Auditory Processing Disorders: By Age Group

Auditory Processing Disorders at Different Ages

Many people experience problems with learning and behavior from time to time, but if a person consistently displays difficulties with these tasks over time, testing for auditory processing disorders by trained professionals should be considered.

Early Childhood

Common difficulties include:

• Learning to speak
• Understanding spoken language
• Separating meaningful sounds from background noise
• Remembering stories or songs
• Staying focused on a person's voice
• Unusual sensitivity to noise
• Confusing similar sounding words
• Difficulty in understanding speech.

Accommodation and modification strategies:

• Keep directions simple - only tell your child one step at a time
• Give directions both orally and visually - show your child what you mean
• Speak slowly - especially when your child is hearing information for the first time
• Maintain eye contact while speaking
• Limit background noise when teaching new information or giving directions
• Provide specific opportunities to practice skills that build vocabulary, rhyming, segmenting and blending words.

School-Age Children

Common difficulties include:

• Remembering and following spoken directions
• Remembering people's names
• Sounding out new words
• Seeming to ignore others when engrossed in a non-speaking activity
• Understanding people who speak quickly
• Finding the right words to use when talking.

Accommodation and modification strategies:

• Combine oral teaching with visual aids
• Ask that teachers and others make it physically, visually or audibly clear when they are about to begin something important so that nothing is missed
• Have a note-taking buddy who will make sure that information was understood
• Request seating close to teacher
• Have child repeat back information or instructions to build comprehension skills and make sure messages are understood correctly.

Teenagers and Adults

Common difficulties include:

• Talks louder than necessary
• Remembering a list or sequence
• Often needs words or sentences repeated
• Poor ability to memorize information learned by listening
• Interprets words too literally
• Hearing clearly in noisy environments.

Accommodation and modification strategies:

• Find or request a quiet work space away from others
• Request written material when you attend oral presentations.
• Ask for directions to be given one at a time, as you go through each step.
• Take notes or use a tape recorder when getting any new information, even little things. 

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