Auditory Processing

[Quiver0f10]

My son had his vision eval today and she mentioned possible Auditory Processing issues with him. Is this something that the speech therapist will deal with or do I need to look into finding someone else to deal with these issues? We go to the ST on Monday for his first session so I can find out then, but I am curious now as to what I need to do.

 

I am so confused by all the different issues going on with my son.

[Rod Everson]

My son had his vision eval today and she mentioned possible Auditory Processing issues with him. Is this something that the speech therapist will deal with or do I need to look into finding someone else to deal with these issues?

 

Hi,

 

I would ask the person who made the comment. The term Auditory Processing gets used at least two ways in reading discussions.

 

At times it's used to describe the skills of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation. Used this way it can also sometimes refer to the ability to pick out similar sounding words, such as rhyming words, or words that start with the same sound. Kids who have trouble with these skills need to practice them until they become proficient, especially in the case of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation.

 

The other way Auditory Processing is used involves what the brain is actually doing as it processes sounds. Here you get into the various listening therapies which train a child's brain to differentiate various sounds and to pick relevant sounds out of background noise, etc.

 

Was the vision evaluation done by a developmental optometrist? If so, was a vision problem found? I would be inclined to address vision needs first, then train blending/segmenting/phoneme manipulation, and then see if more work needs to be done before going too far down the path of the listening therapies, but others may disagree. I haven't had experience with any of the listening therapy programs, mainly because a combination of vision therapy and phonics gets most of the kids I work with going on reading.

 

Anyway, I would call and ask for more clarification before I set out to fix an auditory issue. You need to understand what prompted the comment.

 

Rod Everson

OnTrack Reading

[Quiver0f10]

Thanks you. It was a developmental optometrist who did the eva. From what I gathered this is what she meant:

 

"The other way Auditory Processing is used involves what the brain is actually doing as it processes sounds. Here you get into the various listening therapies which train a child's brain to differentiate various sounds and to pick relevant sounds out of background noise, etc. "

 

She did recommend I bring it up to the ST and the clinic we are going to. I don'thave his official diagnosis yet fromthe DO, but one thing she mentioned what convergence issues. SHe did tell me he will need theraphy, but we will discuss everything in detail on the 21st.

[Claire]

Speech pathologists can conduct screening tests for auditory processing disorders. However, they have a relatively high rate of false negatives (indicating no problem when there really is a problem). The only definitive way to check out auditory processing is with an audiologist who specializes in this type of evaluation. Regular audiologists only check physical function. APD has to do with how the brain processes auditory input.

 

Ask the speech pathologist if he/she can screen for APD.

[Quiver0f10]

Thank you, Claire. I will ask her on Monday.