[color=darkred]Is Verbal Learning Disability the same as Auditory Processing Disorder? My son was diagnosed Verbal Learning Disabled. You can tell him something to do and he does something completely opposite. He reads and doesn’t comprehend what was read. His teacher said he can answer questions about a story if the story was read to him. I don’t understand how that can be if he can’t follow verbal directions. I am lost with this whole thing. When I looked up Verbal Learning Disability all that came up was Non-Verbal Learning Disability. He has an average IQ and the public school system said they didn’t recognize that diagnoses. He is now in private school and still needing help. I just want to know how to help and understand all this. :cry: Thanks for you help… [/color][/list][/quote]
There is something
blocking his ability to understand what he reads because a particular skill needed to read is not automatic. He could be working to overcome a visual problem such as tracking or perhaps has not mastered the phonological skills to the point of automaticity. This extra work steals away from his ability to comprehend what he has read.
Following multistep directions is a visual and auditory skill as well. Motor planning in response to directions requires a fair amount of visualization.
The fact that he can understand what is read to him stears away from the idea of an auditory deficit.
Can he pick up what the teacher is saying in class when there are other things going on or his he lost in class and only understanding the auditory input when it is one on one?
Re: Verbal Learning Disability
Great explanation, Marie! I suspect this child had a lower verbal IQ score than performance and they came up with “Verbal LD”. But “language-based learning disability” is a much more accurate term. I also very much agree with the recommendation for a speech-language evaluation.
Linda is right that more information is needed to determine what types of therapy are needed. Mawgibby, you may want to post the scores form the evaluation here to get some more specific feedback.
Janis
I'd like to add - my DS has APD and can also repeat stories!
so having auditory processing problems does not necessarily mean that a child cannot repeat a story.
My DS uses his strong visual learning ability to focus in on the visual parts of a story, and can later REPEAT EVERY WORD. The same story told to him verbally will produce maybe a 1/3 recollection on his part.
He also has a lot of trouble following anything beyond a 2-step direction, and he is 7, in second grade.
We are getting started using Fast ForWord to help with the auditory processing issues.
HTH!
Verbal Learning Disability could be APD
APDs have problems understanding waht is read to them, following instructions.
Reading also poses a prpblem for APDs, if theyu have problems processing the orginal auditory , verbal message then they will alos have problems processing the auditoryn or verbal code, which most call text.
So APd does seem to be a possible issue here
verbal learning disability
there are a great many terms bandied about when talking about learning differences. “Verbal learning disability’ to me sounds like rather a ‘catch-all’ phrase you were handed. Perhaps think of your son as possibily having A language based learning difference or A verbal learning difference rather than think of it as a the name of a disorder.
From your description of your son, though, I’d want to get more specific than ‘verbal learning disability’. Off the top of my head, I’d want to have him tested for reading and would want to have some things put in place for him to support him learning to read on his own.
As to why he can get a story from hearing it but can’t follow directions, that’s an entirely different thing. Processing a story and processing directions are two very different things. If you give him one direction, rather than several, does that help? And how his behavior otherwise? How is his attention and how is his focus? Getting confused with oral directions can often have something to do with attention and focus as well as processing.
I’d suggest Mel Levine’s book Educational Care. I always warn people that it’s dry reading but that it has great suggestions as to how to approach various learning differences.
Good luck.
I’ve never heard this referred to as a verbal learning disability. More often one hears of receptive and/expressive language disorders or language-based learning disabilities. APD can often be at the root of the problem. The LD in Depth above contains some articles on APD in the processing deficit section. Curiously, there are no articles on language disorders more generally. You will find some information at www.asha.org (look at language-based learning disabilities).
Your child needs to have a language evaluation by a SLP. Schools often do these these evaluations and often provide help in the form of language therapy for a child with language problems. (If you are outside the public school system, you might want to seek language therapy privately. Even if it is provided in school, parents sometimes prefer to get therapy privately because the schools often can’t provide the frequency and intensity that is needed for remediation to happen.)
I do find it puzzling that he can’t follow directions while the teacher says he can answer questions about a story that has been read to him. Perhaps the questions are multiple choice. My ds with language problems could always do better with multiple choice than with open ended questions. The content in the choices would jog his memory back to the story.
(P.S. Children with language problems often score lower on IQ tests—both the verbal and nonverbal sections—than they are capable of. With good remediation, these scores can increase dramatically.)