Why is Understanding APD Important?
A child with Audiory Processing Disorder can often have the same types of behavioral problems as a child with ADD. It’s easy to see, however, that using the techniques appropriate for an ADD child will not be very effective with a child suffering from auditory processing issues, who can have very specific auditory skills needing to be developed. These affected skills can include: • Phonologic awareness: Identifying sounds in words, the number of sounds in a word, and similarities among words; may show up in spelling, writing, and reading difficulties. • Auditory discrimination: Recognizing differences when asked to say whether the sounds or words are the “same or different.” • Auditory memory: Storing, or retaining, pertinent auditory information; may affect ability to follow oral directions, participate in discussions, and spell. • Auditory figure-ground discrimination: Understanding spoken language in a noisy background; may show up more in noisy environments or when expected to list
