TeenHealthFX - Answers - Auditory Processing Vs. Dyslexia

Teen Resources and Other Information / Question
Published: September 5, 2003

Dear TeenHealthFX,

How is an auditory processing problem different than dyslexia?

Signed: Auditory Processing Vs. Dyslexia

Dear Auditory Processing Vs. Dyslexia,

According to Frank Musiek Ph. D. from Dartmouth Medical Center, Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is to the ear as dyslexia is to the eye. Just as dyslexics can see the words, but some letters get jumbled in their brains, those with CAPD can hear but their brains are not able to process some sounds.

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders denotes auditory processing as the term used to describe what happens when your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you. Humans hear when energy that we recognize as sound travels through the ear and is changed into electrical information that can be interpreted by the brain. The "disorder" part of auditory processing disorder (APD) means that something is adversely affecting the processing or interpretation of information.

Children with APD often do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even though the sounds themselves are loud and clear. For example, the request "Tell me how a chair and a couch are alike" may sound to a child with APD like "Tell me how a couch and a chair are alike." It can even be understood by the child as "Tell me how a cow and a hair are alike." These kinds of problems are more likely to occur when a person with APD is in a noisy environment or when he or she is listening to complex information.

Children with auditory processing difficulty typically have normal hearing and intelligence. However, they have also been observed to:

Have trouble paying attention to and remembering information presented orally
Have problems carrying out multistep directions
Have poor listening skills
Need more time to process information
Have low academic performance
Have behavior problems
Have language difficulty (e.g., they confuse syllable sequences and have problems developing vocabulary and understanding language)
Have difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary

For more information on auditory processing disorders your can contact:

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
Voice: (301) 897-3279
Toll-free: (800) 638-8255
Hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Eastern Time
TTY: (301) 897-0157
Fax: (301) 897-7355
E-mail: actioncenter@asha.org
Internet: www.asha.org

The International Dyslexia Association describes dyslexia as a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and /or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability. It is not the result of poor motivation, emotional disturbance, sensory impairment or lack of opportunities, but it may occur alongside any of these. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. Some of the common signs are:

May read very slowly with many inaccuracies.
Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing.
May avoid reading and writing tasks.
May have trouble summarizing and outlining.
May have trouble answering open-ended questions on tests.
May have difficulty learning a foreign language.
May have poor memory skills.
May work slowly.
May pay too little attention to details or focus too much on them.
May misread information.
May have an inadequate vocabulary.
May have an inadequate store of knowledge from previous reading.
May have difficulty with planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks

If you would like more information about dyslexia you can go to the International Dyslexia Association website www.interdys.org.

Signed: TeenHealthFX