Auditory Processing?

[jg_puppy]

What are some things that you noticed with your child that made you think that he/she might have auditory processing issues? What programs have you used that been the most successful for you?

 

A little bit of background. My son just turned 6. He was in speech therapy through the school before he started kindergarten for articulation only. (He couldn't continue once we started homeschooling.) He also is very sensitive to loud noises. He is often found covering his ears when most other people are not bothered. He throws HUGE fits around automatic toilets and air hand dryers. He doesn't like going to the movies, or other really loud places that most kids like. I have known for awhile that this is not typical, but I am starting to wonder if he speech issue and the sensitivity to noise are related.

 

Also we have been working with Rod and Staff preschool Bible. You read a short page and then ask questions about the story. He very, very rarely gives me a correct answer. This is supposed to be for preschool kids and he is 6 and still having difficulties with this.

 

I don’t know what we should do or where we should go from here. Like everyone money is tight and we don’t have the money to pay for private speech therapy and our insurance won’t cover speech therapy for delays. I do have some books (speechercise, book Teach me How to say it Right, and the speech therapy kit from NATHAN), but if he has other issues I don’t know if these are the best programs for him.

 

Jan

[newbie]

My niece did not speak til 4. She has CAPD, we had her privately tested because school would not do it.

 

Can you get dc tested through your public school system?

[jg_puppy]

My niece did not speak til 4. She has CAPD, we had her privately tested because school would not do it.

 

Can you get dc tested through your public school system?

 

I can't get any testing done unless I enroll him into public school full time. The next district over will allow part time, but where we live the district won't.

 

Jan

[klmama]

Sensitive hearing can hinder speech. We ended up going with an OT that did sensory integration therapy. Besides lots of physical stuff, our dc had to listen to specially modified music through special headphones. The tracks were modified so the sound would exercise the muscles in the ears as they adjusted to the changes in the music. Something sort of like that anyway. It was very strange - I tried it once for a few minutes, and my ears felt tired very quickly! Our dc no longer has the super sensitive hearing and can even go to see fireworks so loud the vibration is felt throughout the body - and even enjoy them! The listening therapy worked wonders, and dc is still fine 6 years later, although still having extraordinarily good hearing.

 

FWIW, while OTs and PTs are the usual ones doing this, I know there is at least one SLT in our area that uses this same system for helping kids with speech issues improve their speech by improving their hearing and sound sensitivity, and she charges a lot less than the others do. Maybe there is someone in your area, too. Here's a provider search directory - pop in your zip code and see what you can find! The therapy is called Therapeutic Listening. http://www.vitallinks.net/locator/index.php

 

As far as the testing goes, summer is coming. If you ask for a referral from your doctor for evaluation during the summer, your insurance MIGHT pay for the eval at a nearby hospital or clinic, as well as a certain number of sessions, since the school program wouldn't be available then. Then, once you know what you are dealing with, you could go from there to pay for private therapy. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot. That's what we did with speech therapy many years ago (not intentionally working the system like that, but it worked out that way). Anyway, I'd check the list linked above for providers in hospitals near you, too!

[klmama]

Just thought of something else. Does your ds have any ADHD symptoms? Lack of focus could be playing in here, particularly if the readings are a bit dry. Also, your ds's inability to remember the answers may be caused by an auditory short term memory problem, which isn't the same as auditory processing problem. All mine had some trouble with it at that age, but the one we helped recover from sound sensitivities was the worst. I found at that age that we needed to repeat stories several times before the dc remembered and could answer questions. All of my dc have benefitted from such repetition. All of us, including dh and I, struggle with auditory short term memory, so expecting the dc to do well with that just didn't make sense. We're trying Brainware Safari from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op right now to see if it will help the most affected dc, and if it does we'll get it for the others.

[ajjkt]

Two of my children have been diagnosed with dyspraxia. My dc were in speech therapy from 18months for articulation (it was delayed speech to start off with, but there was no delay by 4, only a phonetic disorder).

 

They also have noise sensitivity. Sensory hypersensitivity is often found in children with dyspraxia. They also have mildly delayed fine motor skills due to the dyspraxia.

 

It is often confused with ASD and both were investigated for ASD. I wish I had known earlier about dyspraxia as it would have saved a lot of anguish as we investigated all the other options.

 

Just another avenue to explore, HTH

[katalaska]

Just thought of something else. Does your ds have any ADHD symptoms? Lack of focus could be playing in here, particularly if the readings are a bit dry. Also, your ds's inability to remember the answers may be caused by an auditory short term memory problem, which isn't the same as auditory processing problem. All mine had some trouble with it at that age, but the one we helped recover from sound sensitivities was the worst. I found at that age that we needed to repeat stories several times before the dc remembered and could answer questions. All of my dc have benefitted from such repetition. All of us, including dh and I, struggle with auditory short term memory, so expecting the dc to do well with that just didn't make sense. We're trying Brainware Safari from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op right now to see if it will help the most affected dc, and if it does we'll get it for the others.

 

My dd has a language disorder and is 12-24 months delayed in her language abilities. We have considered auditory processing as an issue. I have purchased the Brainware Safari software to see if we can help her. I also had her tested at a Learning Rx center a couple of weeks ago and learned her short-term memory is HORRIBLE. So we may be looking at auditory short-term memory problems and NOT CAPD (she doesn't seem to fit a lot of those characteristics).

 

We have to repeat, repeat, repeat with her. Multi-step instructions are hard. Things really started to stand out to me when her 27-months-younger brother could follow directions/answer questions that she couldn't. She retains information better if it is sung (this is how I taught her our address and phone number). Also, a LOT of repetition/familiarity is required for her to get anything out of stories. Thank goodness for the Story of the World CDs! My kids listen before we read and again after we read (over and over again) and my dd can finally answer questions (not all the time, but a lot). She still has trouble with logical conclusions, attributing motivation, and things like that but at least now she can recall facts.

 

She struggles with names--of people especially but also objects and places. At least with objects and places she can describe them and we can figure out what she's talking about. She often says, "Can you tell me again?" or "I didn't hear you," or "What did you say?" So I am repeatedly repeating myself. It's very frustrating.

 

I'm hopeful that Brainware Safari can help because remediation through Learning Rx will cost us $10,000 that we don't have. Makes even full-price Brainware Safari (normally $350) seem cheap.

 

**sigh**

[jg_puppy]

Thank you for all of the information so far. I am looking into all of it.

 

Jan

[LizzyBee]

Auditory processing disorder is diagnosed by an audiologist who has special training for this. Two of my kids have been tested/diagnosed, and their health insurance paid for the testing because it is a neurological disorder.

 

One program that is often used is FastForWord, and it is administered by a speech therapist. Our audiologist didn't recommend it for either of my kids because the results are mixed and it's expensive. We've used Earobics instead. That would have been enough for dd12, but dd7 is much more severe. For her, we used Earobics and saw some improvement, but she still has a severe lack of phonemic awareness, so we are using the Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing (LiPS) program. I don't plan to use the entire program - I just want to get her to the point where she is ready to start Barton Reading (she is also dyslexic).

 

My dd12 is extremely auditory defensive. We have earplugs that she can use whenever she wants to during schoolwork. She is a lot more tolerant of loud noises than she used to be, so it's not as much an issue in public as it was when she was younger. But we used to take my dh's ear defenders that he used on the flightline when he was in the Air Force to all parades, etc. Fireworks were out of the question until a year or two ago. We went to DisneyWorld this year and saw her covering her ears quite a bit - if we'd gone when she was younger it probably would have been a huge waste of money because she couldn't have tolerated the crowds and noise in the parks. You could get an occupational therapy evaluation for him - OT might help.

 

I'm trying to remember other recommendations from our audiologist. Make sure you have your child's attention before you talk, use visual supports such as checklists, give one task at a time, play instrumental music during school time because it drowns out the hum of the refrigerator etc, in a classroom dd should be seated front and center, have dd repeat back what I've said, if she doesn't understand repeat what I've said - don't rephrase because that will create more gaps.

[jg_puppy]

For her, we used Earobics and saw some improvement, but she still has a severe lack of phonemic awareness, so we are using the Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing (LiPS) program. I don't plan to use the entire program - I just want to get her to the point where she is ready to start Barton Reading (she is also dyslexic).

 

 

I found the website describing LiPS. It sounds like a really good program. We have been working on phonics this year. There are several sounds that my son can't make correctly. I am struggling with how to teach him phonics when he can't form all of the sounds correctly. I was hoping to find something that would help me address both at the same time. Is LiPS something that you are doing at home or do you have to find a trainer?

 

Jan

[LizzyBee]

I found the website describing LiPS. It sounds like a really good program. We have been working on phonics this year. There are several sounds that my son can't make correctly. I am struggling with how to teach him phonics when he can't form all of the sounds correctly. I was hoping to find something that would help me address both at the same time. Is LiPS something that you are doing at home or do you have to find a trainer?

 

Jan

 

We are doing LiPS at home. Siloam who sometimes posts here is doing it at home, too. My dd had 3 years of speech therapy though, so she does make all of the sounds correctly. Also, to see if your son needs LiPS, you could do the student screening test at the Barton Reading and Spelling website. If he can't pass the 3rd part of the student screening, that means he does not have good phonemic awareness skills, and LiPS would probably be beneficial.

 

If you buy LiPS, I suggest buying it from http://www.linguisystems.com. The set you need for home use is the clinical kit for $324. Gander Publishing charges 10% shipping. Linguisystems doesn't charge for shipping within the US (except Alaska and Hawaii), and they have a LinguiLoot program that gives you 10% store credit on your purchases. So there was essentially a $64 difference in the Gander vs. Linguisystems purchase prices. Also, plan to take some type to watch the video and read part of the manual before you start the program with your son. It was a little overwhelming to understand the program before we started, but it's actually going very well.

 

You could look at the other speech therapy materials available from Linguisystems and see if you get any ideas for what types of activities would benefit your son.

 

If your son does have APD and is not hearing (processing) the sounds correctly, the LiPS program will give him one more gateway to try to learn the information - the oral-motor gateway. Phonics programs are based on sound to symbol association - hearing and seeing. LiPS uses hearing, seeing, and feeling (what the mouth, tongue, teeth, lips, and throat are doing during the formation of each sound). I've not seen anything else like it, and I've not read any bad reviews of it.

[rockala]

This is all very interesting to me and I love to read though what can be done. I believe I grew up with a processing disorder, and never learned to cope. Of course we had no idea there could be such a thing. It was the very reason I hs my children because I new how difficult it was for me in school. I just learned of the diagnosis as a possibility recently.

 

I know my dd13 has some sort of auditory processing disorder but has not been diagnosed. We have learned though how to cope better- she can tolerate fireworks now but it is not her favorite activity and when she was younger forget it. We would view from a long distance with the car windows rolled up. I don't know if it helps, but here is how I/we have learned to adjust.

 

Sitting in the front row helps a lot.

Having eye contact -especially with the teacher.

However,

If I work for a boss who I do not think holds me in much regard, well then no information goes in.:001_huh: I know I have to write everything they say down and read it later when I can process it- the same can go for other relationships.

 

My dd eyes glaze over if she is off or triggered about something. We have to process the emotions that are happening to her before she can learn anything.

 

HTH,

kathy