Auditory Processing Resources

No, I have heard of that book but have not used it. I will say that Earobics has some auditory memory components and so does Fast ForWord. I have to use Earobics at school as FFW is too expensive. I think it will take some pretty intensive work to really improve auditory memory, though.

Janis

Thanks. I think you are right: intensive work needed.

My son (as well as a student) has a weakness here. FFWD was recommended for both; I did it with my son. (No way student’s family could afford it.) There is one game on Earobics 2 that targets memory (the fireman one)—hugely frustrating for my son, but I should try it again post-FFWD.

FFWD does not seem to have impacted on auditory memory for him–Phonic Match and Block Commander hit on it but , after much anguish, he could only get to 75%. While other signs of growth persist post-FFWD, the training effect of these two games has not.

I think I will go ahead and order these resources and just take a chance. There does not seem to be a lot out there for this, and I can see too that intensive work will be needed—a tough one.

Jan

What an odd coincidence. We both have names that start with Jan, both have children with auditory processing/memory problems, and both are teachers?

I didn’t go into my situation because I was short on time when I posted earlier. My child was tested for auditory processing disorder over a year ago. She has had some testing at school. I had her repeat first grade this year becuase she was very young, and I thought she would benefit from another year of Saxon phonics, which she has. But I had her tested privately on Monday and she has a severe phonological memory deficit. FFW was again recomemnded, so we will try it this summer. I am also not confident about remediating memory issuse. But to become a fluent reader, one must improve some.

Dorothy Kelly has a book of auditory processing exercises. I’m sure several companies carry it but I think I last saw it in the pro-ed catalog. I’d probably try that one next. Here is the title: Central Auditory Processing Disorder: Strategies for Use With Children and Adolescents. Amazon has it but it is not at a reduced price.

Janis

Janis,
Strange coincidence. I’m one with an ice in it (Janice).

My son also had phonological memory deficit prior to FFWD. Post FFWD, his scores improved significantly, but the CTOPP still reflected some deficit. Our audiologist (who is trained for CAPD and offers Interactive Metronome, PACE, BrainSkills, Neuronet and is, in short, an answer to one of my prayers!) recommended BrainSkills as our next step.

I booked to teach part-time this Spring (in my semestered high school), so I could partially pull him from school to do this, but, in the meantime, his reading just took off, in the Fall, to the point where she said in a phone consult that he doesn’t need BrainSkills. (She had said some of the positive benefits would continue to appear for some time following the program.) He went from grade level (gr. 4) in reading to gr. 9 within 5 months.

It seemed to happen almost overnight! He now reads every night for at least 20 minutes before sleep (and much, much longer if I don’t remember to catch him and tell him it’s lights out time).

And when he gets a book he loves, he reads it everywhere. (I literally cried for joy first time I witnessed this. I got teary when I read Margo’s similar post elsewhere on these boards, just remembering.))

I am going to do Interactive Metronome with him in May-June. The audiologist will retest and cobble together parts of PACE and parts of Neuronet. Perhaps memory will get targeted. Though he has overlearned the phonological connections and is now very fluent, memory for non-meaningful material remains weak—hence the low expanding memory scores, I guess. It is making learning the times tables a challenge! Luckily there are lots of great tips for that on these boards for when your daughter gets to them!

Thanks for the Dorothy Kelly suggestion. I’m going to skip over to Amazon now and check it out.

PS Has your experience with your daughter had an impact on how you teach?
Mine sure has!

Jan(ice)

Jan,

That is really encouraging about your son’s phonological processing scores and reading skills improving after FFW! It sounds like my reading specialist is right on target. I do also happen to have BrainSkills but have not used it yet. Perhaps after FFW if necessary.

“PS Has your experience with your daughter had an impact on how you teach?”

Oh, my. It has had a profound effect. Everything I know of value (almost) I learned as a result of her problems. (I learned a great deal form the articles and message boards here at LD Online). I learned how for years I did not have the tools to really help children, which makes me angry. I see LD teachers now who are not trained, and I am frustrated. But I can get training on my own, help my child, educate her school, and teach the children on my caseload more effectively. So that’s a wonderful outcome to an otherwise difficult situation.

Janis

Janis,
Is it you who posted on the CTOPP on ReadNow and included the url for that fascinating article? What intrigues me is that, according to Torgeson (if I read him right—it’s late and I’ve just completed a five hour night-time course and exam with my son to get boating licenses) digit span and nonsense words read at a good clip in this standardized test should act as a good predictor for the phonological memory demands of reading. Yet my son still does poorly on the expanding memory test (numbers, colours, animals etc.) where the speed is slower and repetition is an element.

A fluent reader must have good phonological memory. If neural connections have now made the code meaningful and solid, I would have thought that this would strengthen other memory connections. But then numerical and random items are likely processed in different parts of the brain (ex. language here, numbers there etc.).

It is interesting that auditory processing scores are also dependent upon memory. Now that I think of it, this seems obvious, though auditory and visual issues also have a role. It is hard to tease out just what is what I guess, hence the ongoing discussion on these boards about vision versus phonological root causes.

This is an interesting area! I hope your experience with FFWD this summer is as worthwhile as ours was.

Yes, Jan, I posted the article. I probably already told you, but I had my child tested on Monday with the CTOPP and TOWRE. My county does not have those tests, so we went to private SLP/reading specialist. I was really glad to have some confirmation of where her problems lie. I really like that article, too.

Regarding processing numbers, etc., I am pretty sure that in this case, a number word is still language because you are naming the number, not doing anything like counting with it, does that make sense?

I would agree that slower speed of delivery of the items would yield a poorer score. Anna had the items delievered through headphones, but I was hearing her repeat them back very quickly. I thought, they are giving them so fast, her memory problems might not show up! But it did anyway!

I really appreciate the encouragement on FFW. I have had my doubts about it because her language is not as impaired as some of the kids who I have heard made remarkable gains, so I was not sure it was right for her. But now that a second professional has recommended it for her, I had to seriously consider it. So it does help me to hear that a child with similar issues found some success with it.

Janis

Janis,
I had similar concerns re FFWD.

My son had/has multiple LDs (visual as well as auditory processing and memory), but visual skills have improved as well as the auditory. However, like you I was uncertain about FFWD because he did not appear as language disabled as some who have benefited. (He met all the milestones, and was early for some for ex. and was at or near the top of his class for everything but reading in gr. 1.).

I did extensive Google searching, finding official and unofficial opinions pro and con (more pro) but the clincher was interviewing a 2nd audiologist who once did CAPD assessments privately but who now works for a large teaching hospital. While she hasn’t used the pgm. she has researched it and said the self-esteem consequences of APD are so devastating, it is worth doing if it’s recommended by a CAPD audiologist, and the sooner the better. I have taught many very frustrated LD high school students who might have benefited hugely from the pgm.

I did not see the CTOPP administered by our private audiologist. Our district is now purchasing it based on my son’t experience. (It is beneficial to be a teacher with an LD child as the powers that be will often listen to your recommendations.) Our board assessment counsellor, now retired and in private practice, writes FFWD into her recommendations often now, (with the suggestion that parents arrange a CAPD evaluation to confirm need) and, next month, wants to retest my son for free as a sort of research project to gauge the impact on IQ of FFWD. Her theory is that APD made his WISC-R results meaningless, that the W-J cognitive results suggest (but don’t reflect giftedness in all areas. I guess she wants to see if FFWD has changed the total picture. (I have mixed feelings about this but am curious too.)

I have some of the same reservations re Interactive Metronome, next on our list, but figure that even if its impact is slight, it is a stone I cannot leave unturned.

Good luck with FFWD and, if you’re doing it yourself, feel free to e-mail me privately if you hit snags. (On some occasions, following my own teacherly instincts or consulting with our audiologist was more worthwhile than consulting Scientific Learning.) Jan

Hi Janis,

I have a son who is severe CAPD / DAS. He is ten years old placed in the fourth grade and cannot do complete second grade work. His current level of performance by an IEE is, Reading 2.1 grade level, Written Language 1.6, Math 2.1.

We have asked twice that he be helded back so he can pick up the missing pieces or at least try. No matter who we talk to or what we read and every person we talk to seems to say the same thing. Do not hold back the child it doesn’t help. I’ve got proof that sending them forward with out the basics doesn’t work. Since you are a teacher and you held back your child, would you share your opinion of the pro’s and con’s of that action?

I like Dr. Mel Levine’s view on repeating grades. He says it may possibly be helpful in kindergarten or first grade if there will be some useful intervention done during that time. But there is no evidence that repeating later grades does any good and it may do harm to self-esteem due to social issues.

In the case of a child who is behind and is in a special class most of the day, the grade is irrelevant anyway. If the special class is not moving the child toward grade level, then one must seek outside therapy or the parent can be trained to do therapy at home. You really have not time to waste when a child is already in fourth grade.

The exception I would make about retaining an older child would be if the child is changing schools anyway. Then it would not be so socially devastating for the child to repeat the grade.

Janis