Central Auditory Processing Disorder

[Supertechmom]

We are supposed get our child tested for CAPD. If you have had that dx, what type of treatments were given? An issue has come up and I highly doubt we will be able to get the testing performed unless I push it or go to another city to have it done. I was wondering what the possible treatments would be before I decided to push or just drop the whole thing. Thanks!

[NittanyJen]

I don't see any indication of how old your child is or what led you to seek a dx in that direction . . . SOME kids with CAPD (ie, elementary school age) can benefit from a fairly inexpensive program such as Earobics (a software program); but it may depend upon what else is going on or what related conditions are present.

 

Jen

[aliya]

I had suspected one of my sons had CAPD, and after testing it was determined that his primary issue was his working memory.

 

It was recommended to us, and we opted to put him through Fast Forword. Fast Forword addresses both CAPD and memory issues. It was expensive, intensive (2 hours/day, 5 days/week for 7 weeks - all at a Speech & Language pathologist's office) but for him it was truly transformational. It's been a year since he did it, and he's a different child today (all for the better).

 

If you do have testing done and they offer Fast Forword as an option, I'd be more than happy to share more of our experience with it.

 

Debbie

[Supertechmom]

I don't see any indication of how old your child is or what led you to seek a dx in that direction . . . SOME kids with CAPD (ie, elementary school age) can benefit from a fairly inexpensive program such as Earobics (a software program); but it may depend upon what else is going on or what related conditions are present.

 

Jen

 

 

He's 10. He can't understand what is said. He gets lost in conversation or responds to what he thought he heard which leaves everyone else going :confused:. He "hears" something different than what is said even when you are being careful to make sure you say it slowly, have his attention etc. His handwriting is the pits, can't spell, considers phonics a new form of torture, and only recently decided books were not evil. Vision therapy was recommended but we wanted to wait and see what the audio test said first before agreeing to therapies.

 

Everyone felt a capd test would be a good test to try.

[Supertechmom]

I had suspected one of my sons had CAPD, and after testing it was determined that his primary issue was his working memory.

 

It was recommended to us, and we opted to put him through Fast Forword. Fast Forword addresses both CAPD and memory issues. It was expensive, intensive (2 hours/day, 5 days/week for 7 weeks - all at a Speech & Language pathologist's office) but for him it was truly transformational. It's been a year since he did it, and he's a different child today (all for the better).

 

If you do have testing done and they offer Fast Forword as an option, I'd be more than happy to share more of our experience with it.

 

Debbie

 

Is working memory part of capd? OR something else? Because I think he doesn't remember well. He doesn't remember anything. EVer. Has always been that way. We've always called him the Absent-minded professor.

[aliya]

Honestly, I had never even heard the term "working memory" prior to his diagnosis. It was described to me as the memory you need to remember the beginning of a sentence once you've heard the end of it, or the ability to repeat back a string of numbers. My son could not recall 5 digits after he immediately heard them.

 

My son really didn't remember much of anything either. We would do a math lesson on Monday, he could follow the directions and get through the lesson, and the following day he would have no idea how to do the same problems. It was like this with pretty much all his school work.

 

He was also very slow to explain things. I used to tell DH that I could go and make a sandwich while he was thinking of what he wanted to say. And my older son is extremely talkative, so I was constantly having to tell him to wait and let his brother finish speaking.

 

Wow - recalling all this - things have really changed around here in a good way.

 

Anyway - whether or not CAPD and memory are related, I don't know.

[Supertechmom]

....

My son really didn't remember much of anything either. We would do a math lesson on Monday, he could follow the directions and get through the lesson, and the following day he would have no idea how to do the same problems. It was like this with pretty much all his school work.

 

He was also very slow to explain things. I used to tell DH that I could go and make a sandwich while he was thinking of what he wanted to say. And my older son is extremely talkative, so I was constantly having to tell him to wait and let his brother finish speaking.

 

 

:iagree: Same thing here everyday! We have to hush even the 4 year old and let him have the time to finish his thoughts. Or else he would never get heard. Many a time I sit there trying not to pull the words out of him or finish the sentence. Teaching him to read was like being poked with red hot pokers into my eyeballs every single day. I never knew things like Cat in the Hat really could take several hours to read even on the 3rd week or so. I'll have to google working memory.

[LizzyBee]

We are supposed get our child tested for CAPD. If you have had that dx, what type of treatments were given? An issue has come up and I highly doubt we will be able to get the testing performed unless I push it or go to another city to have it done. I was wondering what the possible treatments would be before I decided to push or just drop the whole thing. Thanks!

 

Our audiologist recommends Earobics rather than FFW, which gets her some grief from the SLPs in her office. But depending on the specific issues, Earobics is just as effective and much cheaper.

 

She also gave us a couple of pages of recommendations for each of my two children who have APD. Some are more applicable in a classroom setting, but some of them apply to homeschoolers too. One thing that stuck out to me is that with my middle daughter, we are supposed to rephrase when she doesn't understand what was said, but with the youngest, we are supposed to repeat word for word because rephrasing causes new gaps. So as someone else said, the treatment/accomodations really do depend on the details of your child's results.

[Supertechmom]

thanks! I am afraid we are going to have to do this on our own so I'm not going to have a report to go with. The audoligist kicked us out while we were there for the testing because my debit card didn't go through. The receptionist cancelled the first swipe to let a fax go through. THat of course put a hold on my money and didn't let the second swipe go through since I didn't' have another 500 laying around. The office staff claimed they couldn't recapture the funds without the second swipe and the bank said they coulnd't release the fund unless the office filled out paperwork claiming they wouldn't recapture the transaction or until 5 days passed when the amount on hold would drop off. I went to change the baby's diaper while the receptionist and the office manager were trying to figure out how to resolve the issue. When I returned my son was waiting on me. They said the machine had broke during the test and they would call us when it got fixed. By then I should be able to pay. :glare: I haven't heard a peep since. Unless it takes several weeks to fix, I doubt they are going to call me back to make an appointment. That's why I am going to have to push to get another appointment. OR just drop the whole mess and see if we can do some things at home that will help. My hubby is irritated that they would cancel the transaction and then not know enough to understand that the amount is put on hold. If you have enough money to cover it, it will go through a second time and the processing dept takes off the double transaction. But if you don't' have enough money to cover a double transaction, then you get declined and they stop the test and tell you to leave. :001_huh: So I 'm looking for things that may help as I don't see us getting the test anytime soon.

[LizzyBee]

Wow, how rude! I'm sorry you were treated that way.

 

It sounds like your son's issues are pretty severe. Has he had a tympanogram (sp?) to confirm he doesn't have fluid in his ears? I would either push for the APD evaluation, even if you have to find a different audiologist, or put that on hold temporarily and have a comprehensive exam with a neuropsychologist who specializes in learning disabilities.

 

In the meantime, you could get Earobics and start having him do that at least 30 minutes daily. Consistency is key to get the same results you'd get with FFW.

 

You could also look at http://www.linguisystems.com to see what they have for APD. I bought a couple of games that my dd's SLP liked so much that she bought them for her practice. Just read the product descriptions to see which products seem to be most relevant to your son's issues.

 

One subtype of auditory processing that is particularly relevant to reading and spelling is phonological awareness, or the ability to hear the separate sounds in words. You can do the free student screening at http://www.bartonreading.com to see if he can pass Section C. If not, I suggest you get the clinical kit for Lindamood Bell Phonemic Sequencing (LiPS) and work through at least the first couple of sections. Linguisystems sells the kit for about $350 and it has a high resale value.

 

Working memory is a separate issue from APD. You can improve working memory by having your son repeat strings of numbers and words. If you have to start with 2 numbers and work up, that's okay. Just start where he is. When he can repeat a string of 5 or 6, start having him repeat backwards. My dd9 used to have very low working memory (3rd percentile, I think) and she is now a memorizing machine, so there is hope!

 

I thought of something you can do with an OT or SLP and you probably don't need an official APD diagnosis. Therapeutic Listening Program. I was skeptical when we started it with my dd, but I have seen the results. This is not the same program as The Listening Program that you can buy to use at home independently; I have not heard of people having good results with that program. The Therapeutic Listening Program has to be administered by a trained professional so they can adjust the order of the CDs based on the patient's response. It is designed to rewire the brain, so it can have some bad results if not administered correctly. At our SLP/OT office, we paid $100 deposit and bought the special headphones, then we borrow the CDs one at a time. Some places make you buy the CDS, so it's much cheaper if you can find a place like ours that rents them to you.

 

Best of luck to you and your son. :grouphug:

[Mom2J112903]

J does Earobics twice/week at OT in addition to 40-60minutes of Therapeutic Listening 5 days a week. WOW the improvement! He will start The Listening Program as well.

 

I suggest getting into a SLP whom is familiar with CAPD and getting an eval done.

 

:grouphug:

[razorbackmama]

I have 2 that have CAPD. The audiologist who did the testing does not believe in brain elasticity, so no brain training was recommended. However, they both received ear filters that block out all the extraneous noise they are distracted by since they hear it so well.

 

HOWEVER, *I* do believe in brain elasticity, so I would like to look into different programs. There are several available, but they target different areas. The results from the CAPD testing will be able to tell you where your ds's deficits lie, which would then steer you in the direction of what treatments to choose.