How Do Kids Process Language and What Can We Do To Help?

How Do Kids Process Language and What Can We Do To Help?
How Do Kids Process Language and What Can We Do To Help?

What is Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)? An Auditory deficit that is not the result of other higher-order cognitive, language, or related disorders. It is a disorder in which the brain has a hard time processing sounds, but not a problem hearing the sounds.

How Is it Diagnosed? It's diagnosed using a battery of auditory tests, administered under controlled conditions

  • Multidisciplinary Approach - Although an audiologist will administer testing and make the diagnosis of CAPD; anyone can observe and report weaknesses
    • Parent
    • Teacher
    • Speech-language pathologist
    • Psychologist 
    • Pediatrician
    • Audiologist*

Auditory Processing Skills and What Weaknesses Will Look Like:

  • Localization: won’t be able to determine where sound is coming from
  • Auditory Discrimination: difficulty with spelling, reading; may have articulation difficulties that persist longer than they should
  • Figure/Ground: unable to distinguish which sounds are coming from where and which one exactly they should be listening to; hard time listening to a teacher when there is background noise; and easily distractible 
    • Selective Listening 
    • Sound-in-Noise
  • Temporal Processing: may frequently ask “what?” or “huh?”; need information repeated, have a hard time with multi-step directions; slow or delayed responses to verbal instructions; and hard time understanding someone who is talking quickly
  • Auditory Attention: seem easily distracted or bored when conversations or activities do not include visuals; difficulty following verbal multi-step directions
  • Auditory Closure: difficult time with phone conversations; can’t predict spoken messages if unable to hear the whole part
  • Auditory Memory: difficult time with phone conversations; can’t predict spoken messages if unable to hear the whole part

What Can We Do?

  • No 'one size fits all' treatment method
  • Treatments are individualized and deficit specific

Treatment Focuses on Three Primary Areas

  1. Changing the environment
  2. Compensatory strategies 
  3. Remediation 

Strategies that WE (Teachers and Parents) can do:

  • Give our children quiet work areas
  • Repeat/Paraphrase information 
  • Preview/Review Activities
  • Establish eye contact
  • Monitor our rate of speech
  • Allow extra response time
  • Break down complex language
  • Avoid non-essential words

Strategies for our Children:

  • Keep eyes on the speaker
  • Ask for repetition/clarification 
  • Silent/Out-loud rehearsal 
  • Visualization 

At Home Practice:

  • Sound identification games
  • Sound pattern games
  • Hiding something that makes music or noise, or even playing "Marco Polo"
  • Practicing phonics

 

Alyson Rumley, M.S., CCC-SLP                 Abigail Page Moore, M.S., CCC-SLP