Better Speech and Feeding Center offers screening, referral and/or therapeutic services for auditory processing disorders for children six years and older.

An auditory processing disorder is defined as a breakdown in the auditory nervous system that interferes with rapid and efficient awareness, recognition, decoding and integration of auditory signals especially those occurring in speech.  In other words, “the inability to understand spoken language in a meaningful way in the absence of what is commonly considered a hearing loss is referred to as an auditory processing problem” (ASHA, 1999). 

Behaviors of children considered “at risk” include:

• Frequently misunderstands oral instructions or questions

• Delays in responding to oral instructions or questions

•  Says “Huh” or “What” frequently

• Frequently needs repetition of directions or information

• Has problems understanding in background noise

•  May have problems with phonics, discriminating speech sounds and/or sound distortions in speech (particularly /r/, /l/)

• May have poor expressive or receptive language

• May have spelling, reading, and other academic problems

• May have “behavioral” problems

If you believe your student or child is struggling in any of the above areas, contact the office for a free telephone consultation.  A multi-symptom approach to the screening, referral and/or the therapeutic process is used addressing a wide range of auditory issues.  Individual cases are seen by appointment and a written report is provided following the initial evaluation session.

“Let’s Work Together to Improve Auditory Processing Skills!”