Auditory processing disorder in the classroom can affect more than just a student – it can affect the classroom.
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Auditory Processing Disorder in the Classroom (K-12)
Auditory processing disorder in the classroom can affect more than just a student – it can affect the classroom.
It’s normal for students to struggle in school at one time or another. However, auditory processing disorder will create a set of unique struggles that need to be understood and accommodated to ensure the student’s success. Finding ways to provide an equal-opportunity education will take time, sensitivity, and creativity from parents and teachers alike. This article will discuss signs and symptoms of APD and potential accommodation solutions and outside-of-the-classroom help.
While teachers and parents try new techniques to find what works for their students, it is important to consider that this can be a frustrating period of trial and error for the child. It is important to provide a positive outlook and opportunities for success and teach the student to cope with failure, as it is a natural and inevitable part of life and can be a source of success when viewed properly.
Education resources
What is auditory processing disorder?
Auditory processing disorder (APD) is also commonly known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). This processing disorder interferes with the typical neurobiological and physiological activity involving the central nervous system that causes students to experience difficulties interpreting auditory stimuli. Children and adults suffering from this disorder will experience many problems in a classroom setting for various reasons that will be discussed in this article.
CAPD is a problem that affects approximately 5% of all school-aged children. While it can be accommodated with therapies and learning techniques, CAPD is a disorder that will remain with the child throughout their lives, making it even more essential that each child learns to navigate these roadblocks at a young age.
Signs and symptoms of CAPD:
- Difficulty determining the location of sound
- Difficulty comprehending spoken words when in an area with competing sound (like background noise in a noisy store), in a reverberate environment (like an empty room that echoes), or when presented too quickly.
- Someone with CAPD may respond slowly in oral communication, taking longer to choose words.
- Frequently requesting the speaker repeat their words
- Responding inappropriately due to frequent misunderstandings
- Difficulty learning common songs or nursery rhymes
- Difficulty following auditory directions
- Misunderstanding tone in others that would aid in detecting sarcasm or jokes
- Poor musical or singing skills, tone deafness
- Poor performance in auditory or spoken tests, like spelling bees or recitation
- Associated reading, writing, and speaking problems
CAPD will uniquely affect each person. When considering accommodating children with this disorder in the classroom, it is important to consider that there is no blanket solution for all children with these particular struggles.
An educator will need to get to know the student, paying close attention to their areas of struggle concerning attention, background noise, comprehension, socialization, etc. During this time, parents and teachers must work together to ensure a complete overview is considered. After an initial assessment, an educator may choose one or more accommodations to provide to their student to help them receive an equal opportunity to learn.
Accommodations for students with CAPD:
Visual cues
Small gestures can greatly impact a child’s ability to comprehend spoken words. For example, when learning new vocabulary, offering images that correspond and gesturing to them when speaking can help the child associate the sound of the word with the subject. When giving verbal instructions, a visual list can help the child follow the assignment independently.
An educator could offer the child the opportunity to leave their seat and check off assignments as they are completed to help give the child a small break out of their seat, a visual reminder. Hence, they stay on task and feel accomplished as they make small achievements.
Get their attention
In a classroom full of visual and auditory stimuli, it will be difficult for students with CAPD to discriminate between their peers talking and the instructor. For this student to have equal opportunity to gather pertinent information, create a visual reminder that what you are about to say is important and requires full attention.
For example, a flag system, a hand gesture, or a talking stick. After a few uses, the child will learn when they see their visual aid to “turn their ears on.”
Emphasize key words
Because those with CAPD have difficulty organizing spoken words in their minds, how an educator speaks can be essential in helping them to process and store auditory information. For example, slowing down and dragging out speech when giving instructions in a busy or loud room. Sounding differently to the surrounding noises will help them key into what you are saying and block out the unnecessary background noise.
Provide preferred seating
Choosing a seat with natural noise blockers, such as a bookshelf, door, or curtain that may filter some sound, can help these students from being auditorily overwhelmed. However, if that seat is in the back of a classroom, it is essential that the instructor projects and speaks slowly so they may hear lectures and assignments.
Help with sequencing
When providing oral instructions, sequencing terms such as first, second, and last can help students organize and prioritize instructions. Additionally, it is important to use transitioning sentences or statements when reading aloud, or changing topics during lectures, as this can help them organize and store the information they’ve just received and prepare for the new information.
Assistive technology
For students who struggle more than others in following their instructor’s voice in a busy classroom, there is a technology that can provide some extra support. For example, headphones that reduce background noise or amplify the teacher’s speech via a microphone attached to the teacher’s collar.
By accommodating these unique learning barriers in the classroom, some students will achieve equal access to information as their peers in most settings. However, other resources must be considered if these accommodations are proving insufficient and the student is still noticeably struggling.
Outside of the classroom assistance
Speech-language therapy
By working with a speech-language therapist, students can learn to strengthen their skills, such as remembering, sequencing, or distinguishing sounds.
Educational therapy
Educational therapists help students struggling with learning by teaching them to identify and compensate for their weaknesses, manage their frustration, bolster their confidence and accept their difficulties. Students are never too young to begin learning self-regulation —an essential and rewarding skill for anyone struggling with disorders.
Computer programs
Various “brain training” programs are designed to help people identify and remember sounds. Finding the right program for your student can provide them with essential resources in areas where specialists are unavailable.
Those suffering from this disorder will encounter new and challenging life obstacles. However, suppose intervention is provided at a young age. Children can avoid the negative feelings associated with scholastic failures, such as anger, frustration, loss of interest, guilt, and lack of confidence.
Addressing these issues after the child has taken on these negative feelings makes the therapeutic process more difficult, as the child resists possible solutions. The child and parent must understand and accept that neurodiversity is a natural part of human existence. With patience and persistence, these obstacles can be overcome in time.
