Characteristics of APD

 

Children or adults merit consideration for (Central) Auditory Processing testing if some or all of the characteristics below are present:

Age: Is five years of age or older. (We can begin testing at 5 years of age, but typically a diagnosis is not given until 7 years of age.)

  

Hearing: Is “within normal limits” on an audiogram.

 

 

School behavior:

 

Experiencing academic problems, usually because of difficulty reading.

 

Characterized by teacher as acting “spacey”, “dreamy”, “on another planet” or “lights on, but no one home” during class.

 

Difficulty learning to read or do calculations.

 

Rarely completes seatwork during school hours, even if time deadline is extended.

 

But does homework at home if environment is quiet.

 

Easily distracted by antics of children in near proximity.

 

Teacher wonders if a hearing loss is present.

 

Poor at carrying out multi-step instructions. May do first step, but then cannot say what other parts are.

 

Has difficulty auditorially discriminating minimal-pairs (like “bed” and “said”).

 

Works better in quiet room (such as detention) than in regular classroom.

 

Does better in classes not dependent on oral language.

 

Needs more clarification of an oral assignment than other children.

 

Hardest classes rest on reading for content.

 

Note: APD is a diagnosis that must be confirmed by an audiologist. Other professionals may suspect that there is an APD, but audiologists are the professionals that actually make the diagnosis. 

Note: Usually a regular hearing test (audiogram) confirming that the outer, middle and inner ear function is normal is required for testing of APD to proceed.le APD testing may be done in the presence of some minimal hearing loss,  

At home behavior:

 

Family comments include: “Sometimes I think there is a hearing loss”; “hears what s/he wants to hear”; “acts like s/he doesn’t hear me sometimes”; “I know s/he has heard me, but s/he just sits there looking at me like s/he didn’t understand”

 

When given a multi-part instruction, only does first part, then gets distracted or “forgets.”

 

Parent comment: “the school thinks there is an attention problem, but s/he gets absorbed in things at home and can concentrate for hours so I don’t see the lack of attention at home.”

 

Has friends, but often complains that his/her feelings are hurt by playmates.

 

Often doesn’t get humor (jokes) or sarcasm.

 

Often asks for repetition or clarification. 

 

May not be good at telling where a sound is coming from or who is talking in noisy

situation.

 

Prone to temper tantrums or arguments when in a noisy situation. May act like an angel at school, but is often especially grumpy or teary-eyed at home after school.

 

Poor at understanding people who have a heavy accent or whose speech is not clear.