012 22:33

My DD had all of these types of issues, which we've successfully cured at Tinsley House

You can read about the thinking behind it in Is That my Child?

The program is absolutely amazing, and I totally recommend it.

dolfrog · 23/01/2012 22:33

nothinginthefridge

Auditory Processing Disorder(APD) is a listening disability, or about having problems processing what you hear, and this can include poor auditory memory, poor sequencing skills, having problems with low levels of background noise, the dyslexic symptom, problems sound based information which includes speech following conversations and multiple verbal instructions. There can be varying degrees of each issue, and i probably have missed some issues lol

Working Memory (short term memory) very much like the RAM of a computer, where we run all the programs we need to perform all the daily tasks we carry out. And like the RAM of a computer it has limited capacity. Those of us who have a cognitive deficit such as APD need to run alternative compensating skills to work around our deficit/ disorder, and these coping strategies like all the other programs we use need to be run in our working memories. Due to the limited capacity something has to make way for our coping strategies, other wise like the RAM of a computer, if overloaded it would crash. Usually it is our self organisational abilities, and / our sense of time that makes way. It is different for each person.

Obviously it is more complex than that that but that is a rough guide.

nothinginthefridge · 23/01/2012 23:39

thanks dolfrog Smile

ohmeohmy · 24/01/2012 07:59

Thanks do frog. will Take a look

ohmeohmy · 24/01/2012 07:59

Dolfrog darn autocorrect

dolfrog · 24/01/2012 20:54

ohmeohmy

I have a re-usable version of the link listed in the second table on my web site

ohmeohmy · 25/01/2012 08:02

Cheers

askhfgaslkgsj · 19/11/2012 16:47

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Allonsy · 20/11/2012 09:40

I read about working memory on another thread the other day, i posted but nobody replied. Ive had concerns about ds' (6) memory, his long term memory is great, he can remember things that happened when he was 2/3, he will suddenly start talking about a day that happened a year or so age, what we done, what we ate etc that i barely remember. But if i send him upstairs to do a few things he forgets, or he can repeat them back to me but forget when he gets there. He will say hes 'forgotton' something i said to him 2 mins before i always thought he was having me on but i maybe not. I tried the digit recall thing with him that was on the other thread and he couldnt do 6 numbers he wouldnt even remember the first one. So i tried doing it with 5 numbers, again couldnt do any, 4 numbers he got right 20 - 30% of the time, 3 numbers he could do. I also tried it visual putting down numbered cards for a few seconds and taking away he pretty much could do it this way. Does this mean he DOES have problems with working memory?

askhfgaslkgsj · 20/11/2012 16:18

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EllenJaneisstillnotmyname · 20/11/2012 17:02

Ash, do you have any connection with Cogmed? You do seem to be resurrecting old threads and recommending Cogmed a lot?

Allonsy · 20/11/2012 17:40

Oooh i didnt notice it was an old thread before i posted, will lookup checklists though

IndigoBelle · 20/11/2012 17:41

Competitors to cogmed are Jungle Memory, Posit and Lumosity......