6th grader - auditory processing disorder

amother

Gladiolus

Wed, Sep 06 2023, 8:11 pm

alakewoodmother wrote:

OP I feel for you. It's very frustrating as a parent to not know how to help your daughter.

I'm an SLP and have been doing this for a very long time. If your daughter is substituting letters in words she may in fact have an auditory processing disorder. But it sounds as if there are other things going on as well (possibly a more global processing disorder which would account for the poor handwriting). If she does have an auditory processing problem you would probably see additional symptoms.
If the answer to any of the following is yes, she most likely has an auditory processing problem:

Did your daughter begin speaking very late?
When she did begin speaking was she unintelligible?
Does she have difficulty understanding what's going on in the story when she reads?
Does she sometimes "get lost" when a teacher explains something new?
Does she need directions repeated or explained to her?
Does she have difficulty telling you a story or about her day? Does she only share too much? Too little?

Auditory processing disorder MIGHT contribute to an inability to properly distinguish sound and thereby cause reading difficulties but it often will affect higher levels of language processing as well so you would see some of the above symptoms.

I wish I could help you but I don't live in Monsey. I do recommend that you get her a really good evaluation. If you can afford it, take her to a really good language therapist, an OT, and a reading specialist. Otherwise you can avail yourself of whatever the BOE in your district provides.

I wish you much Hatzlacha and you can feel free to reach out to me privately if you have any questions.

With all due respect non of the ppl you suggest OP take her DD to get evaluated by are qualified to diagnose! I’m extremely shocked and dismayed that as a SLP yourself you are suggesting to get a dx from an OT,SLP, or reading specialist when non of them are qualified to diagnose!!!

amother

Honey

Wed, Sep 06 2023, 8:26 pm

mom24b wrote:

This is actually a good suggestion. Conversion insufficiency would cause difficulty in reading and writing .You would need a behavioral optometrist to accurately diagnose this. If you’re in Tri- state area Dr.Leonard Press is the expert. Many ppl from OOT travel to Lakewood to see him.

While convergence insufficiency (as well as other oculomotor dysfunctions) are possible, having any of them would not cause the amount of distress her daughter seems to have. Additionally, there are not many evidence based treatments for these in the pediatric population. Habituation exercises are very difficult for a child to do.

dena613

Wed, Sep 06 2023, 8:31 pm

She should definitely have a neuropsych eval. Her issues sound like the others said, dysgraphia, dyslexia, etc.

Auditory processing is diagnosed by an audiologist.
It's a hearing test with lots of parts, including listening to words and sounds with varying decibel levels of background noises.

Kids with auditory processing issues can't follow multi step directions well, can't hear well... Not because they can't hear, but because, for example, they can't tune out other noises.

So for example, a kid with aud processing issues shouldn't be in a seat near the AC in a classroom

amother

DarkOrange

Wed, Sep 06 2023, 8:46 pm

amother OP wrote:

Similar issues as I described? Why did you decide to start Davis program?

She had a very hard time with reading & kriah. Last year she didn't want to go to school :'( handwriting was terrible as well we couldn't understand what she wrote.
She got prism glasses for 1 year. But at one point I saw it's not working. Last year I switched eye doctors and she was prescribed glasses for farsighted. Wow, did we see a difference! But, she's still not up to par with her class. I reached out to an agency and had her evaluated. They claimed that the Davis program should be great for her. So I'm praying it is. I also thought she had an auditory processing disorder, but so far I was told it's not.

amother

Aster

Wed, Sep 06 2023, 11:18 pm

Have you had a thorough neuropsych evaluation? They will do a full battery of testing (like 6-10 hours worth, possibly more) and give you a full picture of what the issues are and their treatment recommendations. This is super important. You need to know what you’re dealing with.
And my son had auditory processing issues and was helped. He now loves reading years later after much hard work. The lindamood bell program was successsful for him. Cost a small fortune but was necessary.

amother

Ginger

Thu, Sep 07 2023, 7:35 am

amother OP wrote:

What's his specialty?

I'm still so confused where I go from here.. P

Her
She’s a neuropsychologist
She will figure this out
(917) 566-5741

A neuropsych cost several thousand dollars, though

Another excellent choice is Dr. Miriam Goldstein
(917) 753-1811
She’s in Brooklyn (at least, I think she still is)

I have seen many reports from these doctors and they’re excellent
Don’t just go anywhere for a neuropsych
I’ve seen some really bad reports too, and people spend thousands

After testing, they will tell you what to do

amother

Stoneblue

Thu, Sep 07 2023, 8:15 am

amother Ginger wrote:

I also recommend dr Goldstein. Thorough, insightful and professional reports

amother

Navy

Thu, Sep 07 2023, 9:06 am

I'm so sorry that the school and therapists you've been working with have not guided you correctly. I'm a school based therapist and I would never diagnose dyslexia, dysgraphia, or auditory processing disorder. I absolutely will strongly encourage parents to see a recommended psychologist for a full neuropsych evaluation when anything complex is suspected. I generally will mention what I'm specifically wondering about but not always, it really depends on the child and the parents. I've been doing this for many years and I'm almost always correct in my presumed diagnoses but thats not relevant to the families that I work with. They deserve to know and understand whatever diagnoses they receive after comprehensive testing is performed. It's really shocking to me that the school has allowed this to go on until sixth grade without proper guidance.

amother

Gladiolus

Thu, Sep 07 2023, 11:56 am

amother Lilac wrote:

I am really surprised that 3 SLPs diagnosed your daughter as having APD. As an SLP, I would never diagnose that. I may suspect it and refer for further evaluation or treat the symptoms but an actual diagnosis isn't our job.

This is an SLP you can trust!! As I said competent SLPs would never give a diagnosis they aren’t qualified to give .

amother

Nasturtium

Thu, Sep 07 2023, 12:24 pm

amother Crystal wrote:

Never ever compare adhd with processing. Not that one is better than the other. But how do you expect a child to sit still in class or wherever when the teacher talks and she doesn't process what teacher's saying. So for her it's teaching Chinese.
Op try to ask friends neighbors or anyone you know that deals with learning disabilities. They usually know best through experience.

Some people can have APD that's directly related to ADHD. I've never been diagnosed with apd, but I have with ADHD, and I suspect I might have some kind of APD that's related. When I was younger I never heard of apd and thought it might just be a hearing issue, so I took a heating test to check but my hearing came back perfect. My issue comes when there's competing sounds and I have difficulty filtering out the sounds I should be listening to from the background sounds. ADHD is a regulation issue so it makes sense to me that this could be connected for some people with it. I watch shows with subtitles on.

Maybe the best illustration of how this works: the worst movie I ever watched for my processing issues was Dunkirk, because it removed all the things I rely on for auditory processing. First I saw it in a theatre so there were no subtitles, but usually I'm fine in a theatre because the audio is set up so that no background noise can compete. Second, this was a war movie and there were tons of booming and explosion sounds during the dialogue. This made it difficult to filter the words and understand. Third, there was a lot of focus on pilots who wore helmets, so I couldn't even read their lips. Finally, the soldiers had accents that I wasn't raised with, so I couldn't even try to fill in the audio I'd missed from context. I walked out at the end, I don't think I could tell you a single conversation that happened in that movie.