Signs That Your Child May Have Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
Posted: Monday, July 06, 2009
by Carolyn Tytler
Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) is a learning disability which affects about 5% of school-aged children. These youngsters often have normal intelligence and hearing. Their ears receive the sounds and words, just as other children's do, but their brains cannot process them readily. Already in the primary grades, children with CAPD may have been labelled as lazy, disobedient, poor listeners, or misdiagnosed as having ADD (attention deficit disorder).
CAPD is to the ears what dyslexia is to the eyes. Children with dyslexia see numbers and letters upside down, jumbled, or moving around. Children with CAPD hear sounds, words and sentences jumbled up, out of order, and with some distortion.
The following are some signs and symptoms which may lead you suspect that your child has central auditory hearing disorder:
* The child is unusually bothered by sudden and loud noises. Noise upsets him. He prefers to be in a quiet place. His behaviour and performance improve in a quiet atmosphere.
* He is easily distracted by background noise, and cannot concentrate in a noisy place. He has difficulty listening to one voice when many people are talking, as is the situation in some elementary school classrooms.
* He frequently misunderstands spoken directions, and has problems following even simple orders at times. He often forgets instructions.
* He finds information which is relayed verbally difficult to understand, and often asks to have it repeated. He says "What?" or "Pardon?" frequently.
* He has difficulty following conversations either in person or on the telephone.
* He has difficulty with Language skills: Phonics, Reading, Spelling, and Vocabulary Development.
* He has poor listening skills. He has trouble focusing and sustaining his attention on a speaker for any length of time.
* He may be forgetful and disorganized.
* He has difficulty taking notes.
* He will have difficulty learning a foreign language and with music appreciation.
* Processing information given verbally may be so difficult for him that, eventually, he just gives up trying. At this point, he may start to have behaviour problems.
A central auditory processing disorder can be a congenital or an acquired condition. It can be inherited and tends to run in families.
It may be caused by a brain injury, trauma to the head, or ear infections. It has also been linked to environmental factors, such as turmoil in the child's home life.
The first step in treating this learning ability is to recognize that there is an actual physical problem. Scolding and nagging your child to do better is useless. He is not doing poorly on purpose. He probably does not even realize he has a problem, much less know how to deal with it.
You are the parent; he needs you to be his advocate and look for ways and means to help him overcome his disability. Help is available. It is your responsibility to get out there and find it. Your child will be forever grateful.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Very interesting Carolyn! I am sure many parents will find this information useful! I had never even heard of this disorder before-thanks for getting the word out on it!
Thanks, Laura. I'm glad you found it interesting.
Hi Carolyn! Thank you very much for this information. Our grandson was diagnosed with adhd, pdnos and global developmental delay. He's in grade 1 and things are getting worse trying to get the school to recognize his need for quiet. This article answered alot of questions for us from my gr grandmother right through our family to our grandson. Any idea who in Ontario is able to test for this? Without an actual report the school won't pay any attention. Thanks again!
Hi Cindy, I'm glad the article was helpful. The School Board has a Special Education person who tests for disabilities. The teacher, with the parent's consent, can ask for any student to be tested. ( At least that's the way it works in Niagara, where I live.) Often, there's a long wait, because there's usually a backlog.Your Board may be bigger and have more personnel. It's worth a try anyway.You can also get him tested by a private agency, but I hear it's quite expensive. Please let me know how you make out.
i think it's CAPD-Central Auditory Processing Disorder. Great information!
Interesting article. This sounds more like the signs of a student I work with than her diagnosis of PDNOS. Stumbled on this article accidently, but great reading and appreciate the information.
I'm glad it was helpful, Jen.
I just learned about CAPD today after an assessment of my 10 yr old daughter. I'm researching the net like a mad-woman! Thank you for your article. It has helped me get some perspective in "real words". Much appreciated.
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