Had my 8yo and 13yo tested for CAPD on Tuesday

[razorbackmama]

They both were diagnosed with it. FINALLY some sort of REAL answers!!!:D

 

My 8yo tested within the norms for his age except for binaural fusion (below the norms in both ears) and masking level differences. My 13yo had the same results plus a deficit in bilateral competing sentences. They will both be receiving a filter for their left (weaker) ears that will filter out the background sounds their brains aren't.

 

Apparently the binaural integration problems are rooted in the brainstem and can sometimes be helped with dichotic listening training.:confused: Anyone know what sort of things we would do to do this? Is it only available through some sort of therapist?

 

The bilateral competing sentences is more of a hemisphere issue. Interestingly, I just discovered that my 13yo (although extremely coordinated in other ways, particularly gross motor) cannot jump up and down, alternating feet and hands. So if he puts his left foot and right hand forward and then jumps, switching both, he cannot do that smoothly. I wonder if there is any sort of correlation.

 

My 8yo's main struggles are ADHD-like behaviors. Since he can't understand what people are saying due to the extra noise he either tunes out, goofs off, or both. My 13yo doesn't really display those behaviors as much (although he does tune out with speakers), but he has trouble with the relationship between words (very typical auditory associative deficit behavior). I'm wondering if there is a way to remediate this as well.

[Tiramisu]

I'm glad that you are getting answers and that there may be a way to remediate. It can't be easy, but at least you have some direction.

 

Perhaps someone will chime in with suggestions about the therapy.

[PeterPan]

Wow. While it's a relief to have some answers, it's also overwhelming I'll bet. So who do you go then to do therapy? Did they give you any answers on that? An OT I was talking with mentioned the dichotic listening thing. I'm trying to remember if she said the listening therapy cd's or Interactive Metronome helped. I forget. Surely the specialist that diagnosed all this has someone helpful to send you to? Or do they work on it themselves?

 

Our OT did some work on bilaterality stuff at the beginning. She'd have dd walk backwards (slowly obviously) on a treadmill, doing some sort of mental work at the same time like skip counting. It was weird, but she did it for quite a few weeks. That's something you could do at home. Do your dc crawl? Crawling, creeping, marching, there are actually a whole bunch of developmentally staged activities that are cross-body. We went back to the beginning and started doing them. It was hard, as she would fall, but we perservered. Didn't take long to see improvement, so it would be worth trying. Then have them do cross-body activities while they talk, skip count, etc.

[ElizabethB]

:grouphug:

 

No ideas, no CAPD students here yet.

 

But, I was wondering how the appointment went. Thanks for the update. Hopefully you will figure out some things that will help now that you have more information.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[razorbackmama]

Wow. While it's a relief to have some answers, it's also overwhelming I'll bet. So who do you go then to do therapy? Did they give you any answers on that?

 

No. I don't believe that this particular practice believes in therapy per se. They are more into the accommodation/compensation mindset. They believe that a lot of the problems will be resolved with the filter, since it will cut out the background noise and allow the ears to work together more efficiently. I would prefer to do both - use the filter AND do some sort of therapy.

 

Do your dc crawl? Crawling, creeping, marching, there are actually a whole bunch of developmentally staged activities that are cross-body.

 

They don't currently (not even the 14mo LOL), but what is so interesting is that they all crawled without a hitch. This particular kid crawled for about 5 months.:confused:

[PeterPan]

Well then check into Interactive Metronome or the Listening Therapy stuff (cd's you listen to). The OT I was talking with does both of those, and I know she mentioned one of them as helping dichotic listening problems. She mentioned it because I had asked how they would improve language processing (a general claim I had read on a website).

[Twinmom]

My DS has CAPD and we have him working extensively with a speech/language pathologist at the place where he also does OT for SPD. My SLP tells me that the degree to which therapy will help a kid with CAPD depends on the individual child's specific areas of deficit but that there is usually work that can be done. I'd suggest taking him to an SLP for an evaluation, armed with your CAPD report. You can probably get some good answers regarding therapy for your specific child by doing so! She also suggested Earobics and/or FastForward for my kiddo, who has auditory decoding problems, but again, that was specific to his type of CAPD.

[razorbackmama]

My DS has CAPD and we have him working extensively with a speech/language pathologist at the place where he also does OT for SPD. My SLP tells me that the degree to which therapy will help a kid with CAPD depends on the individual child's specific areas of deficit but that there is usually work that can be done. I'd suggest taking him to an SLP for an evaluation, armed with your CAPD report. You can probably get some good answers regarding therapy for your specific child by doing so! She also suggested Earobics and/or FastForward for my kiddo, who has auditory decoding problems, but again, that was specific to his type of CAPD.

 

My 13yo was diagnosed with Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder this past August. I'm SURE it's caused by the CAPD. He just recently completed 12 weeks of speech & language therapy, and it didn't really do much of anything. I mean, it helped him learn some new figures of speech and stuff, but nothing life-changing.

[sixpence1978]

I was wondering when you were going to get the results. It's always a great feeling to find answers.

 

I hope you notice a difference with their filters.

[Renee in NC]

My 13yo was diagnosed with Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder this past August. I'm SURE it's caused by the CAPD. He just recently completed 12 weeks of speech & language therapy, and it didn't really do much of anything. I mean, it helped him learn some new figures of speech and stuff, but nothing life-changing.

 

Speech therapy takes a long time to show results - usually in terms of years, not months.

[razorbackmama]

Speech therapy takes a long time to show results - usually in terms of years, not months.

See that's what I thought too. It was recommended that he do 12 weeks, and then reassess. Honestly, I think on the front end they didn't think it would do a whole lot for him. The SLP who evaluated him flat out told me that she doubted that he'd ever get caught up to grade level language-wise. And based on their approach, I would agree wholeheartedly with that. It was solely based on "what idioms/figures of speech does he know/not know, and let's practice those some.":tongue_smilie: I figure we can do that sort of thing at home, along with hard work on vocabulary, metacognitive strategies, and any sort of therapy that might benefit the interhemispheric connections of his brain, and it will be more what he needs (and much cheaper too!).

[peacefully]

.

[Renee in NC]

I wonder if this depends on the type of speech therapy. Ds has been in speech therapy for expressive language processing disorder since September, and the gains that he has made in such a short time, not just in speech but in a wide range of cognitive skills, have been amazing. Our SLP is now talking about moving him out of individual therapy and into a group setting within a couple of months. After that, he graduates from the program altogether. He will be having a total of 12 months of speech therapy, maybe less?

 

Kirstin, it's great that you are getting some solid answers. Your remediation/therapy plans looks good!

 

Maybe it depends on the severity of the problem and the other problems that the child has? I can't see my boys making 3-4 years of progress in 12 months. If that were the case, why would they be behind in the first place?

 

Or is it just MIXED expressive/receptive that cause things to be much harder to remediate?

[Leonor]

Maybe it depends on the severity of the problem and the other problems that the child has?

 

You also cannot compare children so diverse in age.

 

Yllek's son is 6 or 7 (I believe), whereas Kirstin's(razorbackmama) son is 13.

[peacefully]

.

[razorbackmama]

You also cannot compare children so diverse in age.

 

Yllek's son is 6 or 7 (I believe), whereas Kirstin's(razorbackmama) son is 13.

I'm almost positive this is why they only recommended 12 weeks and there was the unspoken "therapy would be a waste of time." The SLP that had evaluated him said that since he was so old she really doubted that he'd make much progress.

 

Of course, they also don't believe in CAPD at this clinic either.:glare: His therapist flat out told me that ASHA doesn't recognize it. I found that rather interesting since I found all sorts of information about CAPD on the ASHA website. So their approach to therapy (target stuff he has trouble with and that's it) doesn't surprise me at all, nor does it surprise me that they don't anticipate him making any progress.

 

And of course all of this is completely unacceptable to me.:D

 

I bought A Metacognitive Program for Treating Auditory Processing Disorders, and I plan to start going through that with both of them soon. I also want to do more research into what therapeutic listening programs would be beneficial for him.

[Renee in NC]

You also cannot compare children so diverse in age.

 

Yllek's son is 6 or 7 (I believe), whereas Kirstin's(razorbackmama) son is 13.

 

And mine are in between. One of the things I really, really regret is that they didn't get help when they were young.:glare:

[Leonor]

When using "THe Listening Program", our audiologist said there has been more of an effect if the child is doing something active rather than passive.

 

Some say he can be building legos or doing artwork and that is fine. However, she said they have documented even better results if he is jumping rope or walking.

 

The child is not to be watching TV or playing on a computer. It should also not be done in the car.

 

What was he diagnosed as? This is your 13 year old, right? Is it Auditory Associative Deficit?

[razorbackmama]

When using "THe Listening Program", our audiologist said there has been more of an effect if the child is doing something active rather than passive.

 

Some say he can be building legos or doing artwork and that is fine. However, she said they have documented even better results if he is jumping rope or walking.

 

The child is not to be watching TV or playing on a computer. It should also not be done in the car.

 

This makes complete sense because then it will have both sides of the brain going.

 

What was he diagnosed as? This is your 13 year old, right? Is it Auditory Associative Deficit?

The place we took him to doesn't delve into the different subtypes. But based on what I've read about Auditory Associative Deficit, he scored poorly on the right tests (bilateral competing sentences), so that is what I'm assuming it is.

 

He scored poorly on binaural fusion and masking level differences also.

[razorbackmama]

Just looked up providers of The Listening Program. Our eye doctor, where my 12yo will be having vision therapy, is a provider. How HANDY........:D

[Renee in NC]

Just looked up providers of The Listening Program. Our eye doctor, where my 12yo will be having vision therapy, is a provider. How HANDY........:D

 

You can also buy it yourself. When mine were receiving it, they were doing 20 minutes each twice a day. If we had continued past the first month (we didn't because of the insurance issue) we would have had to buy our own headphones and CDs.

[PeterPan]

Yup, there are OT's who do listening therapy. I'm assuming it's the OT at your VT place that does it.

 

It's not just age. There are HUGE differences in therapists, and they're NOT all alike. I see the same thing in the speech realm, where they'll BLOW OFF apraxia or offering placating strategies, when the reality is they don't know how to help. Find a therapist who knows how to help, and the tune changes.

 

The only time there's no hope is when you believe them.