Guide to the Auditory Training for APD

You must have heard parents complain that their children are slow in registering whatever is spoken. It is like anything that they hear goes in from one ear and comes out of the other. This is a medical condition known as ‘auditory processing disorder’ or the ‘APD’. In simpler words, children with APD condition find it difficult to process the information that they hear. They have to constantly rehearse what is been said or else they will forget within 2 or 3 seconds. Auditory training is an alternative therapy that helps the kids in processing all the things that they hear.

Auditory Processing Disorder

What Is Auditory Training?

Auditory therapy is popularly known as ‘brain training’ or ‘auditory integration training’. French doctor Guy Berard realized that the difficulty in processing the sounds or anything that is said arises from under-sensitivity as well as over-sensitivity to vibrations in general or due to definite variations in the sound produced. This often interferes with the learning and growth of a child. Hence, the children are unable to remember the speech sounds. In order to improve the memory and help the child excel, there are certain games and activities designed in the training program.

Is Auditory Training Helpful?

Yes, to an extent the auditory integration training has been helpful. It depends on who guides the children and help them practice. Also, how intensive the course is drafted for the children determines how it is going to help the child. The brain training is known to improve the cognitive and listening dimensions in children. There’s a substantial positive change in the child’s ability to understand and communicate back.

Auditory Training

Who is Eligible to Offer Auditory Training?

People who are certified and trained with certain methodologies like AIT are eligible to conduct the auditory training. You will see that the tutors are usually the occupational therapists, audiologists, teachers etc. Ideally, a person who has been dealing with students with special needs can apply for this training program. However, it requires immense patience and determination to deal with the children with Auditory Processing Disorder. Hence, you will find that the people certified for the practice are the ones who encourage growth and learning.

How Should Parents Contribute?

• As a parent your responsibility is to keep your home a ‘noise free zone’ as it can be difficult for your kid to understand what is being said.
• Practice with your child as much talking as you can.
• Make him look into the eyes of the person with whom he or she is conversing.
• Discuss with everyone that your child has APD so that they will keep the noise levels down when he is around.
• Use brief sentences while talking with your child to encourage him into talking and understanding.
• The most important thing is to set a routine. It will help your kid practice talking and speaking and you can track the results in a better way.
• Once your child begins to attend the school, create a quiet room for him where he can study. In case, you are falling short of rooms, you can create a space or study corner for him to concentrate.
• Request the teachers to allow your child to sit in the first row to grasp better what is being taught in the class.
• Suggest them to use visual clues so that it becomes convenient for your child to learn.
• The teachers should use simpler and shorter sentences while teaching and make the child with APD, repeat to check if he or she is right.
• Motivate your child to get into writing practice so that he can catch up with the class in studies.

As a parent you need to be patient for the auditory training to work on your child.

byMack Autther

in auditory-training, Health

21:43

Guide to the Auditory Training for APD

You must have heard parents complain that their children are slow in registering whatever is spoken. It is like anything that they hear goes...

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How Helpful is the Different Types of Auditory Training?

Auditory training, also known as brain training, is an alternative therapy meant to help kids with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). Such kids have normal auditory senses, but fail to decipher different speech sounds correctly. Thus, they misunderstand what is spoken by others. Auditory training is contributes to treating children and adults with special needs, and they are also administered by doctors for treating attention deficit disorders and problems related to hearing and speech disorganization.

What is Auditory Training?

Auditory training was earlier known as Auditory Integration Training, and it relies on games and exercises to help candidates improve their hearing skills. It is argued that children suffering from APD are oversensitive or under-sensitive to certain sound frequencies. Thus, they face difficulty in deciphering speech correctly. In addition to that, when a person is fitted with an auditory aid, the different kinds of sounds that he hears can be overwhelming and hard to decipher.

Auditory training relies on a combination of visual and auditory exercises to teach the brain how to differentiate between speech sounds.

Auditory Processing Assessment

Types of Auditory Training

Broadly speaking, there are two types of auditory training activities: analytic and synthetic. The analytic technique of auditory training focuses on different elements of speech, viz. vowels and consonants. A person is made to decipher different speech sounds, particularly ones he has the most trouble with. Thus, he is made to hear similar sounding words with different vowel sounds.

• Once he is comfortable with picking up broader vowel sounds, the exercise is fine-tuned to finer sounds. The exercise is repeated with consonant sounds. The analytic approach to auditory training is called the ‘bottoms-up’ approach, since the focus is on the building blocks of speech.

• It is argued that if a person can differentiate between the building blocks, he is more likely to decipher larger blocks of speech such as sentences and paragraphs.

• The synthetic technique of auditory training is a ‘top-down’ approach that focuses on sentences and phrases. The person is made to decipher the meaning of the sentence, and real-world noise is simulated. Therefore this becomes a very effective training for all those children who suffer from autism or those who suffer from non-verbal learning disabilities.

• The argument for the technique makes use of a person’s knowledge of language to fill in perceptual gaps in speech. The noise level is varied according to whether a person is able to comprehend speech correctly or not. Since this technique focuses on a person’s knowledge of language, it may not be beneficial in very young kids with APD, who are still coming to terms with their language skills.

However, good auditory training programs often make use of both the techniques for more efficient results.

Auditory Training

Is Auditory Training Helpful?

Auditory training is a very recent concept. Not much formal research has gone into the subject. However, based on recent researches into the field, auditory training has been found to be helpful in speech learning. Two key features have been identified in helpful auditory training programs:

Intensity

It has been found that for auditory training to be helpful, the sessions need to be more intense. They need to make use of both visual and auditory stimuli for effective and faster learning.

Frequency

Recent research into the field has also found that programs with more frequent sessions are more effective. Thus, when choosing an auditory training program, go for the one that has more sessions per week. As for the question whether auditory training is helpful, it is to a large extent. Constant improvements are being made in the field, with new, more effective programs being designed. Moreover, it is very helpful for all those children who cannot understand and differentiate between speech and sounds. There should also be a consideration that auditory training must be conducted under the supervision of a trained doctor or therapist.

Do you like to know more about types of auditory training? Let’s go to the details to get few more information about it.

byMack Autther

in Auditory-processing-disorder, auditory-training, Health

01:32

How Helpful is the Different Types of Auditory Training?

Auditory training, also known as brain training, is an alternative therapy meant to help kids with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). Such...

Read More