Auditory processing is a term used to describe what happens when your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you. Sounds travel  through the middle ear canal and are changed to electrical impulses in the inner ear. This information is then sent onto the brain to be received and interpreted. The ‘disorder’ part of auditory processing disorder means that something is adversely affecting the processing or interpretation of the information.

Children with APD often cannot recognize subtle differences between sounds. Even though they hear the sounds loud and clear, the brain does not receive and interpret them the same way. If a child, for example, is not interpreting the ‘ch’ sound and is asked  to “Tell me how a chair and a couch are alike,” the child may interpret that as “Tell me how a hair and a cow are alike.”  Imagine the child’s frustration trying to figure this out!

FAQ: What causes auditory processing difficulty?

We don’t know what causes that ‘glitch’ between the sound waves of an auditory message turning into the electrical impulses to represent that message and where exactly it ‘gets lost’ on it’s neural pathway to interpretation by the brain. Scientists are not sure how all the of communication and sensory processes humans use work together – like memory and attention, for example. We do know that many children seem to “hear normally,” but may have difficulty using  those same sounds for speech and language.

In children, auditory processing difficulty may be associated with other conditions such as dyslexia (difficulty reading), attention deficit disorder, autism spectrum disorder, specific language impairment, pervasive developmental disorder or developmental delay.

FAQ: What are the symptoms of possible auditory processing difficulty?

Children with auditory processing difficulty typcially have normal hearing and intelligence. They have been observed to:

*Have trouble paying attention to and remembering information presented to them orally

*Have problems carrying out directions with multiple steps

*Have poor listening skills

*Need more time to process information

*Have low academic performance

*Have behavior problems

*Have language difficulty

*Have difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling and vocabulary

If you are a parent, teacher or daycare provider who notices any of these characteristics in a/your child,  please call to discuss your concerns. CTA offers a variety of individualized programs that can get your child on a successful track for learning.