It’s your first parent-teacher conference of the school year. You can’t wait to hear all the wonderful accomplishments your child has already demonstrated, how easily your child has adjusted and begun to flourish. Auditory therapy is the last thing on your mind.

The conference begins and the teacher shares the results of the school-wide hearing screening conducted at the beginning of the school year. Your child’s acuity hearing is normal, but your child is showing some behaviors that are of concern to his teacher.

Signs of an Auditory Processing Disorder
At school your child appears easily distracted, unable to complete the tasks presented. Music class and music within the classroom are bothersome. When separated from the larger classroom, a quieter and smaller environment improves performance. Your child has difficulty following directions, not only complex ones, but simple one-step directions; he looks at the others in the class for reassurance.

Your child appears to have difficulty with organization and appears forgetful at times. Your child misinterprets the verbal messages of other class members. The teacher asks if you have noticed these behaviors at home. You respond, yes, but you thought your child was too engaged in play to respond appropriately. These may be some of the characteristics of an auditory processing disorder.

What is Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory processing is the ability of the brain to recognize and interpret the sounds in the environment. An auditory processing disorder can range from mild to severe. When there is a “disorder” the brain is unable to fully coordinate with the sounds that are heard. There appears to be a disconnect. If not identified properly and addressed, it may cause speech and language delays as well as impede academic growth.

Auditory processing disorder is not completely understood. Some of its behaviors are also evident with children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or a specific language or learning disability, or a combination of these. Because there are so many different (or combinations of) causes, children who demonstrate auditory processing disorder should receive a complete and individualized evaluation.

Diagnosis
Usually, the first step in diagnosing a child with an auditory processing disorder is to ask the speech-language pathologist within the school to observe your child several times and during various times of the day.

The speech-language pathologist may, with your permission, conduct a screening to determine if a referral to an audiologist is warranted. Only an audiologist (hearing specialist) can definitively determine if your child has an auditory processing disorder.

Many school systems have an audiologist as part of their special education department. If, not, you may need to locate one who conducts this kind of specialized testing outside of the school system.

Audio Therapy
Some auditory processing skills do not fully develop until the age of 8 or 9. Younger children’s brains have not completely matured to accept all the auditory information with which they are presented.
There are numerous audio therapy treatments should your child, however, be diagnosed with audio processing disorder by an audiologist.

Depending on your child’s specific variation of audio processing disorder, the audiologist may recommend, for example, changing the environment within which he or she learns and communicates, developing other intellectual skills to compensate for the audio processing disorder, resolving the disorder if possible, or some combination of these approaches.

In the meantime, some accommodations and modifications within the classroom setting as well as suggestions from the speech-language pathologist may need to begin so as to ensure the academic and social success of your child.

When the definitive diagnosis is made, further accommodations and modifications, as well as intervention from the specialists within the building, may then be necessary.