To schedule an APD evaluation or discuss therapy, please call (912) 748-9494

Auditory
Processing
Disorder
Testing & Treatment
in Georgia

Auditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in GeorgiaAuditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in GeorgiaAuditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in Georgia
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • More
    • Home
    • Contact Us

Auditory
Processing
Disorder
Testing & Treatment
in Georgia

Auditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in GeorgiaAuditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in GeorgiaAuditory Processing Disorder Testing & Treatment in Georgia
  • Home
  • Contact Us

Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing DisorderAuditory Processing DisorderAuditory Processing Disorder

Testing, Evaluation, and  treatment for auditory processing disorder in Coastal Georgia

Hello

Do you suspect an Auditory Processing Disorder?

We can help!

Click Hear to Schedule a Consult

Frequently Asked Questions

Please reach us at dawn@coastalaudiology.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.

 Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), also commonly referred to as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), is the inability to attend to, discriminate among or between, recognize, or understand auditory information. APD is a sensory processing deficit that commonly impacts listening, spoken language, comprehension, and learning. APD is associated with some sort of dysfunction within the central auditory nervous system. 


The first three years of life are critical to speech and language developments. These formative years are when the brain learns to map auditory information into its language learning centers. 

The following are red flags that are commonly seen in children with APD:

  • History of ear infections- Children with a history of frequent ear infections are at a greater risk for APD because speech often sounds muffled and distorted when the middle ear is full of fluid.  This results in inaccurate coding of speech sounds. It can often cause long term effects on auditory development because it leads to rewiring of the parts of the brain that process sounds.
  • Prematurity – Can result in a delay in the development of the central auditory nervous system
  • Extremely high fever (over 105 degrees) as a very young child.
  • Language delayed – Early signs of APD often appear at a young age when a child’s attention and language skills may be below average compared to other children the same age
  • Traumatic birth (extremely long labor, forceps used, stuck in birth canal, etc.)
  • Hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice)
  • Genetic history
  • Brain injury (Concussion or Traumatic Brain Injury/TBI)


 Research indicates approximately 5% of school-age children have some type of auditory processing disorder (APD) and according to the National Institutes of Health, in children with learning difficulties the prevalence of auditory processing disorder has been found to be 43%. APD frequently coexists with other conditions but it can also be mistaken for other conditions because symptoms are often similar.  It is estimated that around 50% of children with ADHD also have auditory processing disorder and research indicates up to 70% of individuals with dyslexia have coexisting Auditory Processing Disorder.


General Symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)

Frequently Says "huh?" or "what"

The individual may frequently say "huh?" or "what?" or they "cannot hear you."

Difficulty hearing in background noise

Individuals with APD often will remark they cannot hearing or understand what is said in even minimal background noise. 

Difficulty following multiple-step or lengthy oral instructions

Someone with APD may struggle with multi-step directions. At home you may say something like, "wash your hands, set the table, then tell your brother it's time for dinner." If you're lucky, they may wash their hands. They won't recall or understand the other two items in that list. 

Slowness in processing and responding to auditory information

Because they may struggle with auditory memory, someone with APD may take much longer than expected to respond to auditory information. 

Trouble hearing the differences between sounds in words

Someone with APD may know their letters but will have trouble distinguishing between sounds that sound similar, such as /m/ and /n/ as in the words 'beam' and 'bean'.

Trouble focusing when conversations or activities do not include visuals

As in the example above, the person with APD may not be able to discern the conversation is about a bean (as in green bean, butter bean, baked bean...) or a support beam, balance beam--unless there are cards or symbols with the pictures of the objects.

Symptoms of APD in Pre-school & Kindergarten-aged children


  • Delayed speech and language abilities
  • Confusion of similar sounding words (cap/cat)
  • Articulation errors that are not consistent or that suggest acoustic confusions (such as substituting d for g)
  • Difficulty following directions that other children the same age can follow easily (e.g. “Put your notebook away, and line up for recess.”)
  • Highly distractible, especially in noisy situations
  • Need to have directions repeated
  • Need tactile or visual cues to attend when spoken to.
  • Prefer puzzles or watching videos and television to listening to books.
  • Seems to “tune out” others “daydream” or be “in a world of his/her own.”
  • Difficulty staying focused on a person’s voice
  • Difficulty sitting for story time
  • Over sensitivity to sounds
  • Difficulty learning new verbally presented concepts, instructions, or activities (may stare back with a blank face, wait and watch other children, or refuse to participate)
  • Learns better through hands on activities when shown what to do, rather than being told what to do
  • Has an easier time with “nonverbal” concepts such as matching colors and shapes
  • Difficulty learning nursery rhymes
  • May sing way off-tune or have a monotone voice
  • May appear shy or keep to himself/herself to avoid talking with other children
  • Poor phonological awareness skills such as sound discrimination, sound-symbol relationships, and identifying the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words
  • May avoid noisy situations such as loud parties and group play activities
  • May like music but have difficulty learning the words to children’s songs. (i.e.. “The ABC’s, “Happy Birthday” or “Old MacDonald”)
  • Prefer action games to listening to stories

Symptoms of APD in Elementary-aged Children

 

  • Act as if a hearing loss is present, despite passing hearing screenings
  • Frequently ask  ”huh?” or “what?” and often need information repeated
  • Seem easily distracted or bored when conversations or activities do not include visuals
  • Difficulty understanding spoken information presented in class
  • Difficulty listening and following directions, especially multi-step directions in noisy environments
  • Greater difficulty with verbal than nonverbal tasks
  • Exhibit a language delay  (weak vocabulary and poor sentence structure)
  • Misinterpretation of questions
  • Difficulty understanding announcements over loudspeakers
  • Have articulation errors that persist longer than they should
  • Tend to be distractible, especially when background noise is present
  • Difficulty following classroom discussions, or making off-topic contributions
  • Difficulty carrying on telephone conversations
  • Have poor social communication skills or difficulty making and/or keeping friends
  • Inability to sing in tune and poor musical ability
  • Difficulty understanding  riddles and jokes
  • Misinterpret sarcasm or tone of voices and get feelings hurt easily
  • Become frustrated with certain tasks. (i.e. saying “I don’t understand,” I can’t do this,” or “I don’t know what you mean” )
  • Poor reading comprehension
  • Trouble sounding out new words and poor fluency when reading aloud
  • Poor spelling skills
  • Confusion or reversal of letters
  • Difficulty remembering people’s names
  • Display poor memory for words and numbers
  • Difficulty with complex language such as word problems
  • Seeming to ignore others when engrossed in a non-speaking activity
  • Difficulty understanding people who speak quickly
  • Difficulty finding the right words to use when talking
  • Slow or delayed responses to verbal instructions

Symptoms of APD in Middle & High Schoolers

 

  • Difficulty following sequential instructions
  • Trouble paying attention for appropriate periods, such as during a class lecture
  • Difficulty in classes in which they had excelled previously
  • Lack of motivation to learn as academic demands increase
  • Problems understanding concepts presented in lecture-based classes because of difficulty with note-taking
  • Difficulty comprehending reading assignments
  • Poor grades in foreign-language classes because of the new speech sounds and vocabulary that must be learned
  • Difficulty with timed tests  presented in multiple-choice or short-answer format, including college entrance exams
  • Difficulty with certain teacher styles or accents
  • Talking louder than necessary
  • Difficulty remembering a list or sequence
  • Often needing words or sentences repeated
  • Poor ability to memorize information learned by listening
  • Interpreting words too literally
  • Becoming mentally fatigued more easily than peers
  • Difficulty hearing clearly in noisy environments

Symptoms of APD in College-aged & young adults

 

  • Complaining of difficulty hearing or understanding lectures
  • Greater difficulty listening and learning  in large classrooms with poor acoustics or when sitting far from professors
  • Performing better in classes that are less lecture oriented such as math or science labs
  • Having significant difficulty taking notes during class
  • Reporting that homework takes them much longer than other classmates
  • History of mild difficulties in reading, spelling, or comprehension that becomes much more apparent after entering college
  • Extreme difficulty learning in foreign language classes or other classes where vocabulary is unfamiliar
  • Performing better on un-timed tests than on timed tests
  • Poor grades on tests despite knowledge of the material and demonstrated understanding of the topic when allowed to respond orally

Symptoms of APD in Adults

 

  • Difficulty understanding conversation with background noise (i.e. restaurants)
  • Difficulty dividing attention (i.e. talking on phone while tuning out or listening to other sounds)
  • Difficulty understanding unfamiliar speakers
  • Difficulty following long conversations
  • Difficulty with teleconferences
  • Misinterpreting the intent of a person’s comments (i.e. sarcasm, tone of voice)
  • Feeling exhausted at the end of the day due to straining to follow conversations
  • Struggling to understand music lyrics or to hear differences between melodies or instrument types


If an individual with a normal or near-normal audiogram reports difficulty understanding speech when there is background noise, it is imperative to go beyond the basic audiological evaluation to determine the source of this “hidden” hearing problem.  An APD evaluation uses a battery of tests to assess the integrity of the central auditory nervous system.  If weaknesses are identified, it is not too late to get help.  Adults can benefit from deficit-specific auditory processing therapy and assistive hearing technology. There are also online therapy programs that can be beneficial.

About Us

Experience Matters

Dr. Dawn MacMillan has been an Audiologist since 2002. Upon graduation, she began working with a Neuro-otologist in Jacksonville, FL. In 2004 she relocated back to her home state of Georgia to open Coastal Audiology. Growing up in Pooler, Dr. MacMillan desired to open a practice that would permit her to evaluate and treat the friends and neighbors she grew up with closer to home. She is proud to have the first and original locally Audiologist-owned and operated comprehensive hearing healthcare practice in Pooler, GA. When Dr. MacMillan opened her practice, she included testing for Auditory Processing Disorders but found a lack of support and resources in the community for those who were diagnosed with APD and subsequently needed treatment. Since 2019, Dr. MacMillan has completed additional training to help evaluate those with an Auditory Processing Disorder and offers treatment for them. This additional training has allowed her to widen her scope of practice at her private practice, Coastal Audiology, in Pooler, GA. She sees children from school age through adult. 

Find out more

Evidence-Based Test Protocol

Dr. MacMillan has sought out the most up-to-date test protocol  currently available. Her education and knowledge about APD is constantly evolving so she can offer her patients the very best evaluation and management of their auditory processing challenges. She continues to seek out and complete courses and classes on APD.

Commitment to individualized care

Just as the mission statement of Coastal Audiology states, Dr. MacMillan is committed to individualized patient care. Hearing healthcare and auditory processing disorder are not "one size fits all" conditions. We evaluate and treat each person based on their individual needs. 

Social

Join Our Mailing List

Be the first to hear about relevant news!

Privacy Policy


   Please click here for a link to our privacy policy

Copyright © 2022 APDinGA - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by GoDaddy

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

Accept