Auditory Processing Disorder
Testing, Evaluation, and treatment for auditory processing disorder in Coastal Georgia
Testing, Evaluation, and treatment for auditory processing disorder in Coastal Georgia
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:
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.
The individual may frequently say "huh?" or "what?" or they "cannot hear you."
Individuals with APD often will remark they cannot hearing or understand what is said in even minimal background noise.
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.
Because they may struggle with auditory memory, someone with APD may take much longer than expected to respond to auditory information.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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