Auditory Processing Disorder - Aurora,IL

Bonnie. I would continue to fight to get your son the help he needs. My son was diagnosed with this at 6 years old. We knew there was an issue. We would tell him something and could see the moment whatever it was clicked. It was like a lightbulb going off. He also has adhd. getting the two seperated was a hassle. The school district is required to do a case study on your child if you request it. The request needs to be made in writing. Keep a copy for yourself. They have 30 days to do it. That is 30 school days. It will mean your son is observed by a whole bunch of different people in the school setting. including but not limited to... teacher, aids, school counselor, school social worker, any special ed teachers in the school or in the district. someone from the school board. they will observe him both indirectly and directly. once they do all that there will be the first of many of whats called a "staffing" which the parents and any or all of those other staff members will attend. at that point an IEP (individual education plan) will be put into place. if special needs are observed they will be discussed. sometimes it will be suggested that a child may or may not need further testing. Our son has an IEP he has had it since kindergarten due to the adhd. the processing thing has worked itself out now. and the adhd is pretty much gone. He no longer takes medication but it has taken a team of many wonderful (and some not so wonderful) teachers, social workers and school staff. Your children s teachers will be your childs second best line of defense in this world. You are the first. It is a win win to be able to work together. My son is now 14 and in 8th grade. We are very blessed to have such wonderful caring adults working on his behalf.
sherry

2 moms found this helpful

Hi
There are some great computer programs you can use to help with this. My daughter started them in Pre K, she is now in High School. I have forgotten teh names of what we used. Talk with the Speech Teachers at school. They should have some of them, or at least somewhere int eh District should have them for you to try. Do searches for Central Auditory Processing Disorder, you will get tons of things. Go to Yahoo Groups, I would guess there is a parent group specializing in this./ That is where I learned about it many moons ago.

Happy Day
J.

My child had problems with hearing, finishing assignments, etc. It turned out my child had hearing loss, now corrected, and is a top student. Please begin your journey with a hearing test. Loud noises, like the kids talking on the bus, would really upset my child. I don't know where you are from, and if his hearing was checked prior to entering school, but here they do check and this is where we learned we needed to have the hearing further checked by a apecialist. Our doctor gave us a referral immediately. Be sure what he is experiencing is not hearing loss before investigating the APD, which will take you on another totally different path for treatment. Good luck to you!

My daughter was diagnosed last year, and my son was diagnosed a few weeks ago. My son's OT had given me the name of one of the top audiologists in the field, Dr. Jeanne Ferre in Oak Park, IL. She will test kids at just over 6 years old, confer with you, and write up a report with suggestions for accommodations and more testing and/or therapy recommendations for the school. It's a straight fee of $500, and she doesn't file with insurance, but will give you all the paperwork so you can.

As a side note, my son (just over 6 now) also hated loud noises that he wasn't controlling (fireworks, lightning, fire alarms, etc.) He also had an IEP since he was 3 for speech and OT; eating issues as well as answering questions appropriately.

We chose to get our kids tested and diagnosed privately, since the school has not been especially receptive to our continued concerns. (my son lost his IEP services at the end of kindergarten) They have been a little better about accepting the reports and recommendations from Dr. Ferre, since she is well-known.

The book, "When the Brain Can't Hear" is fantastic. I got it a while back at Amazon.

One thing that has changed since our suspicions were confirmed is teacher's attitudes. They used to assume my daughter wasn't listening because she didn't want to. Now they understand that she just can't, and her school grades have gone up, and the way teachers (and instructors of her other activities) treat her has improved.

Sorry to ramble. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with....

M.

Hi Kathy,
Our son does have auditory processing disorder. The road to figure it out was long and a pain. I ended up creating a website that gathered together all the information that I had collected on this journey. You can take a look here: http://www.capdsupport.org.

I can tell you that you are going to get a lot of resistance about testing. They say a child under 7 cannot be tested. If you are in the L.A. area, the closest audiologist who will test under 7 is Carol Atkins in Laguna Beach. Her contact info is in the Resources section of the CAPD site.

Follow your intuition!! I did when even my own husband said I was chasing a cloud. Everybody resisted me, but in my gut I knew that APD was the problem.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I hope my journey might help make yours easier.

Take care,
B.

P.S. Lot of info about therapies on that site too.

I would suggest having his school test him. You could also check out Sonoma speech and hearing for further hearing tests.

We went through early intervention for my son (before 3). He was tested by them (sonoma), as well as at IL Masonic Medical center through a group of developmental specialists. We were just given the diagnosis of my son having autism.

I would suggest to have your son further tested by a specialist if you suspect a processing disorder. Pediatricians don't usually give out diagnosies like what you are looking into. Ask your doctor for a referal to a pediatric neurologist (although if it's Dr.Singh at Hope, I do not reccomend her).

If you have anymore questions, please feel free to contact me. We are going down the homeopathic/natural route for care as well as through the school for therapies.

Hi C.,

I'm going to be one of those people who tells you that a child under 7 can't be tested....and hate to say this, but I'm going to stick to it. My third son has Auditory Decoding Deficit - what is now just called an Auditory Processing Disorder - and though we knew from when he was 2 and were told he only heard cursory sounds, I am SO glad I waited until he was 7 to have him tested.

The testing was done by Dr Jeanne Ferre in Oak Park, IL, who I see listed below. I didn't realize she was still practicing, but if you can get in to see her - wonderful! She not only gave my son the diagnosis, but pages of handwritten information I could use to help him because IEP guidelines were so different in 2000 when my son was diagnosed, and she knew he would not qualify for services.

The confusion before 7 is that most children don't have a firm enough grasp on language to successfully show a clear cut processing disorder. Even with a good grasp of language these disorders are hard to differentiate between ADHD/ADD, autism, or Asperger Syndrome. If for no other reason I'd wait just to get a good diagnosis.

First though, I would caution looking for a problem. I don't know if this is your only child (sorry, I haven't looked at your profile) but a 5 year old boy can have a lot of concentration issues and difficulty following directions just because he's 5. Before my son was diagnosed I was given this checklist of symptoms, which are still accurate today. I was told he had to display 90% of these things:

--trouble paying attention and taking oral directions, better with visual information.
--trouble paying attention and taking direction when. presented in multiple formats - such as oral and visual together.
--problems carrying out multi-step instructions when given orally, have to have instructions given one step at a time
--appear to have poor listening skills and need people to speak slowly.
--need more time to process information - you can read this as think a long time before giving answers.
--develop a dislike for places with background noises like sports arenas, busy classrooms, concerts, or larger social settings.
--prefer written communication.
--have behavioral problems

My son showed all of these but as he grew and matured - he's almost 17 now - he's learned to ask people to repeat things, take notes, ask to be seated in the front of the class, and knows when he's someplace noisy, he may not catch all of what's said.

What was most striking to me when he was younger, and what prompted his teacher to suggest CAPD testing, was that he was incapable, in any situation - home, classroom, Sunday School, you name it - to accomplish multi-stepped tasks if given all together. If I said, clean up your toys, put on your pajamas, and brush your teeth, he might do one, but more than likely, he would do none of them because he'd forget what they were. To this day, I have to give him instructions one thing at a time.

The thing is, CAPD is more than not following directions or not liking loud noises or crowded loud places. It's a collection of symptoms and a consistency in all arenas - home, school, etc. It's also deceptive because there are days when a person with a CAPD can be extremely capable one day, and have great difficulties the next.

It was explained to me this way by the person who diagnosed my son. She likened it to radio waves. You have a radio on the counter in your kitchen, the radio station is several miles away. You turn on your radio and get the station. But somedays you turn on your radio and you get static. The radio hasn't changed position, nor has the radio station, but something between the station and your home interrupts the signal. Maybe high winds, rain, snow. It's not the radio or the station's fault, but the interruption of something else.

So somedays my son did so well it was scary. But another day he might be tired. Or his allergies were acting up. Or someone was mowing the lawn at the school outside his classroom window and the interruptions got in the way. He could literally forget how to write his name. It's not as extreme now that he's older because he can verbalize it and say - I'm having a bad day, please repeat that, or whatever so he gets the information he needs. But when he was younger, before diagnosis, is first grade teacher labeled him capable yet lazy. We learned the following year that's a very common misconception of CAPDs.

Sorry to be on such a soapbox over this. I hope for your son's sake what you see displayed is normal 5 year old actions. But if not, I wouldn't be too quick to get a diagnosis. You can work with him at home, start to teach him now the skills he may need - like asking to have things repeated, or having his teacher seat him in the front of the room, teach him to keep eye contact with those who are speaking to him. All these things have helped my son and he's not the top of his class, he struggles to learn, but he has the skills to do it and he's doing fine.

Good luck to you!
S.

You may not meet as much resistance as some others did. I took my daughter to pre-school screening offered by the district as soon as she was eligible and they did the usual developmental screening that they do for all kids who participate. They will likely have you fill out a questionnaire that will ask you for your concerns. From that screening they determined that they wanted further testing with my daughter. We had concerns because she had trouble understanding/following directions and had speech/language issues. She was also sensitive to loud noises (now at age 5 she runs out of the room if I turn on the vaccuum). In the end, she qualified for services based upon the diagnosis of developmental delay. Basically it is a generic label that says that the child is not developing as expected. As she grows and develops they will be retesting and she will likely get a more specific diagnosis. Schools really are eager to help kids as early as possible as the better start they get in school, their odds for a successful school career increase dramatically. My daughter has shown good improvement in her expressive and receptive language scores since starting services. She still has some trouble and may always have some but she will learn how to better cope and be a successful learner.

My son is 11 and in fifth grade. He has auditory processing issues, visual processing issues and is dislexic. That being said he is also very smart. Learning comes very difficlt for him but he can learn. I am not sure what resources are in your area but you are your son's first and best advocate. Don't trust the schools or the doctors if you think what they are saying is not in your sons best interest or fit his personality. Even then question especially if any drugs are perscribed or ADHD comes up. There are resources you just need to invesigate I've gone to a work shop on it, I can find the DR. name if you want just let me know.

be patient and don't give up there are ways around his disorder and many different learning styles he just needs to find the way he learns best and have teachers who care enough to work with him.
Best of Luck
Peggy

go get the book, "What the Brain Can't Hear" it is all about APD. My son also has it and I had been asking the school to test him since he was 3 and nothing. Finally, I took him on my own the summer between 1st and 2nd grade and his scores were so low. The school didn't believe, so they retested and the scores where the same. He is in speech/language therapy 2x a week...I have seen a huge improvement, but there is also a long way to go. Good Luck....

My son is 3 1/2 and was recently diagnosed with APD. He attends a therapeutic day school due to his mental health issues so I haven't had to fight for therapy at school as it is already part of their program. But I have lots of experience as an educational advocate for foster children. You have many rights. If the school doesn't have the capability to accurately test your son they are responsible to pay for private testing. If you would like some advise/guidance with this or any IEP help please feel free to email me at ____@____.com. I'd be happy to offer you all the information I have.

My son is 4 and has sensory integration disorder and a severe speech delay. He has had private speech, developmental, and occupational therapy ... and is now getting all of it through the school. Private is good, too - but pricey, although insurance does cover lots of it. Good luck: fight to get your son what he needs ... if the school won't help him, find someone who will. Go Mom!

If there are concerns, you should contact your school's special education department and ask that he be tested. If you have resistance from the school, get a recommendation from your doctor for a specialist to test him and have it done IMMEDIATELY. The earlier the intervention the better kids do that have these challenges. If you are able to identify a problem, the special education department is required to put him on a IEP, a specialized eduation program that addresses his issues.

My 8 year old, 10 year old and 3 year old have this as a part of their autism. We learned that our two older kids learn better visually and the wonderful teachers at school have helped with this. An interesting thing I observed with my 8 year old is that everything comes in ok; its just the coming out part is his problem. He used to call a helicopteer a "DeDoh" for the sound it made. When we used to repeat, "There's a 'DeDoh'" in the sky!" He'd look at us like we were crazy. On the other hand if we told him a helicopter was there he'd get all excited. He'd hear ok, its just his expression would not be intelligible to us. Its amazing though after time in school how far he's come. Good Luck to you and communicate with your school.