FYI-CAPD

Sue, If you don’t mind me asking, what test(s) did you use to diagnose the CAPD?
Donna in MO

Hi Donna,

I’m not sure i understand your question, i never said my son was diagnosed with CAPD, or that he took any test. Only a qualified audiologist in CAPD may perform the test, and, not all audiologists know about CAPD. This is an area i never knew existed, and i’m sure i’m not the only one. Someone refered me to this book, which describes my son in many areas, and hopefully will be the beginning of his academic improvement. It has given me another avenue to pursue in helping him to read (the schools, as you may know are not the advocates we think they are).

My son is about to have his 3 yr. IEP re-eval., and i have set the necessary wheels in motion to have the school get him tested. This way, he will either get the help he specifically needs, or, it rules out CAPD. Either way it’s another stepping stone to define what he needs, or doesn’t need. I hope that makes sense.

Sue

I am sorry. I assumed that your son had CAPD with your interest in your book.

I asked because my son is having some tests done this week to test for CAPD and I am trying to find out as much info as I can about these tests. I am not sure if my son has this problem but I have learned, as you have, that it always pays to be prepared. Sorry about the confusion.
Donna in MO

Not a problem! The last thing i want to do is mislead anyone. Please get the book, you will not regret it. I found it very valuable even if it turns out my son is not CAPD. Good Luck, at let me know he the test goes! Sue D IL

I have the book and am about halfway through it. It is great for parents or anyone that is not an audiology professional. My child is diagnosed with APD. I would just like to warn you that all APD testing is not equal. We had to go out of our state to get quality testing. I would not leave it up to the school to get quality testing. We paid for it ourselves because we didn’t want to waste time with potentially inaccurate or incomplete testing. Also, some audiologists are also speech pathologists and they may have much better recommendations for therapy.

Janis

Hi Janis, My son is getting the CAP (central auditory processing) test. I am also hoping that he gets the SCAN (Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders), the SSW (Staggered Spondaic Word) and the TAC (Test of Auditory Comprehension). Did your son have any of these? What tests did you find helpful if you don’t mind me asking?
Donna in MO

Hi, Donna,

First we had some language testing done. Then we had the APD testing. My child is 6, so only tests normed down to that age could be used. She had the SCAN-C, Randomized Gap Detection, Pitch Pattern Sequence, Dichotic CV’s, Dichotic Digits, and Phonemic Synthesis. I am pretty sure that the Test of Auditory Comprehension is one usually given by the speech/language pathologist. She scored poorly on tasks that required binaural integration. Her auditory memory seems to be weak as well. She scored fine on many of the subtests. It seems that every child is very different when it comes to APD testing.

There is a CAPD email list if you are interested:

http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/capd.html

Also, this site has a lot of good links if you don’t already have it:

http://www.ncapd.org/

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Janis

Thank you so much for that information. I don’t have questions right now but I may have some later. Thank you for taking the time to post.
Donna in MO

Does this book give remediation ideas?

The book does get into accommodations and remediation to a certain extent, but every child is so different it can’t get too specific.Many APD children do end up with reading problems and may need an Orton-Gillingham type reading program in addition to language therapy, etc., but not all do. It does explain popular programs like Fast ForWord, Earobics, etc., which I think would be very helpful to parents considering these programs.

Janis

Thanks

Hi Sue, I just got back from the CAPD tests. I thought I would share the results and maybe get some feedback from your knowledge (or anyone else reading this post) of these tests.

On the SCAN-C test, he passed all but one. The “completing sentence” task required him to hear two sentences at once which were put in each ear of the earphone. He then was asked to repeat what he heard from the right ear for 10 trials. He got 100% correct. Then, they did it for his left ear and he got 0% correct.

On the SSW test, they found that his right ear was better (stronger) at hearing which should be equal at this age. He said that he fell into a “tolerance fading memory” profile. What ever that means! I will have to do some research to find out more about this.

The other tests he passed even the AFT-R test which is usually a problem to pass when auditory skills are affecting reading.

Thus, he concluded that my son does not have CAPD but fits the “tolerance fading memory” profile and that his auditory skills are not affecting his reading.

I am off to do some research. If anyone has input, I would appreciate it.
Donna in MO

Donna,

I’ll have to contact you later when I get home. I do have info on tolerance fading memory, I think. But that IS a category of APD. So I am very unclear on what he was telling you. I assume he will be sending you a written report, right? He should include ino on TFM for you.

If I were you, I’d post the results on the CAPD list.

http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/capd.html

You can get some potential expert advice there. I am not so sure about those conclusions. My child does not have an auditory decoding deficit but she still has APD problems that effect reading. Does your child have a problem in reading?

Janis

Janis, Thanks for your help. Yes, he said that he would be sending a full report. I am just, like always, to get as much info as I can.

My son tested one year behind in his reading level. Based on the tests done today, the physician said that his reading problems are not due to his auditory problem. We have done a lot of program which have addressed auditory processing and auditory retraining in the past. I know that if these tests would have been done before we did these programs that the results of these test would have been very different.

Thanks for the CAPD site. I will check that out next.
Donna in MO

Donna,

I think the tolerance fading memory profile is from the Buffalo model of APD associated with the work of audiologist Jack Katz. That model was not the one with which my child was evaluated, so I can’t tell you exactly what it means. My child also only failed one part of the SCAN-C, the competing words subtest. But she was diagnosed with APD. So I’ll be curious to see if you can get a second opinion on your child’s scores. It may be necessary to get the actual scores from the report to get a meaningful answer from the CAPD list, though.

Janis

I did not know the tests gave a certian profile type I thought CAPD was just CAPD. My son took a battery of tests. He failed the Staggered spondaic word test with 3 of 4 scores greater then 2 standard deviations below the mean. He also failed the Competing sentences test with a score also 2 standard deviations below the mean. On the SPIN test he failed in 1 ear but passed in the other. On the Filtered speech sub test of the Willeford battery he again scored more then 2 standard deviations below the mean. He passed the Binaural fusion subtest. On the Time compressed speech perception test he passed in his right ear but failed in his left. He failed the Rapidly alternating speech perception test again more then 2 standard deviations below the mean. His dx was moderate generalized APD. Is that because he failed almost all the tests? So he does not have a “specific” profile?

Janis, THANK YOU so much for this information. I searched the web for two hours before getting this info and came up with nothing! Your input gave me some leads. Thanks again!

I am in the process of getting my password for the CAPD web site. Did you say that if I had the specific scores from these tests done today that someone on this site could give me their opinion?
Donna in MO

Hi Lisa, I can’t answer all of your questions because I have a million of my own. However, what the audiologist said about my son was taken from one test, the SSW (Staggered Spondaic Word Test). After doing the test, there seems to be a way to put the scores into subtests. My son’s scores fell into this subtest called “tolerance-fading memory” profile.
Donna in MO

Lisa,

I would also encourage you to post these scores on the CAPD list. Dr. Jay Lucker is an excellent specialist in APD in Washington and more or less moderates the list. He has some very strong opinions and doesn’t hesitate to give them, as long as you understand that! There are some other professionals like speech/language pathologists who deal with APD as well.

Let me explain about the profiles of APD to you and Donna. When testing for APD, a battery of tests is given. These tests measure different things. Depending on the tests failed, a child will fit a particular sub-category, or profile, or model, of APD. The problem is that there is not just one major model of APD.

For example: the Florida model has the following profiles (sub-categories): Auditory Decoding Deficit, Prosodic Deficit, Integration Deficit, Auditory Associative Deficit, Output/Organization Deficit.

Dr. Jay Lucker uses the categories of : Auditory Awareness, Auditory Decoding, Auditory Attention, Auditory Memory, Auditory Integration, Organization and Sequencing. This model makes the most sense when looking at my child’s scores. But her testing was done in FL and the FL model was used.

The Buffalo model is different than those. So technically, you could be tested by five different audiologists and be told you have APD with a different profile by each one depending on the model they use! Yes, that DOES make it very confusing!

Please do join the CAPD list. You can ask questions and learn a lot from other posts. http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/capd.html

One more site with all the links you’ll ever need: National Coalition on APD:

http://www.ncapd.org/

Janis

Donna,

Yes, I think you will get an opinion. But you’ll get a better one when you have the report with actual scores to post. You’ll learn a lot, though, just reading the posts. Go in the archives and read topics that interest you. That’s a good way to learn.

Please see the post I just wrote to Donna. I explained the different profiles of APD. I also gave one more essential web-site.

Janis

I have always known I have unusual hearing and distractibility, but in my day mom taught me to read and the rest I learned to live with.

It’s far too late for any CAPD testing for schooling or attempts at retraining — I’m over 50, thanks — but I am very curious about all the things I am reading about CAPD.

I was wondering if in your travels and researches any of you have met a researcher who would like data on adult subjects; I’d be interested in being tested out of curiosity, and have taken part in psychological studies before for this reason.(the Elephant’s Child syndrome) If you know of researchers with interest in adults, please pass the names along. Thanks.

Victoria,

In Teri Bellis’ new book, “When the Brain Can’t Hear”, she gives many examples of adults with APD. I do not know of anyone specifically recruiting adults for a study, but it is obvious from Bellis’ work that they are gathering information from all the adults and children they test. It is certainly a field that is evolving. You might want to get the book as it might clarify your own situation for you.

Janis