This is odd. I have never thought my son had an auditory problem in any sense. He spoke early, can listen and comprehend books on tape and his teacher claims, “He is the only one in the class that listens to me.”
The latest exercise in vision therapy is very difficult for him. It is one that works on left/right differentiation, auditory processing and visualization. I thought I would share it because it is easy to explain and works on a few areas. I just think it is so interesting that he is struggling with it.
Stand behind the child and clap out a sequence of sounds that they have to replicate. 2 on left 3 on right 2 on left. You can make it more difficult by doing two on the left with a break then 3 more then go to the right.
This is one of the most difficult things for him. Maybe there is something auditory going on. He also had trouble with the sounds being too loud when we did interactive metronome. You just never know with these kids.
Re: Great simple exercise.
Linda, thanks for posting this. I want to try this with my son and to make sure I’m understanding you I’ll paraphrase.
Stand behind the child and move hands to his left side/ear and clap 2 or 3 times then move hands to the right side/ear and clap 2 or 3 times. Then he repeats the clap pattern. Vary claps with pauses. Is that it?
Sorry to be dense.
Sharon
sar and sharson
SAR,
I don’t think hearing problems are the same as LD. LD is related more to the brain than the eyes or the ears. My son’s eyesight and hearing are fine. It is really how he processes information that he recieves from the visual and auditory system.
Sharson,
You described it perfectly. Have fun with it. Make up patterns. My 4 year old can do this better than my son and he has a slight speech issue. It is so strange to see that little guy do things that my 9 year old finds difficult. It really highlights for me that my 9 year old does have some serious deficits.
Re: Great simple exercise.
What is there to process besides a simple clap? No language is spoken or interpreted, right? It’s a sound, and the problem is remembering the pattern and the motor output; I would still look at attention, memory and output. It can probably be trained just as vision exercises train attention and a motor response to the visual stimulus.
Re: Great simple exercise.
Linda, thanks. I tried it today and he seemed to do just fine with it. WHEW! Maybe that’s one area that’s okay.
Sharon
Re: Great simple exercise.
There is auditory localization going on here. You have to know which side the clap is coming from. I know, before therapy, my son could not have done this. The audiologist had an exercise with cow sounds and I held the speakers up behind his head and for the life of him he couldn’t tell which speaker the sounds were coming from. I was amazed.
Auditory localization is just a small quirk in processing if there aren’t other auditory issues, which there were for my son. Makes it hard to know where the fire truck is coming from!
Can your son repeat the pattern if he doesn’t have to tell where it is coming from? I suspect so.
Beth
Re: Great simple exercise.
Auditory localization is what my son with unilateral hearing loss lacks; it affects him in soccer because he can’t tell from which side the coach is yelling for him to pass. We were told by an audiologist that auditory localization is important in sports and in learning to drive. For kids without hearing loss who can’t hear and repeat patterns, I suspect it is the inability to keep the pattern in working memory and formulate the motor response.
Re: Great simple exercise.
SAR,
How does auditory localization affect learning to drive? My son is much much improved but probably not 100% accurate.
BTW, my son’s hearing is perfect so localization can be affected by processing issues as well as by hearing loss.
Beth
Re: Great simple exercise.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I can almost BET Jami can’t do it. In fact, she’ll probably refuse and tell me it’s a “dumb and boring” thing to do. ( I have FINALLY learned that when she tells me something is “dumb and boring”, that equates to I can’t do it) Talk about DENSE, it took me a long time to realize she was pulling the wool over MY eyes.
Jami can’t clap to music, or in rhythm, and is hypersensitive to sound. I’lll try to get her to do it, but I bet she doesn’t go for it. I’ll let you know :0)
localization
My son has a very big directionality issue. I see this more and more as we do therapy. That and visual spatial are the real biggies for him. I am sure that auditory processing left/right goes along with visually processing left right. This was just the first exercises outside of IM that was related to auditory localization.
Thanks Beth it is good to know that it doesn’t mean he has more complex auditory issues and that localization can be a problem on to it’s own.
He doesn’t have a problem clapping out a sound that he hears. It is the localization.
Re: Great simple exercise.
Linda,
I don’t really know for sure if localization can exist on its own. For my son, it is part of a wide constellation of auditory deficits. I will tell you though that I have several auditory deficits (the names of which I have learned through the therapy for my son) yet I was always a very good student. I see the exact same weaknesses in my straight A student daughter. All of us have weaknesses and if your son is able to decode and follow classroom conversations, I wouldn’t pursue the auditory route. Our NN therapist told me she seldom got kids who didn’t have significant weaknesses in at least three areas she tests. She said less than that kids are able to compenstate.
Beth
I know nothing about VT but this sounds like you couldn’t tell if the problem is the info. “going in”, attention to the info. to keep it in working memory, or the coordinated motor response. There are many sports where the coach shouts a command, numbers, etc. and that demands a motor response from the participant that may tap these same areas. I am not sure how it relates to reading or academics, though. I have a 10yr old son who we recently discovered has no hearing in one ear and is a very successful student; no one at school could believe he had a hearing loss…clearly all his other areas-attention, working memory, long term memory and visual motor are fine. I think some of the research on executive function applies to this(the VT exercises) area…you have to really attend to something to get it in working memory and then “output” a response.