Categories: Parenting

Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment of Auditory Processing Disorder

A few years ago, some of my students practiced giving speeches. Andrea, a sixteen-year-old girl who was attending our school as a visitor was eager to participate. Her chosen topic for her speech was ‘Food’ and with a lot of enthusiasm, she began with her attention-getter. “We don’t eat barns in my home.”

Puzzled, the other students stopped her right after her first sentence. “We don’t eat barns here either!” Andrea, not discouraged at all by the interruption of her speech after only her first sentence, took a stand. “Yes, you do.” Some families have ‘barns’ almost every night for dinner.

Lightheartedly, the other students quickly realized that Andrea was not talking about “barns” but “buns, or dinner rolls.”

When I told Andrea’s mom about her very effective attention-getter after school, her mom chuckled. At least your students laughed. It was no laughing matter, at least at first, when we were invited for dinner at a friend’s house the other night. The lady of the household had put a lot of effort into making the most delicious stuffed cabbage rolls. While we were enjoying the meal, Andrea commented, “Mrs. Dawson, this is great garbage!”

What are the symptoms of an Auditory Processing Disorder?

Andrea’s confusion of “barns” and “buns”, “cabbage” and “garbage” might suggest to some people the typical symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) or Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). In addition to the confusion of specific sounds and length of sounds, the symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder can also include spelling and reading difficulties, behavioral problems, focus and concentration issues (especially in noisy environments), and other speech-hearing-language challenges.

Many of the symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder mimic the symptoms of Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder, Emotional Disabilities, or even Autism. Andrea had neither APD, Dyslexia, ADD, ED, or Autism, Andrea was a foreign exchange student.

While it comes natural for most Americans to be able to distinguish the differences in the sounds of “buns” versus “barns” or “cabbage” versus “garbage”, having grown up in a different country and having a different mother language made it almost impossible for Andrea to distinguish the minute differences in those sounds.

Anyone who has grown up not speaking American but speaking a foreign language as a child can relate to the challenges that come with listening, processing, and recalling the phonetic structure of the American language. As Andrea told me, “It sounds like Americans are speaking with a hot potato in their mouth.”

Does my child have an Auditory Processing Disorder?

The trouble in a correct diagnosis of Auditory Processing Difficulty lies in the fact that there are many processes involved in the use of language. As in Andrea’s case, she could see the words, hear the words, and understand their meaning, but when it came to producing the correct sound with its proper speed and in its proper context, Andrea’s lack of sufficient exposure to the American language resulted in a misuse of the words.

Because of the intricacies on how language is perceived and processed by each individual, only an audiologist can make a proper diagnosis of an Auditory Processing Disorder. An audiologist can test in a soundproof room how a child responds to various auditory signals and how those signals are being perceived. Because of the brain’s continuous development during the early childhood years, most audiologists will require that a child be at least 7 years old. Some audiologists need a referral from a family doctor. In order to explore available certified audiologists and speech-language pathologists in your area, you can use the Search Feature provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

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What treatment options do I have for my child?

Even though Andrea did not have an auditory processing disorder but a foreign language interference, the process of how she eventually learned to master the phonetic sounds in the American language reflects many of the treatments available for children diagnosed with an Auditory Processing Disorder.

Once my students learned about the cause of Andrea’s confusion of “barns” and “buns,” they were more than happy to practice with her the differences of the two words through continuous repetition. At home, Andrea began to watch TV and listen to American music as much as possible. The more she exposed herself to the sounds of the American language, the faster she began to adopt and train her brain to those sounds. Within only a month, her progress was amazing.

In addition to language repetition and language exposure, I also taught Andrea the power of hand gestures and sign language. By combining Andrea’s increasing mental language acquisition with a physical association of words, it was possible to access several areas of Andrea’s brain. While there are many computer programs available for children with an Auditory Processing Disorder, providing one-on-one language training remains one of the most important treatment options available.

One of the preeminent treatment options for an Auditory Processing Disorder remains prevention. The early months and years of a child’s brain development are the most crucial ones. While reading with a child is important, talking, repetitive talking and the practice of sounds in a language is still one of the most important determining factors in a child’s mental development. It would be interesting to compare research studies of children that grow up with older siblings versus children that grow up without siblings and its effect on auditory processing skills.