Auditory Processing Disorder

Also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder, this is a condition that adversely affects how sound that travels unimpeded through the ear is processed or interpreted by the brain.

Persons with this disorder can be impaired in the following ways :

• Difficulty distinguishing one sound from another.
• Difficulty identifying similarities and differences in sound patterns (rhyming)
• Difficulty blending, isolating, or separating sounds in words (decoding words).
• Poor auditory memory

These difficulties with auditory processing may manifest in the following ways:

• Poor listening skills.
• Difficulty following oral instructions or classroom discussions.
• Frequently say, “huh?” or “what?”
• Difficulty with phonics or letter-sound correspondences, sound blending or segmentation.