Auditory Processing Difficulties

It is estimated that approximately 5-10% of children who have normal hearing will present with poor listening skills or auditory processing difficulties (APD). Good and efficient listening skills are critical to learning in the classroom and accessing the school curriculum. A child with APD may expend a great amount of effort trying to process and keep up with what their teacher is saying. Struggling to listen on a daily basis can result in a child becoming anxious, giving up, believing that they are “stupid”, or losing their self confidence. The ultimate outcome is that a child may not reach their academic potential. These are some typical difficulties that children experience:

- Struggles to hear in background noise.
- Mishears or misunderstands what is being said.
- Cannot remember longer instructions.
- Difficulty concentrating unless it’s very quiet in the room.
- Difficulty understanding accents and cannot follow quick speech.
- Often daydreams.

Good management of listening difficulties may include providing recommendations and strategies to the class teacher, improving the acoustic or listening environment as well as carrying out auditory training exercises with your child. The overall end result may be a major improvement in their ability to listen and access their school curriculum. At The Hearing Clinic we are able to advise and provide you with informal auditory training exercises and equipment that may benefit your child. We can also make recommendations to your child's teacher to advise them on how to help your child learn within the classroom environment.

Please contact The Hearing Clinic for more information or to book an appointment.

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