How does APD Present in Children

HOW DOES APD PRESENT IN CHILDREN?

Children who present with APD have difficulty with some or all listening activities.

They have particular problems when the activities occur in less than ideal listening environments.

Hence, they may exhibit only mild problems with sound discrimination and they may make occasional errors when speaking on a one to one basis in a good (relatively quiet) environment.

They will perform worse, however,

when there is competing background noise or speech,

when speakers talk rapidly,

when they are not devoting their complete attention to the listening task,

when the discussion topic is unfamiliar to them,

or when they have to perform or remember several verbal tasks in a row.

In addition,

they often have weak phonemic systems (speech sound memories used in phonics, reading, and spelling).

They also often appear as though they do not hear well. It is common for children with APD to say, "what?" or "huh?".

They are not always intimately in touch with the sounds in the environment, hence they do not always grasp exactly what has been said.