Auditory Processing Disorder

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Comment by Lisa Forman on July 16, 2009 at 3:39am

Hi, through my research on adhd, I've found that auditory and sensory processing issues are found to be common for most disorders (sorry) on the spectrum, including autism, aspergers.

Comment by Ril Giles-ADDMom on March 27, 2009 at 1:10am

found this tonight.. thought it would be good info to share. the Out of Sync Child book was very enlightening for ME, and I had to read it twice, once to relate it to myself, and then to my son....

common characteristics of poor auditory-language processing:

* May seem unaware of the source of sound and may look all around to locate where the sounds come form.
* May have trouble identifying voices or discriminating between sounds, such as the difference between "bear" and "bore."
* May be unable to pay attention to one voice or sound without being distracted by other sounds.
* May be distressed by noises that are loud, sudden, metallic, or high -pitched, or by sounds that don’t bother others.
* May have trouble attending to, understanding, or remembering what she reads or hears.
* May misinterpret requests, frequently ask for repetition, and be able to follow only one or two instructions in sequence.
* May look to others before responding.
* May have trouble putting thoughts into spoken or written words.
* May talk "off topic," e.g. talk about his/her new shirt when others are discussing a soccer game.
* May have trouble "closing circles of communication," i.e. responding to others’ questions and comments.
* May have trouble correcting or revising what he has said to be understood.
* May have weak vocabulary and use immature sentence structure (poor grammar and syntax).
* May have difficulty with reading (dyslexia), especially out loud.
* May have trouble making up rhymes and singing in tune.
* May have difficulty speaking and articulating clearly.
* May improve her speaking ability after she experiences intense movement.

Moving activates the ability to speak. A child with vestibular and language problems benefits greatly from therapy that simultaneously addresses both types of dysfunction. Speech and language therapists report that just putting the child in a swing during treatment can have remarkable results. Occupational therapists have found that when they treat a child for vestibular dysfunction, speech-and-language skills can improve along with balance, movement, and motor planning skills. And even without the assistance of therapists, children who move spontaneously often show enhanced ability to verbalize their thoughts.

For more information on sensory integration, vestibular dysfunction, and auditory processing, check out the DDR Sensory Integration links.
[This article was excerpted from The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder, Revised EditionThe Out-of-Sync Child: Understanding and Coping With Sensory Integration Dysfunction and initially published in New Developments: Volume 2, Number 3 - Winter, 1996-1997]

Comment by inwardsea on March 20, 2009 at 7:24am

Wow, I thought I was alone in this. I'd love to learn more about APD and chat with y'all!

Comment by Dominic E. on February 14, 2009 at 3:23pm

Nice to see this forum here. I'm an adult with ADD (non attentive type) and APD.

Comment by Curtis_at_bCalm on February 13, 2009 at 7:36am

MamaRil,

As I'm still learning here, can you give me a couple good APD books/resources or sites that you found particularly useful in your own research?

Comment by Ril Giles-ADDMom on February 11, 2009 at 1:30am

I'm glad that this might shed some light on some of the issues. I know people who were DXed with Bipolar...only to find out later when the medds did nothing for them, that they in fact had APD AND severe ADHD making them very moody, APOD gets worse through the day becasue your brain gets tired from trying to process stuff. so you tend to be crankier in the evening when you alreday have lck of attention from trying to focus all day with your ADD. It is misunderstood, misdiagnoased, or totally missed a lot of the time. fo the last 10 year my husband has accused me of not listening becasue I take too long with awkward silent paues between him speaking and me answering when it ws just that my brain is still getting the input, and I have not formulated my response yet...I've had physical hearing tests and demanded that I have an issue that needs to be looked at and they tell me I'm fine.

A lot of the pages on APD refer to children & kids and teaching them how to cope with APD in a school setting because, as like so many other neurological disorders, the medical society is more aware of them today & children are who they are finding them in. That does not mean that as an adult we should just go "oh well, it's too late for me!" we deserve treatment and therapies to help us live better well rounded lives with APD too.

Just because they didn't understand these issues when we were children struggling in school does not mean it doesn't exist, or affect us as profoundly in our lives every day as adults, trying to communicate with others.

I often find myself wishing I ws just really deaf so the loud noises would not bother me, and so I'd have a legitimete excuse to not hear or understand someone.

On my bad Audio processing days where even my husband's coughing sends my nerves through the roof, I wear ear plugs, or go to a quiet room in the dark.. other times, I put on ear pone to help me concenrate and drown out all other noises and only her the music I want to hear.... mozat moonlight sonata seems to me my happy place to help me regroup when I my APD is really bad.

I began this support group because i have struggled with APD all my life & it has seriously affected my relationships, my educational and career choices in life, and had deeply impacted my self esteem in a negative way.

I have many people in my paternal family with hearing disabilities, and have a deaf father who is now hearing disabled with a cochlear implant. I recently came to the conclusion, that he very likely has APD as well as his physical hearing loss, when I think about the struggles he has had all his life prior to his physical loss in his late 40's. I noticed the signs in him once I discovered APD in me. I fell upon APD when I was DXed with ADD and began researching learning disdabilities, trying to figure out where my difficulties were to make them easier to deal with.

I never realized the issues I had were from a real genuine diagnosis until I was Dxed at 30 years old with ADHD, after the birth of my second child. Finding the world of ADHD info online, I found a lot of other links to learning disabilities, and discovered there was a name ( or names) for the issues I struggled with all my life.

Now, at 34, my 8 year old daughter has been dxed with ADHD as well, and shows very many signs of APD, and my 3 year old son is very hyper, and complains of being hypersensitive to loud noises and gets very hyper unless he gets vestibular stimulation. ( which helps APD.. spinning in a chair, or rocking back and forth in a rocking chair. etc)

Seeing my kids at their ages and remembering what it felt like as a kid struggling with invisible LD's and APD and ADD, I want to make sure I give them everything they need to learn to manage their issues better then I did growing up.

So, as an adult with ADHD and APD, I am basically "growing up" in this arena with them, but at the same time I need to be the example they must see in order for them to learn how to manage their traits well in a world that condemns us for having them, in order for them to have a happy life not struggling as hard as I have had to.

I came to the conclusion that I MUST not be the ONLY parent in the world who is in a similar situation. Also, I must not be the Adult in the world who has been diagnosed with APD late and needs to retrain themselves to learn to cope better, and could use the input, support and understanding of others in the same boat.

Let's learn together...let the group know of any info you come upon, or if your doctor looks into this for you etc.

I've been reading about it and studying it now for about 2 years, so any questions you hve, shoot them my way, and if I don;t have the answer, I can try to find one.

Comment by Chief 45 on February 10, 2009 at 8:07pm

this makes me crack up - a couple years ago, i had EXTENSIVE hearing tests...for the most part everything was perfectly fine. had one small thing - can't even remember what it was now.

of course, my wife is constantly complaining that i ignore her...! but there are times when i feel completely deaf, especially to voices. and the background noises are deafening to me sometimes....

Comment by Amy on February 10, 2009 at 1:13pm

I may have APD, because I am so sensitive to background noise that it greatly effects my daily life. The older I get it's seems to get worse. I am going to get more informed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Comment by Gary on February 9, 2009 at 12:34pm

Greetings!

Thank you for starting this group. I find that a lot of the problems I have seem to be related to my ADD -- except that nobody makes the connection until a bunch of us get together and start comparing notes.

This is a perfect example: I'd never heard of APD before.

For years I've had problems understanding people speaking in reverberant or noisy environment such as gyms and pubs. Going to a pub with others is pointless for me because I can't hear any conversation unless the person is yelling in my ear.

Next time I see my doctor I'm going to mention APD and see what he can suggest. If I find out anything useful I'll let you know.

Comment by Curtis_at_bCalm on February 9, 2009 at 11:58am

Thanks!

Whether it's specifically "auditory processing disorder" or not, it's apparent you've got an increased sensitivity to certain sounds and certain pitches of sound (for you high pitched stuff)

While I can't offer you a "cure", we have developed some methods to bring relief, depending on the environment you're in.

We use some called "noise masking". These are special sounds that trick your ear into no perceiving an unwanted noise. If you heard noise masking alone, it would sound something like the fuzz on your t.v. or white noise from your radio.

We made our own noise masking specifically mixed to hide the voices of other people talking. To make the masking more enjoyable and relaxing, I blended these sounds into high quality nature stuff. Wind in the trees, waves on the beach, etc.

So far the people (kids and older) that have tried it have really said it helped. They hear alot less of what is distracting and annoying and have something more relaxing that "reboots" their brain and helps them chill out, or focus & concentrate if their doing work.

Our site www.b-calmsound.com as a bunch more info. Right now, we're targeting this for ADHD and ASD students in school, but it sounds like it would be a fit for you.

We've dubbed our system AudioSedation because of the calming effects it has. Right now, you can buy a kit that includes a nice player, couple types of earphones and has three 30min AudioSedation files preloaded and ready to go.

I'd be happy to answer any Qs you might have...

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