Learning to Listen
Understanding Auditory Processing
and its impact on learning and behaviour
by Katharine King,
Educational Kinesiologist
Life can be very challenging for children
with Auditory Processing difficulties, as
they often misunderstand verbal instructions and feel confused about what is
expected of them. These frustrations can
manifest into many learning issues and
behavioural patterns. In the classroom
setting children with auditory processing
issues may go ‘under the radar’ because
the condition cannot be seen and often
teachers do not clearly understand how
auditory processing is different to hearing.
Concerns about a child’s hearing are
best addressed through a hearing test,
which will pick up if a child has an issue
with their hearing of certain sounds.
An auditory processing test is different in that it will pick up how the child
is interpreting what they hear; in other
words what the brain is doing with what
it hears. For individuals with auditory
processing difficulties, if the speaker is at
a distance, in another room or speaking
very quietly, some high frequency speech
sounds such as /s/, /f/, /sh/, /th/ are not
clearly heard and speech is misunderstood. A child with an auditory processing issue may interpret the word mouth
as mouse.
Another example is saying wif for with,
in this case the brain is interpreting the
sound th as f. Middle frequency sounds
such as (b/d/e/i) can also be very difficult
for children and adults with auditory processing issues, confusing words such as
bad/dad. For children with auditory processing challenges this can make school
life very difficult when language-based
academic skills are often already challenging.
Learning to read phonetically is dependent on auditory decoding, and is
therefore difficult for people with Auditory Processing difficulties. Spelling can be
equally challenging, as they do not hear
the words accurately and therefore are
unable to reproduce them.
Often reading comprehension is
impaired because they are working so
hard to decode what they have read that
there is no room left for understanding.
Listen to Katherine’s podcast
If this challenge exists, many children
tire easily and “tune out” because their
auditory systems are simply overloaded.
They may get headaches due to over focusing and concentrating and often have
neck, shoulder, arm and hand tension,
which in turn can affect writing. After a
while a child’s self-esteem may be adversely affected and they may believe
they are ‘dumb’.
The playground can be another area
of frustration for the child with auditory
processing problems. Common issues are
that they often misinterpret the ‘rules’
of the game and get caught out first, the
child may feel they are a ‘victim’ and they
may withdraw from social interactions.
Other signs of potential auditory processing difficulties are not wanting to play
the game, always being the child who is
arguing or becoming the bossy one and
taking over, because then they will know
what the rules are!
Auditory Processing difficulties are not
a condition that an individual should “just
learn to cope with”. Auditory Processing
can be improved effectively and relatively
easily with a classical sound therapy program called The Listening Program.
Brain Plasticity is well researched and
growing at a rapid rate. Forever advancing technology such as MRI scans have
allowed extensive research on the brain.
It was still believed up until 15 years
ago that the brain was ‘hardwired’ by
the time a person reached adolescence.
More recent studies show that the brain
has a high plasticity rate, meaning that it
can change itself at any stage of life, even
after an acquired brain trauma such as a
stroke. To know that we can strengthen
and create new neurological connections
at any time during our lives is very exciting, as it means each of us have the ability to learn, process information and live
easier lives. Studies have also shown that
music is the only medium that activates
the whole brain and we now know that
if we provide the right FREQUENCY, INTENSITY AND DURATION we will create
changes within the brain and help children with auditory processing difficulties.
SwitchOn 43