APD Awareness: Having APD is sort of like Speaking a Foreign Language

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) can be subtle and because of this, children with APD are often penalized as being non-caring, not-intelligent, and/or not-attentive.  The reality is so far from this non-understanding viewpoint.

Imagine if you can being in a foreign country.  You know the language to some extent, but you have to process everything you hear from the foreign language to your native language to understand and back to the foreign language to communicate.  It takes time.  Sometimes the person speaking to you doesn't realize this time delay and they speak too rapidly for you to process everything.  Or maybe people are speaking over each other and it is difficult to hear exactly what is being said.  So you process about 2 to 3 words maximum out of every sentence.  You try piecing this fragmented information together to make some sort of sense.  Of course by this time the person speaking to you thinks you are rudely not responding.  Then, when you do say something, the person looks at you like you are a complete idiot because your response is actually not accurate for the conversation.  You try to apologize and explain that you speak a different language and you're doing your best.  But what if they don't believe you?  What if they think you are simply  non-caring, not-intelligent, and not paying attention?  This happens to people with APD all the time!

Of course, just like you can translate the foreign language if given the time you need to do so (and maybe some clarification here and there), so can our kids with APD.  You can also speak intelligent sentences and express your wonderful thoughts and ideas even in the foreign language if given the time to do so.  Sure you might forget a word here or there or conjugate a verb incorrectly, but that's really no big deal so long as the person you are speaking to is understanding and patient.  It is no less important that our children with APD have people be understanding and patient with them.

It is my hope that the world becomes aware of Auditory Processing Disorder and uses that knowledge to show compassion to people with APD.  Be understanding!  Be patient!  Give them the time and respect they need to shine!  They ARE intelligent, attentive, and caring.

Facebook Auditory Processing Disorder Support Groups

"I would like to thank all of the moms on this board.  I knew nothing at the first meeting last spring and think my daughter took a hit for that.  Every move, email, notice and meeting from me to the school district since December has been based on the knowledge shared on these boards.  After all my emotional appeals, it has all come down to information, knowledge, perseverance, and not being backed into a corner. I used strategies developed by the members of these APD boards." Lizette Biel

There are a number of support groups for people and/or parents of people with auditory processing disorder on Facebook.  Please join our on-line community:

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) Support

Auditory Processing Disorder Australia/New Zealand

(Central) Auditor Processing Disorder (C)APD

Teens With Auditory Processing Disorder

The CGND Group for Auditory Processing Disorder

Helping Our Children With Special Needs Deal with Anxiety

Anxiety displacement is something I have been thinking about lately.  I’ve been researching what I can find about it with very little success.  There’s huge amounts about anger displacement, but what about the very real existence of people taking anxiety from one situation and displacing it onto anxiety about everything that ever happened or will happen.

The Problem:

You see, I’ve run into a pattern in my daughter’s life.  Whenever she has anxiety about something, it spills onto everything else.  If she has a dentist appointment, she’ll have an entire day of thinking about all the ills she has ever suffered in life and worries about them happening again.  She will get into that old stuck needle on the record place where no matter what anyone says or does, she is incapable of not worrying about everything.

I’ve read account after account of other parents discovering the same pattern with their child – particularly with children whom have special needs.  The intensity of the anxiety seems to be so overwhelming, that I believe the child displaces it onto familiar scenarios in an attempt to manage it.   Therefore, I think it is anxiety displacement.  Here is an example of how it goes:

What I’ve learned over the years is that my daughter is displacing the anxiety of going to the dentist onto everything else.  She doesn’t know how to handle the intensity of her fears and she goes to the old stand-bys that she has grown used to.  She has worried about her weight, her reading, misunderstanding, being bullied, having people not understand her, etc.  These are old pains and old worries that we have worked through repeatedly.  She knows the response she will get when she brings them up, and she hopes these responses will make her feel better – make the current fear go away.  The only problem is they can’t.  Hearing me remind her how well she reads now doesn’t make her fear of going to the dentist go away.  So she moves on to the next old fear or pain with the same result.  As you can imagine, this is exhausting and futile for both her and me. 

My Solution:

So what I have finally learned is to not go down that path with her.  I simply tell her that she is bringing up old worries and that they are not her problem right now.  If I know what she is most likely having anxiety about, I talk to her about that and that only. I tell her that we can talk about those old worries later if she still wants to, but not now.  For instance, when she had a dentist appointment, I told her we could talk about her worries about going to the dentist but those old worries would have to wait until after the dentist appointment, because they were probably not real worries today – just triggered from her current worry about the dentist.  (Of course after the dentist appointment was over, she felt fine and no longer wished to talk about any worries.)

We also focus on feeling better right now.  We have talked extensively about how all people’s brains don’t work well when we are in the middle of intense emotions and how we need to calm our mind before it will work well.  Therefore, we focus on doing things that calm our minds.  For my daughter, this is chewing gum, smelling lavender, being squeezed, and doing relaxing activities like singing, dancing, or watching a fun show.

Prevention Works Best:

Furthermore, I’ve found that if I can prepare for the anxiety inducing event ahead of time, life goes more smoothly for all of us.  What this means is as mother, I know an event like a dentist appointment might provoke anxiety, so I plan on doing non-stressful fun events and calming things that day.  I don’t plan other things for that day for her or myself, and I make sure I get enough rest and sustenance to manage the emotional day I have ahead of me.  As my daughter gets older, she learns more how to do these calming things for herself and how to plan her life herself to allow for such things.  That is our goal: to help her learn how to calm herself, deal with anxiety, and prepare for stressful events whenever possible.

My Book Review of the eBook "Kids Speech Matters" by Sandra Ahlquist

Kids Speech Matters: A Mother’sJourney Living with Her Son Who Has a Severe Language Delay and an AuditoryProcessing Disorder from Birth to 10 Years

Written by:  Sandra Ahlquist

Sandra Ahlquist has written a touching e-book about her and her son’s personal journey dealing with Severe Language Delay and Auditory Processing Disorder.  Reading her book is like having an intimate discussion with a good friend; she narrates the story of her son’s birth through his diagnosis of APD at the age of 10 and intersperses helpful advice she would give to any parent finding herself in a similar situation.

Sandra’s motivation to write this book was to spread insight into communication delays in young children in the hopes of bringing awareness to speech, language, and communication disorders.  With proper recognition, she hopes funding will be better provided to meet the needs of the many students struggling with language based learning disabilities in school.

She hopes no parent will have to struggle as hard as she has to get her son the proper diagnosis and assistance he has needed to be able to communicate and learn.  Like Sandra says, “Every child deserves to be able to communicate and learn to the best of their ability.”

Group Lessons??? The Coach Makes All The Difference

Recently my daughter Hailey started to take off-ice lessons as well as her twice weekly figure skating lessons. These are lessons where they do aerobic exercises, strengthening exercises, stretching exercises, and practice jumps in their sneakers - off the ice.  Her lessons on the ice are one-on-one with a coach that she adores and works very well with. Her off-ice lessons are in a group format with nine other girls.  She also has a new coach for these lessons whom she is not familiar with and to top that off, she has an accent.

At first, I was concerned that these off-ice lessons would not work for Hailey.  She generally just falls apart in group lessons: she can't understand what is going on, what she is supposed to do, and the atmosphere feels too chaotic for her.  She also doesn't usually do well understanding people who have accents.

Pleasantly, we have both been surprised!  Her new coach for the off-ice lessons makes a point of telling the students what to do and briefly showing them.  Then she taps Hailey on the shoulder to get her attention and shows her step-by-step how to do the activity with Hailey following along.  It works wonderfully. Hailey understands how and what to do so she doesn't feel like things are out of control.

The other girls can still be noisy and active around Hailey, but she seems to be handling it well.  She just focuses on what she needs to be doing and doesn't let them distract her.  Sometimes one will get into her space a little too close (like they might accidentally kick her) and she either moves herself or the coach motions for her to move to a larger spot.

Overall, I'm happy that Hailey is doing so well in a group lesson.  Not only because she is getting the instruction she needs for ice skating, but she is also tolerating a group of noisy, active kids around her.  This is a milestone!


PS:  I didn't even have to talk to the new coach about Hailey's needs.  Hailey's original coach, her on-ice coach, explained it to her ahead of time.  Yippee!  How wonderful to have people who are so caring and pro-active for my child.

Strategies for Managing Auditory Processing Disorder

The management of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) consists of three main categories: 1) Environmental Modifications; 2) Remediation (Direct Therapies); and 3) Compensatory Strategies.

As not every person with Auditory Processing Disorder has the same exact problems to the same exact extent, it is important to keep in mind that not all strategies work for everyone nor are all needed for everyone.  Moreover, many times Auditory Processing Disorder is one disability/difference of many for an individual; some conditions such as Dyslexia, Sensory Processing Disorder, Visual Processing Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and various language disabilities are common co-existing conditions.

Environmental Modifications:

Environmental modifications are things that are done to make the environment for a person with Auditory Processing Disorder most able to function at his or her best for learning, working, and/or living.  Some examples of these are*:

• Preferential seating to be nearest the speaker and away from environmental noises such as heaters or fans;
• Visual cues and aids used in presentations to assist with comprehension of the material being covered;
• Written notes provided so that full attention can be on the speaker and not on trying to take notes at the same time;
• Study guides or outlines provided before the lecture so that the person with APD can become familiar with the material and vocabulary ahead of time;
• A school FM sound system or a personal FM system to allow the person with APD to hear the speaker directly without as much environmental noise;
• The speaker pausing at phrases rather than speaking in long, complicated sentences;
• Always insuring that the person with APD has the ability to see the face of the speaker;
• Permitting the person with APD more time to process information - both input and output;
• Provide or allow the use of lists or other devices (such as recording devices) to assist with auditory memory problems; 
• Noise reducing headphones for the person with APD who is sensitive to sound when direct listening is not necessary - such as during a test or when reading;
• For the young child, picture cards are a valuable asset to assisting the child with communication. These can be made at home or purchased; and
• Many publishers of textbooks (Harcourt Brace, Houghton Mifflin, Pearson, Macmillian/ McGraw Hill, Holt McDougal & Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson Prentice-Hall, Pearson K-12) also have electronic textbooks that are available.  They are interactive and play on a computer.  I've been told that school districts are the only ones that can order them at the k-12 level.  I've also been told that some are accessible to be read by a text to speech reader application such as Adobe Acrobat 6. This is something to look into if reading speed is a problem for the student with APD.  

Remediation (direct therapy):

Remediation is controversial for Auditory Processing Disorder.  There are a number of therapy programs available and all have mixed results.  Some people may find one therapy incredibly helpful while others may find that same therapy to be useless.  

Remediation should also be aimed at the particular needs/circumstance of the individual with Auditory Processing Disorder.  Therefore, if a child is having problems processing speech, a speech therapist would be advisable.  If a child is having difficulties learning to read, a reading intervention program would make sense. Keeping this in mind, here is a list of some possible therapies*:

• Auditory Integration Training: Berard, Tomatis, and Samonas
• Fast ForWord;
• The Listening Program;
• Neurofeedback;
• Speech Therapy;
• Occupational Therapy;
• Movement Therapy/Kinesiology (Brain Gym);
• Interactive Metronome;
• Earobics;
• Lindamood Bell: Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS); 
• Easyread; 
• Phono-Graphix; and
• Games and computer applications that encourage auditory processing such as Simon, Bop It, Musical Chairs, etc.

Compensatory Strategies:

Compensatory strategies are ways in which the person with Auditory Processing Disorder uses other skills to help him or her best cope with his or her auditory processing problems.  These are language, conversation, organizational, and social skills that have been taught or encouraged and practiced.  Some examples of these are:

• Identifying body language and facial expressions;
• Lip reading;
• Social skills training such as role playing different scenarios;
• Using the practice of rephrasing what someone says as a way to halt the conversation and use that time to better process what was said and compose a response;
• Speaking up for oneself and one's needs such as asking people to repeat or clarify something;
• Utilizing environmental modifications such as making a point of positioning one's self near to and looking at a speaker as much as possible;
• Using texting or e-mail to communicate;
• Using written reminders or lists to compensate for auditory memory problems; and
• Use visualization techniques to remember things: make a picture in one's mind of the event or concept.

* All links posted here are only one company providing the service or product listed.  Please research to find which provider you prefer.

Just Like a 'Normal' Girl

What does it feel like to be 'normal'?  Having Auditory Processing Disorder, my daughter Hailey has had more than her share of experiences where she has felt not-normal.  She has felt like the outsider in social groups where everyone seems to understand what is being said except her.  She has felt like the 'weirdo' who says the wrong things because she recalls the wrong words when speaking.  She has felt like the 'idiot' when she can't figure something out or reads slowly and the other children laugh.  So feeling 'normal', or rather what she thinks other children who don't have processing disorders or learning disabilities feel, is something she craves.

This last year, Hailey started ice skating lessons.  She was fortunate enough to have a private lesson for her first session because she was the only one to sign up for that level.  Her coach was extremely good at teaching using visual and kinesthetic approaches with clear, concise auditory directions.  What Hailey realized is that she excels at ice skating; it was easy!

The next session, Hailey ended up in a class with a different coach and other students.  It was a disaster!  This coach relied on auditory directions without making eye contact all the time, and the other students talking and buzzing around her made it impossible for Hailey to understand what she was supposed to do.  So, being the typical mother of a child with special needs, I went to the director of the ice skating program and told her Hailey has Auditory Processing Disorder and needs visual and kinesthetic coaching with less auditory distraction.  The director had never heard of APD before, but she knows it is something like a learning disability and she is familiar with that, so she decided it would be okay to make sure Hailey has lessons that aren't really private lessons, but it could be arranged to make sure she is the only one that signs up.  I know this sounds confusing, but not really because there are more classes offered than students at her level, so it was just a matter of being flexible in our schedule.  I also made sure to request the coach she worked with before who was so great, and the director changed her schedule to make sure that coach would teach Hailey's class. Yippee!  Asking often does pay off.

So one more session of private lessons - although it wasn't called that because the program doesn't actually allow for private lessons - and Hailey was progressing remarkably fast.  She passed out of the basic skills program and moved into the freestyle classes.  These are arranged a little differently and she has the same coach she and I both adore, but two more students take classes with her.  Each student gets one-on-one time with the coach while the others practice, so it essentially works much like private lessons.  Hailey also goes to extra lessons with her coach where there are four students total and each student practices separately having their own private instruction time with the coach.

So back to the 'normal' feeling Hailey craves.  In the ice skating world, Hailey feels 'normal'.  She feels like she learns and progresses just like any other girl without needing anything special or different to succeed.  The playing field is leveled in this area and she loves it!

(Now there is still the social aspect in the locker room, but she is easing into that slowly.  The other girls seem very kind and at this point, just assume she is shy.  Eventually, she'll probably tell them she has Auditory Processing Disorder and that she needs to see their faces when they talk and can only really understand when one person talks at a time.  Hopefully that goes well, and truthfully I think it will.  Also, her coach is always there in the locker room and she does understand APD (she said she was familiar with it when I told her), so that should help.