What Is Auditory Processing Disorder? - Child Mind Institute

Auditory Memory: Auditory memory includes the ability to remember things we hear, in both the short-term and the long-term. InternetExplorerisnolongersupported PleaseupgradetoMicrosoftEdge,GoogleChrome,orFirefox. WhatIsAuditoryProcessingDisorder? by CarolineMiller Download Download Share GetthisasaPDF Enteremailtodownloadandgetnewsandresourcesinyourinbox. Sharethisonsocial FamilyResourceCenter LearningDisorders WhatIsAuditoryProcessingDisorder? Whenkidsarelistening,butnottakingininformation Writer:CarolineMiller ClinicalExpert: MatthewCruger,PhD WhatYou'llLearn Whatdoesauditoryprocessingdisorderlooklike? Whatkindsofauditoryprocessingskillsdosomekidsstrugglewith? Canchildrenoutgrowauditoryprocessingdisorder? QuickRead FullArticle Namechange Overlapwithotherdisorders BacktoTop QuickRead Childrenwithauditoryprocessingdisorderhaveahardtimeregisteringandrememberingwhattheyhear.There’snothingwrongwiththeirhearing.Theissueisthattheirbrainshavetroublemakingsenseofwhat’ssaidtothem.Kidswithauditoryprocessingdisordertendtomissinformationinconversations,andtheyoftenaskpeopletorepeatthingsorstruggletofollowspokendirections. Therearefourbasicskillsinvolvedinauditoryprocessing.Kidswithauditoryprocessingdisorderstrugglewithoneormoreoftheseskills: Hearingthedifferencesbetweensounds.Forexample,insteadofhearingtheword“bat,”theymayheartheword“pat.” Filteringoutunimportantsounds.Kidsmayhaveahardtimelisteningtotheteacherinsteadofbackgroundnoiseinaclassroom. Rememberingthingstheyhear.Childrenwiththiskindofweaknessoftenhaveahardtimerememberingnurseryrhymesorsonglyricsthatotherkidsremembereasily. Understandingandrememberingtheorderofsounds.Theymighthear“84”andthink“48,”forexample.Orsay“ephelant”insteadof“elephant.” Somechildrenwithauditoryprocessingdisorderhavealanguagedisorderaswell.Theystrugglewithlanguageinlotsofdifferentways.Othershavenormallanguageskillsoverallandonlystrugglewithlanguagethattheyhearaloud.Kidsinthissecondgroupmayoutgrowtheirauditoryprocessingchallengesastheygetolder. More FullArticle 4minread Someyoungchildrenseemtofinditunusuallydifficulttotakeininformationverbally.Eventhoughthere’snothingwrongwiththeirhearing,theyhavetroubleregistering—orregisteringcorrectly—whatpeoplearesaying,andrememberingwhattheyhear.Theyhavetroublelearningtoreadandexpressingthemselvesclearlybecausetheyconfusethesoundsofdifferentwords. Thesechildrenhaveaconditioncalledauditoryprocessingdisorder.Theyhavenormalhearing,butforsomereasontheyareweakinbasicskillsfordecodinglanguagethatmostkidsdevelopnaturally. “Thekidsweseearehavingdifficultyfollowingdirections,”explainsRachelCortese,aspeech-languagepathologist.“Theyaskforrepetitionalot.Theyseemtojustkindofmiss thingsinconversations.Fromtestingweknowthattheirearishearingthesignal.It’sattendingtotheauditoryinformation.Buttheyhaveglitcheswhenthebrainisnotassigningmeaning—ortherightmeaning—tothatsignal.” Therearefourbasicskillsinvolvedinauditoryprocessing,andkidswhohavetheseproblemsmaybeweakinoneormoreofthem. AuditoryDiscrimination:Thisistheabilitytonoticeanddistinguishbetweendistinctandseparatesounds.Thisiscrucialinbeingabletellsimilarbutdifferentwordsapart,likebatandpat,or seventyandseventeen.Alotoftimes,kidswithauditoryprocessingdifficultiesmightmissinformationormisunderstandwhatyousaybecausetheymishearwords,”saysCortese.“They’renotdetectingthesubtledifferencesinsounds.”Theymayalsofindithardertolearntoreadandtoexpressthemselvesclearly.Whenthey’respeaking,theymaymixupsimilarsoundsbecausetheydon’tperceivethedifference—saybefs insteadofbest—anddropsyllablesoutofwords.Expertscallthis“syllableattenuation,”andit’ssomethingkidsoftendowhenthey’relearninglanguagesbutthesekidscontinuetodoitaftermosthavebeguntospeakaccurately.Kidswithprocessingdifficultiesalsohavetroublerhyming,becausetheirbrainarenotdetectingthatthesearewordsthatsoundthesame.Foralotofthem,Corteseexplains,that’sbecausethey’retuninginonlytothebeginningoftheword,nottheend. Figure-to-GroundDiscrimination:Thisistheabilitytodifferentiateimportantsoundsfrombackgroundnoise,tofollowverbalinstructionsorpickoutonevoicefromtheauditoryclutter.Inaclassroom,achildwhoisweakinthisfigure-to-grounddiscriminationmighthavetroublebeingabletofocusonwhattheteacherissayingratherthanothersoundsintheclassroom.“It’slikeafilteringproblem,”Corteseadds.“WhatdoIneedtoattendto?WhatdoIneedtofilterout?” AuditoryMemory:Auditorymemoryincludestheabilitytorememberthingswehear,inboththeshort-termandthelong-term.Childrenweakinauditorymemoryhavetroublerememberingnurseryrhymesandsonglyrics,learningthingsthroughrecitation,andrememberinginformationunlessit’swrittendown. AuditorySequencing:Thisistheabilitytounderstandandrecalltheorderofsounds.Achildwithweaknessinauditorysequencingwillmixupnumberswiththesamedigitsindifferentorder(84and48)andmayswitchthesequenceofsoundsinaword(ephelantinsteadofelephant).Shemayalsohavetroublerecallinginformationpresentedinlists,anddifficultyfollowinginstructionsinsequence. Namechange Whilemostexpertscallthisconditionauditoryprocessingdisorder,youmayalsohearitreferredtoas“centralauditoryprocessingdisorder,”whichisanearliername.Thatname,explainsMatthewCruger,PhD,directoroftheLearningandDevelopmentCenterattheChildMindInstitute,impliesthatthebrainislikeacomputer.“Inthattheoreticalmodelthereissomesingleauditoryprocessingunitinthemindthatdoesthiswork,”henotes.“Butwehaven’tbeenabletofindacentralauditoryprocessor,sowe’restillstrugglingtounderstandit.” Overlapwithotherdisorders ThereisdisagreementamongexpertsaboutwhetherAPDshouldbeunderstoodasadistinctdisorder,becauseitoverlapswithotherlearningandattentiondisorders. Dr.Crugernotesthatauditoryprocessingproblemscanbediagnosedintwodifferentgroupsofkids: Onegroup,heexplains,seemtohaveprofounddisruptioninthosefoundationskillsforprocessingauditoryinformation.“Theystrugglewithawiderangeoflinguistictasks,”hesays,“includingmakingsenseofwhatwordsmeanandhowtheyareused,grammarandsyntax,semanticsandmeaning,puttingallthattogether.”Thesekidshavetroublewithlanguageonalotoffronts,andtheyarelikelytoalsobediagnosedashavinglanguagedisorders. Butthere’sanothergroupofkidsidentifiedashavingauditoryprocessingweaknesseswhosehigherlevellanguageskillsareintact,Dr.Crugersays.“Butthere’ssomebreakdowninfoundationskillsforsoundprocessingthatleadstosomeerrors.”Thesekidsjustshowweaknessintheskillslistedabove,andstruggletotakeininformationinsomeenvironments.Thesekidsarealsooftendescribedashavingattentionissues,makeithardtodistinguishbetweenauditoryprocessingandADHD. Kidsinthatsecondgroupmayalsogrowoutoftheirproblemsastheauditoryfibersorpathwaysintheminddevelop,whichstrengthensthecapacitytoprocesssignalsfromtheearwithinthebrain,notesDr.Cruger.Sincethesefibersandtheseconnectionsaren’tfinisheddevelopinguntiladolescence,it’spossiblethatsomeAPDisadelayindevelopment,ratherthanadeficit. ThisarticlewaslastreviewedorupdatedonAugust17,2021. CarolineMiller CarolineMilleristheeditorialdirectoroftheChildMindInstitute.Sheisaveteranmagazine,newspaperandwebsiteeditor…ReadBio MoreLikeThis HelpforKidsWithAuditoryProcessingDisorder SignsaChildMightHaveAuditoryProcessingDisorder SchoolSuccessKitForKidsWithAuditoryProcessingIssues Topics LearningDisorders Sharethisonsocial Wasthisarticlehelpful? 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