Central auditory processing disorder

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Anyone have your child tested for this, what signs were they showing to provoke the testing, did you find the testing helpful & what types of treatments are there, once you have a diagnoses?
Sorry for all the ?'s, we are trying to decide if this is a route we need to go with ds.

 

[JESW]

My ds14 has this but it's all part of the package with Asperger's for him. We had him tested by a neuropsychologist - and she also did other testing at the time. The results from all the testing is what helped get him out of the school district and into a program with other kids with Asperger's and learning disabilities - BEST thing that ever happened to him!

Jill

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

We had a neuropsychologist do a eval. on ds and he said he could have CAPD & further testing wouldn't be a bad idea. He said he was right on the line, based on the test he ran, but, ds was only 4.5 years old at the time. He also falls on the line of PDD. His test all came back with high average to superior average in intelligence.
At school, his teachers (IEP, speech and classroom) said academically he is doing fine, behavior is another issue.
We are now looking at a specialist in CAPD to do further testing, but, we will need to pay for it, because our insurance doesn't cover it .
I just want to make sure we are going down the right road.
Some seem to think the 'treatments' are not anything (sitting arrangement, limiting background noise, etc) that the school shouldn't already being trying for a easily distracted child.
I'm really just confused with it all !

 

[tw1nsmom]

If your Ds is 5 as your signature suggests, then it's too soon to test for this. The minimum age for testing is 7. The tests aren't considered valid on younger children. It has to do with the way the tests were developed/normed.

Now having said that, DS9 has been tested for this (along with numerous other tests). APD is not his primary diagnosis, but he does have it as a secondary one. He has extreme difficulty concentrating on one conversation (ie. the teacher) when there are competing conversations going on in the room. It's a pretty mild version of the disorder though. There are children who can't differentiate between the noise of the heater fan (or any noise for that matter) and the voice of the teacher. Getting through a school day is very tiring for these children as they have to be hyper focused at all times if they hope to catch anything.

When it comes to treatments, I don't think there are treatments as much as there are interventions and therapy. The therapy comes into play to teach them techniques to put themselves in situations where they can listen/learn better. It also helps them to understand that they aren't lazy or stupid. It's just that their brains are wired differently.

The interventions/accommodations might include, preferential seating, copies of notes/lectures in writing, the use of assisted listening devices that block out extraneous sound, and periodic breaks in a quiet room to give them time to decompress and get away from the "noise".

You will need to find an audiologist who specialized in this type of testing. If this is something that's been brought to your attention it may be a good idea to begin looking for someone now as the process can take a while. However, as I said earlier you will likely have to wait a couple years.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

If your Ds is 5 as your signature suggests, then it's too soon to test for this. The minimum age for testing is 7. The tests aren't considered valid on younger children. It has to do with the way the tests were developed/normed.

Now having said that, DS9 has been tested for this (along with numerous other tests). APD is not his primary diagnosis, but he does have it as a secondary one. He has extreme difficulty concentrating on one conversation (ie. the teacher) when there are competing conversations going on in the room. It's a pretty mild version of the disorder though. There are children who can't differentiate between the noise of the heater fan (or any noise for that matter) and the voice of the teacher. Getting through a school day is very tiring for these children as they have to be hyper focused at all times if they hope to catch anything.

When it comes to treatments, I don't think there are treatments as much as there are interventions and therapy. The therapy comes into play to teach them techniques to put themselves in situations where they can listen/learn better. It also helps them to understand that they aren't lazy or stupid. It's just that their brains are wired differently.

The interventions/accommodations might include, preferential seating, copies of notes/lectures in writing, the use of assisted listening devices that block out extraneous sound, and periodic breaks in a quiet room to give them time to decompress and get away from the "noise".

You will need to find an audiologist who specialized in this type of testing. If this is something that's been brought to your attention it may be a good idea to begin looking for someone now as the process can take a while. However, as I said earlier you will likely have to wait a couple years.

Thank you!
The specialist we found, said she will test children who are close to 6 (which ds is). I have heard others say they will not. The three Dr.'s I have spoken with will. Again...another area of confusion to me
I also, feel ds will be a milder case (due to being 'borderline'), I not sure what is primary right now. He falls into so many 'borderline areas'. Sensory (he has made HUGE changes here as he gets older), PDD, Apraxia was ruled out, and on and on.
Why is it so hard to figure it all out. His school IEP teacher said' B******n is a new case for me, so , we are trying out several things - with none really working".
The one thing that I have told them to try, I feel his classroom teacher doesn't want to 'change' her way of teaching to accommodate, so it was a meet in the middle deal.
I'm just frustrated with it all

 

[jodifla]

Thank you!
The specialist we found, said she will test children who are close to 6 (which ds is). I have heard others say they will not. The three Dr.'s I have spoken with will. Again...another area of confusion to me
I also, feel ds will be a milder case (due to being 'borderline'), I not sure what is primary right now. He falls into so many 'borderline areas'. Sensory (he has made HUGE changes here as he gets older), PDD, Apraxia was ruled out, and on and on.
Why is it so hard to figure it all out. His school IEP teacher said' B******n is a new case for me, so , we are trying out several things - with none really working".
The one thing that I have told them to try, I feel his classroom teacher doesn't want to 'change' her way of teaching to accommodate, so it was a meet in the middle deal.
I'm just frustrated with it all

A couple of ideas:

First, there is a very active Auditory Processing Disorder group on Yahoo. Check it out...they have audiologists on there, and lots of folks asking questions.

Second, take a look at a copy of The Mislabeled Child, probably at your library (I got my copy at Amazon. It's a great reference.) This couple (neurologist and internist) go through the many disorders kids can have, and spend pages saying why one disorder gets confused with another, how to tell which disorder is the real issue, and suggested treatments.

 

[tw1nsmom]

Thank you!
The specialist we found, said she will test children who are close to 6 (which ds is). I have heard others say they will not. The three Dr.'s I have spoken with will. Again...another area of confusion to me
I also, feel ds will be a milder case (due to being 'borderline'), I not sure what is primary right now. He falls into so many 'borderline areas'. Sensory (he has made HUGE changes here as he gets older), PDD, Apraxia was ruled out, and on and on.
Why is it so hard to figure it all out. His school IEP teacher said' B******n is a new case for me, so , we are trying out several things - with none really working".
The one thing that I have told them to try, I feel his classroom teacher doesn't want to 'change' her way of teaching to accommodate, so it was a meet in the middle deal.
I'm just frustrated with it all

I would be really cautious about testing him too early. When you bring an outside evaluation to a CSE meeting (assuming he has an IEP in place) the committee only has to CONSIDER the recommendations in the eval. They don't actually have to do them or put them in the IEP. If the standard practice is to wait until a child is 7 to test them, then they could rightfully argue that the evaluation is invalid and they don't have to follow the recommendations. Even through due process you're unlikely to get your way and it would end up being a waste of money. Also, some district don't recognize APD as an accepted disorder so add that to testing too early and you may end up frustrated.

One of the reason's that they test for this disorder later is that 5 year old children aren't known for their focusing and listening abilities. Their natural age appropriate distractible nature can skew the results of the test.

I would keep an eye on things, read up on the disorder and begin some of the common sense interventions yourself before you go down the official paths.