Auditory Processing Disorders

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Auditory Processing Disorder help and treatment in Solana Beach, Del Mar, Carmel Valley, San Diego and Encinitas

Auditory Processing Disorders

Auditory Processing Disorder affects the way the brain processes auditory information. It is known to affect approximately 7% of school aged children (which is essentially 2 to 3 students in every classroom). The National Institute of Health (NIH) reports that APD may be found in as many as 25% of students with learning difficulties.

Still, it is the most under-recognized and under identified difficulties in our students. This is why we screen for auditory deficits as part of every initial assessment we do.

Individuals with APD have difficulty processing the information they hear in the same way as other people because their ears and brain don’t fully coordinate. APD negatively affects the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, most notably the sounds in speech.

It is a form of hearing loss that is not located in the hearing mechanism, but in the part of the brain that processes and interprets what we hear.

This can contribute to significant speech, language and learning problems. Alfred Tomatis put it simply: “The voice can only produce what the ear can hear.”

Although they can hear the sounds, individuals with APD are unable to recognize teh subtle differences between sounds in words. It is particularly noticeable in places where there is a lot of background noise or the speaker is speaking very quickly.

Auditory Processing Disorder Treatment

With Auditory Processing Disorders treatment and therapy it is possible to prevent speech/language delays, learning delays and academic problems later on.

Successful treatment should be at the neurosensory as well as deficit specific levels. Given the 4 major types of APD, it is helpful, though not necessary, to identify the specific type of APD before beginning therapy.

This is why, at TLC, we give a complementary SCREENER in order to determine whether further investigation by a trained audiologist and treatment is necessary. Not all audiologists specialize in pediatric APD so be sure to ask before testing.

Children and adults who have APD may exhibit poor performance in one or more of the following skills:

Sound localization and lateralization

Auditory discrimination

Auditory pattern recognition

Temporal aspects of audition

Auditory performance with competing or degraded acoustic signals

Children with with APD may exhibit some of the following behaviors:

Behaving as if they have a hearing loss

May respond to questions with answers a bit “missing the mark”

May respond at a slower rate than those that hear a clear message

Have difficulty listening or paying attention in noisy situations

Respond with “huh?” or “what?” often or use filler words while they process what they heard

Have poor memory for verbally presented information

Have difficulty following multi-step direction, have poor expressive and/or receptive language skills

Have poor reading, writing and spelling skills

Have difficulty taking notes

Have weak memory skills

Have problems following directions in correct sequence

May display behavioral and/or social/emotional difficulties

Our APD Symptom Tree outlines the Primary Roots and Secondary Deficit Symptoms of unresolved APD.

We believe that treating these auditory deficits first will enable your child’s speech and language, attention and focus, reading/writing and academic learning, social relationships and self image to improve with support to catch up where needed.

We partner with local audiologists who specialize in the diagnosis of Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) and provide the deficit specific neurosensory therapies needed to correct the primary roots of these disorders and secondary deficit symptoms.

A few of our programs include:

Auditory Stimulation Training (AST)

Core Learning Skills and Neurodevelopmental therapies

CAPDOTS

ARIA

Fast ForWord

Tomatis Method Sound Therapy®

Bilateral Movement Program

Interactive Metronome

Auditory Processing Disorder help in San Diego, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Carmel Valley, Solana Beach and Del Mar

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The Learning Skills Continuum approach ensures that we can identify and treat all of the underlying skills that are at the root of learning and attention challenges.

Our vision is to create permanent changes in the lives of students who have experienced failure or frustration transforming their experience to confidence and independence.

Whether it’s specialized tutoring, educational therapy, cognitive enhancement therapy, alternative schooling or support for homeschooling families, we are committed to providing high quality, tailored solutions.

Our vision is to create permanent changes in the lives of students who have experienced failure or frustration transforming their experience to confidence and independence.

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