Now I had a new project: researching Auditory Processing Disorders. I found lots of support and information from well-meaning friends who shared stories of their special needs children. Wait, I have a special needs child? Yes I do.
The disorder is easy to misdiagnose and often confused with other delays and processing disorders.
APD is not like ADD. Eric never had a problem with paying attention. It was not that he was easily distracted. If anything, he paid too much attention to the wrong thing. He simply was not aware that what he was doing was not what he was supposed to be doing.
Eric had always had an endless attention span for his chosen activities. He could draw, build with Legos, and engage in solitary imaginary play for hours — but good luck trying to call his name while he’s doing those things. I guess I thought he suffered from “selective hearing.” Perhaps I would have renamed APD Attention Paying Discernment.
Even though his hearing is perfect, he misses (misinterprets) the content. So if I told him something in three sentences, he would hear it but he might only “get” a few words from each sentence. Or he might get one whole sentence. But it was unlikely that he would get the information I was trying to give him. When I said, “Get your shoes on, put your toys away and then we can go to the park,” he would just head straight to his room and get some sand toys and head to the front door. In his mind he was all set; he had his sand toys and was ready to go to the park.
He mixed up things that sounded similar. That made for an interesting dinner if he heard tornadoes when I was talking about putting tomatoes in his pasta.
One morning, I commented to Eric about being tired because he had been up late the night before.
“I not!” he snarled. “Don’t call me dat!”
“Excuse me?”
“I am NOT a plate!”
Along with everybody else, I had been focusing on Eric’s behavior affecting his abilities rather than how his abilities affected his behavior. I figured he was misbehaving because he did not want to do what was expected. Such as follow directions, sit still, keep his hands to himself, and read and write. I figured his frustration had more to do with too much being expected (demanded) of him, and it was his way of taking control. But now I saw his ability to even understand and process the instructions were so frustrating that he chose to act out rather than ask for help. It was easier to just get sent to the principal’s office, where he felt so safe, than be confused in class and feel dumb.
Along with understanding directions, he was still having a hard time with his letters and numbers. Eric understood the sounds letters made but not the names of the letters, let alone that those letters were symbols for those sounds. Why was it called “L” and sound like yell? Why not call it “La”? English is confusing.
I told Eric that if he knew the beginning sound and the ending sound he could figure out the word.
I suggested we try the word “Run.”
“Eric, if you say the first sound ‘rrr’ like rabbit and the last sound ‘nnn’ you can figure out the word!”
He seemed eager to try.
“Okay, I’ll say the beginning sound, and you say the ending sound. Rrr…”
Eric opened his mouth wide, “Aaagh!”
He sounded like he was coughing up a hairball.
“Let’s try that again. Can you say that another way?”
“Bunny?”
Read more from the Kindergarten Chronicles.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is so interesting. I just met a woman this week who has APD. I’m glad you were able to figure out what was going on with your son- So many children are undiagnosed and misunderstood.
Cathy, kudos to you for figuring out your son’s challenges. My son was also in kindergarten when I figured out what was going on. The school would not listen to me, and it took 9 months of strained discussions before he was finally diagnosed. I have to tell you, we have done AIT and reflex integration therapy, and it has improved his CAPD a lot. While some say it is not curable, I believe in some cases it can be helped. It is a shame that so many kids are misdiagnosed with attention problems. The schools won’t even look at CAPD before the age of 8, and only then you have to beg them. I wish there was more support because I don’t believe this challenge is as rare as the schools say it is. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! It is hard to diagnose young kids because often they are too immature to respond to the tests. In fact, when I got him tested at Early Intervention he was right in the middle of the 3 yr old range. But tested again (privately) at 5 he was way behind. If we waited longer to get help and an “official diagnosis” he would never be able to catch up.
How old is your son now? Is he in public school?