Struggling to listen: Auditory Processing Problems
As published in Healthy Cells of Bloomington Magazine January 2007.
By: Basha Ontiveros, M.S., CCC-SLP
“Nick”, I say.
“Huh?” says Nick.
“Go get the milk in the garage from the refrigerator”.
(After a long pause) “what?”
“I said”, slowing down the rate and over-articulating "Go get the milk in the garage, please”.
“In the garbage?” says Nick.
“No, in the re-fri-ge-ra-tor”, I say.
“Oh, okay” as Nick heads to the kitchen…
“No Nick”, I say, “in the ga-rage”, I say slowly.
“Oh, okay”, says Nick.
This incident is a typical one for our household. Each day seems to be a challenge to communicate simple
instructions or ideas to our son who is 10 1/2 . For families and children with auditory processing issues,
this type of scenario plays out frequently. As both a parent of a child with CAPD (Central Auditory Processing
Disorder) and a professional who works with children with auditory processing, language processing and other
learning differences, I can say with certainty that when children (and adults) struggle to listen it affects us
all in ways that can be difficult to articulate.
When assessing a child who is struggling with speech, language, reading or learning issues, I will sometimes
ask a parent if they suspect any auditory processing issues. “No”, they often will respond, “my child’s
hearing was tested several times and it always came out normal.” This is a common presumption, as most parents
of children with auditory processing issues will often have their child’s hearing tested many times before an
accurate diagnosis of CAPD (and perhaps ADD/ADHD) will be made.
As many parents realize as time goes on, auditory processing disorders affect how the brain perceives and
processes what the ear hears and are not necessarily the result of a hearing loss. But the signs are usually
there early, if one knows what to look for.
During the early years, many behaviors and symptoms are apparent (and these often continue to persist). These
were signs that I noticed early on and continue to see:
Trouble with:
- Learning to speak
- Separating meaningful sounds from background noise
- Remembering stories or songs (including the alphabet)
- Maintaining attention to listening tasks and following directions
- Unusual sensitivity to and difficulty listening in noise
- Confusing similar sounding words
- Difficulty in understanding speech, particularly rapid speech.
- Finding the right words to use in speech(word-retrieval)
- Uses short fragmented sentences in speech and writing
- Difficulties with either learning to read or with reading comprehension and vocabulary
Like all learning disabilities, auditory processing disorders can be a challenge in all aspects of life,
particularly socially and academically. Despite the fact that only 10 percent of students learn best auditorily,
it has been estimated that 80 percent of instructional delivery is auditory. And since the skills necessary to
process much of social language is auditory—many children struggle in this area as well.
How Can I Help My Child?
If you have concerns, a comprehensive assessment by a speech-language Pathologist and an audiologist who
specializes in language and auditory processing disorders is recommended. There are many different
treatments available for the social, reading and speech issues common to kids with auditory processing issues.
There are also some things you can do at home to help your child:
- Have your child look at you when you're speaking.
- Use simple, expressive sentences.
- Speak at a slightly slower rate and at a mildly increased volume.
- Ask your child to repeat the directions back to you aloud and to keep repeating them aloud (or to
himself or herself) until the directions are completed.
- General organization and scheduling also seem to be beneficial for many children with CAPD.
Parenting a child with auditory processing difficulties has its challenges. Patience is essential.
Helping with homework and reading/writing and organization can seem endless. I’ve learned to repeat,
re-phrase and over-enunciate what I say. I often have to “fill in the blanks” with what he has heard. With some
intensive treatments we’re seeing improvements. Yet, we still have a long way to go.
But every morning that I look into his bright eyes, excited about a new day despite all the challenges I
know he will face—I’m motivated and inspired to do whatever I can to help him reach his full potential.
Basha Ontiveros, the owner and director of Speech and Learning Connections in Bloomington, Illinois, is a Speech-Language Pathologist who specializes in CAPD,
Language-learning disabilities (including Dyslexia)
and Autism Spectrum Disorders.
More information can be obtained on their website at speechandlearningconnections.com or by calling
309-663-4172.
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