Effective therapy of children with central auditory processing disorders can eliminate this deficit, although it requires a lot of work – emphasized the participants of the XNUMXth National Speech Therapy Conference, which took place on Friday in Katowice.
Central Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) are problems with hearing some sounds despite normal hearing. They are caused by damage to the central – nervous – part of the auditory system. People with such a deficit may, for example, have delayed speech development, impaired auditory memory, difficulties with reading or understanding the text and with the assimilation of information. This, in turn, causes serious problems at school.
It is very important for those patients who have hearing problems and have good hearing sensitivity to think about the central hearing disorders, because there are rehabilitation options – auditory training. It is a change in brain function through appropriate stimulation and interaction with the environment. This training is especially effective for young children. With good therapy, properly conducted with good specialists, we are able to largely improve the child’s functioning at school, his communication capabilities – told PAP Dr. Andrzej Senderski from the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw.
The diagnosis of such disorders is carried out by audiologists, and the therapy – by speech therapists. As Senderski emphasized, the awareness of this problem among specialists has increased significantly compared to the period from a few years ago. This is important because undetected central auditory processing disorders in children can be misinterpreted as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or behavioral disorders. Proper diagnostics enables the correct assessment of the mental abilities of a child, allowing, for example, to avoid a special school.
During the conference, the effects of central hearing loss therapy with the proprietary VAV program, combining three types of therapy: movement, speech therapy and psychological therapy. During classes, the child arranges, for example, a letter from colored elements, and then walks on it, pronouncing the sound. Integrated exercises involving all the senses at the same time were developed by Katarzyna and Barbara Kasica and Olga Przybyla. Language is a complex structure, so the therapy must combine all these elements – emphasized Barbara Kasica, speech therapist and psychologist.
Scientists estimate that central hearing disorders may occur in 2 – 3 percent of people. kids. The reasons include: perinatal hypoxia or exposure to toxic substances in the fetal life, but a risk factor is also poor auditory education, including too high doses of television and computer, and the lack of proper communication patterns in the family.
The XNUMXth National Speech Therapy Conference was organized by the Silesian branch of the Polish Logopaedic Society (PAP).