Auditory Language Processing Disorder
Symptoms:
- History of frequent ear infections, but hearing is within normal limits.
- Inconsistent responses to verbal input.
- Episodes of "tuning out".
- Frequent need for repetition of information.
- Misunderstanding or confusion of similar sounding words.
- Difficulty with following spoken instructions or following multiple-step directions.
- Difficulty maintaining attention to or discriminating speech sounds in group settings.
- Difficulty utilizing memory or sequential memory skills.
- Difficulty responding to comments or questions in a timely manner.
- Academic difficulties sometimes present in reading, spelling, and complex math calculations.
- Average intelligence but significant verbal/performance IQ split.
Treatment:
A speech-language pathologist can guide management of the disorder which includes accommodations by teachers and parents, adaptations of the home and learning environments, and language intervention to help a child develop compensatory strategies and improve skill areas. Intervention focuses on enhancing language processing, improving auditory processing abilities, and teaching metacognitive strategies. Activities may include but are not limited to auditory closure practice, phonemic awareness training, temporal patterning training, and prosody training. Self-monitoring training includes self-checking, self-interrogation, awareness of key-word markers, and self-advocacy techniques.
A speech-language pathologist can guide management of the disorder which includes accommodations by teachers and parents, adaptations of the home and learning environments, and language intervention to help a child develop compensatory strategies and improve skill areas. Intervention focuses on enhancing language processing, improving auditory processing abilities, and teaching metacognitive strategies. Activities may include but are not limited to auditory closure practice, phonemic awareness training, temporal patterning training, and prosody training. Self-monitoring training includes self-checking, self-interrogation, awareness of key-word markers, and self-advocacy techniques.