Auditory Processing
Auditory Processing is what we do with what we hear. It is different from hearing. A child may be assessed as having normal hearing, but still be diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder.
Symptoms that suggest your child may have auditory processing difficulties include:
- Difficulties in remembering what was heard
- Slow to respond to instructions or questions
- Looking around for visual cues from others when starting something
- Past medical history of fluctuating hearing loss or infections
- Difficulties in perceiving high frequency sounds (i.e. f, t, s, k, p, th, sh)
- Confusion with similar sounds (e.g. ’ba’ and ‘da’)
- Difficulties with producing multisyllabic words (e.g. oc-to-pus)
- Difficulties concentrating with background noise (such as the classroom or when music is on)
- Delayed language development
- Inability to read and spell words through sounding out
- Performing poorly on listening tasks
- High distractibility with short attention span
- Behavioural difficulties.
Children with other diagnosis (such as ADHD or language delay) may also present with similar characteristics. A diagnosis of Auditory Processing Disorder may be made by several professionals, such as a speech-language pathologist, audiologist and educational psychologist.
Contact us today for further information.