Unfortunately, parents may struggle to obtain an accurate early diagnosis as auditory processing disorder is tough to assess and difficult to distinguish from conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and other language processing disorders.ĭon't miss out on the Autism Parenting Summit. Parents aiming to explain why their child has such difficulty following verbal instructions, often explain that while their child hears auditory information, they just don’t process it appropriately. Individuals with such deficits often struggle in complex listening circumstances, such as following conversations in noisy environments. Auditory processing disorder is not a precisely defined disorder but rather a group of varying functional deficits. The complexity of hearing and processing sound in the brain means many things can go wrong at multiple stages.
International prevalence statistics indicate between 2-5% of kids may have some sort of auditory processing disorder (Chermak et al., 2007). Officially, however, the condition is called auditory processing disorder. What are auditory processing disorders and how do they present?įor years the condition was referred to as central auditory processing disorder in fact many in the medical community still prefer this term. Understanding the condition, the way it’s defined and the way it manifests may be helpful-particularly when a child also has a neurodevelopmental condition with symptoms overlapping with those associated with auditory processing disorder (APD). With a brain wired differently, it probably makes sense that auditory processing may be atypical.Įven when parents are familiar with auditory processing disorders, the condition is difficult to distinguish from other hearing and speech-language disorders. They need to be, as research tells us almost all kids (more than 90%) on the spectrum display atypical sensory behaviors (Chang et al., 2014). Parents with autistic children are often experts when it comes to sensory processing disorders. Or in the words of a mother whose child struggles with auditory processing: “She doesn’t have a hearing problem, but she seems unsure of what she’s supposed to do with what she hears.” That is until your child, who can hear perfectly, seems unable to listen. The involvement of the brain and nervous system in the process of hearing, and interpretation of sounds, receives a lot less attention. We tend to think of hearing in a simplistic way focusing mostly on the ears. Auditory processing disorder is a complicated condition courting controversy like most other sensory processing disorders. When kids on the spectrum struggle with listening, especially the processing and comprehension of sound, parents may wonder if it’s a characteristic of autism or an issue with auditory processing.
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