auditory processing disorder

[Spaced_In]

hey, so my mum thinks that i have auditory processing disoder and i think i might have. Does anyone know much bout APD? I have trouble understanding people when they talk and sometimes miss parts of conversation, i also kmow that some symptoms of APD overlap with ADHD

[ginniebean]

I'm not sure I know all the ins and outs of it, but I know very well I have it.

I cannot 'hear' directions. Verbally communicated directions are a completely lost cause I have to have them written down.

Also, I have no ability to listen to a lecture and there are times even when someone is saying something very interesting I can't keep my attention even tho I WANT to very much.


I do know that it is something you can be tested for.

[Spacemaster]

What Ginniebean said. I'm positive that I have it! I'm often accused of not listening, but in reality I am trying so hard! I can't pick out many song lyrics too.

[namazu]

There are some good articles on auditory processing deficits (including central auditory processing disorder) at LDOnline (a non-profit project sponsored by the U.S. National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities and produced by a public radio station in Washington, D.C.).

I recommend the "Top Articles" and "Questions + Answers" sections -- if you click "see all 17 articles" and "see all Q+A" you'll get more than you can see just on the page I linked. Many of the articles are geared towards parents and teachers, but they're still worth reading for the description of the issues, and also because some of the tips and tricks and accommodations can be adapted to adult situations.

They cover visual processing deficits on the page I linked, too -- maybe not so relevant to you, but I mention it in case others land on this thread and it may be useful to them.

[sbcy]

Does anyone else find it can (but not necessarily) depend on the subject? If I'm unfamiliar with the subject I more often miss words or have a delay in processing them. Also it varies from person to person, some people can understand quite well most of the time some not so much. Also, people with accents of course screw me over. All this basically look like or maybe I have become a social phobic. But it's not irrational unlike most with social phobia because the thing happens consistently, I'm very often uncertain what someone said even if I say "what" constantly.

[steveman]

sbcy, what you said about not hearing what someone said to you even though you said "what" a few times totally resonates with me. Its a very embarassing situation to have to ask reapetedly, and then when you still don't get it you just give up. Sometimes I blame myself for not asking a fourth time, but wtvr. I miss words a lot and sometimes I feel like what I just heard sticks in my mind for some time before I begin to unravel its meaning. Also, when different people are talking at the same time or rapidly one after another I tend to miss a lot of the action, as well as processing it slowly so that I cant really be involved...

[sbcy]

Originally Posted by steveman

Sometimes I blame myself for not asking a fourth time, but wtvr. I miss words a lot and sometimes I feel like what I just heard sticks in my mind for some time before I begin to unravel its meaning. Also, when different people are talking at the same time or rapidly one after another I tend to miss a lot of the action, as well as processing it slowly so that I cant really be involved...

YES, me too!

[Spacemaster]

I find that watching movies with the subtitles on helps me out a lot, btw.

[syrella]

Originally Posted by Spacemaster

I find that watching movies with the subtitles on helps me out a lot, btw.

Oh! I do that too. Reading the text can be very helpful. I always ask people to write down instructions for me so that I can refer to them later... Otherwise I will need to have it repeated several time and even then it's not guaranteed that I'll understand.

[Drewbacca]

I prefer subtitles of foreign movies/anime over the dubbed versions... I wonder if this was the underlying reason for that preference.

I also wonder if that is why I tend to get bored watching most movies; I'll have to try the subtitles.

[Slo-mo a-go-go]

I never gave my hearing problems a second thought (too many other problems) until in a college computer programming class. My teacher had a strong accent having immigrated from Peru 10 yrs earlier. My head would spin out of of control as I tried to tell if he said "a" or "8" or "h" and so on... Programs don't run so well with all the errors my hearing was causing me to make. I was stunned that my other 20 classmates could understand him, easily!

The end result being I had to get a diagnosis to avoid paying for a class I couldn't understand. Finding out abt APD was such a relief! Mainly bc now I can say "can you please repeat that? I have a hearing problem." Less worry that people might think I wasn't paying attention to them or appearing rude.

I love that APD gives me all these silly interpretations of other speech. "Elephants swing with slobber" was what I heard recently, no clue what the person actually said! A welcome silliness in my life.

[salleh]

I'm betting it's another one of those spectrum disorcers in which caswe I'd have to say I very well might have it ....sxorta in the middle, I have been known to actually listen and understand stuff.....but it doesn't stick around in my brain very well......


I took an astronomy class in Junior college, and never felt so stupid in all my born days .....I would try to read the text, and it might has well been in Swahili......but when the teacher taught, I got it ( well, most of the time) ....then back to the book and it was Swahili again ......


but directions anywhere ? ....gotta be written down, I WILL forget parts of it otherwise ......


My ex was dyslexic, so he learned by listening ....and he would try to tell me something, ( an there WOULD be a test will him ) ...and I would try to tell him I didn't understand what he was talking about , and he would glare and say ..."if you would just listen......" .....

....that's when I figured that I didn't learn by listening .....



I think it has a lot to do with learning styles too .....


listening, reading or kinesthetic ( touch) .....

I am mostly a learner by doing ...(touch)