My 13 year old son has just been diagnosed with CAPD. This is not something we were aware even existed until we went to outside testing. THen, and only then, was the school willing to recognize that their was a problem. He was diagosed with ADHD in 1st grade and started with medication, etc. During the 2nd grade year, he had a very structured teacher with an aid to assist. They both insisted that he needed extra help. By the time he got to 3rd grade, he had forgotten what he learned in 2nd grade and it was like reteaching him. His 4th grade teacher wanted him CORE tested. She was not aware that he even had a 504, nor was the 3rd grade teacher. We are now in 7th grade and the curriculum has gotten much more demanding. ON top of ADHD, we now suspect he has CAPD, and a frontal lobe deficiency. Has anyone ever heard this diagnosis before. He really hates school and admits to just biding his time till “school” is over. He also has a memory problem.
There’s a lot of good information at http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/ about CAPD. One of the links off that site is http://www.angelfire.com/bc2/capd5/ which discusses different subtypes of CAPD. One of the subtypes mentions frontal lobe involvement, and I believe this is the one that affects output and organization skills.
I assume you’re seeing an audiologist who specializes in CAPD? This is the best person to advise you about available therapies and the best kinds of educational approaches. Some audiologists are extremely conservative in their recommendations, however, so you should also do your own research and not rely entirely on any one professional’s opinion.
My neighbor was just told by her son’s school that they don’t understand CAPD and have not been trained in what to do for it, so they have to rely totally on the audiologist’s recommendations for her son’s 504 specs.
One thing schools can provide is a FM system, if it is recommended by the audiologist. This is appropriate only if the child has the kind of CAPD in which background noise interferes with the ability to understand speech, though. Not all CAPD involves this kind of problem.
Mary