Hi

I am just entering the world of learning disabilities and such. My son, who is in 1st grade, is struggling with his spelling, and reading. He was tested (WISC?), and it is showing a below average IQ, with probable auditory processing difficulties. But this week he was seen by a speech/language pathologist and she says that his speech/language comprehension is good. I would have thought he would have problems with comprehension if he has an auditory processing disorder. Thus, I am confused. Can anyone give me some insight into this dichotomy?

Thanks,

Welcome Viv,

If you are comfortable, post his scores from the WISC and any other scores you have. There are many knowledgeable people here who can help analyze the scores.

A speech-language eval should have included both expressive and receptive language evals and scores for both. Expressive language is what comes out (speech and how we use it) and receptive would be, of course, what he takes in (comprehends speech/language) which would correspond to the auditory processing suspicion.

I'm curious how the school diagnosed the probable auditory processing deficit. I have been told that this deficit can only be diagnosed by a specialist in the field. Did they suggest that you seek out (or did they offer to pay for) the correct diagnosis of this deficit? They should if they think they found it. Was his digit span and freedom from distractibility (both on the WISC) low?

Also, if the speech/language pathologist is from the school, most likely they only did a "screening" and not a full language evaluation. If you don't have test SCORES, most likely this is the case which, in my opinion, is not a valid speech/language eval. from personal experience.

We just went through this. Our school did a language "screening" during the full case study, three years ago, and said he "passed." We have had all of the testing redone by outside evaluators. The pediatrician suggested getting a formal eval done at the Children's Hospital and what do you know, "severe delay" in receptive language; he is now 10 years old. All this time we thought language was fine (according to the school).

Hi

I don't have the paper copy of the WISC report as of yet. The test was done on Nov. 4th, and I met with the Psychologist on the 6th, and that's when she indicated the suspected auditory processing problems. When I get the paper reports, I will post again with my questions.

As for getting an audiologist to test my son, this is done through the pediatrician (here in Alberta, Canada anyway), and they won't do the referral until all the reports are in. There is a waiting list for the audiologist (of course), so he probably won't be seen by one until the spring sometime.

As for the speech/language pathologist, I have only talked with her on the phone so far, as the testing was just done today. I believe I'll be getting some written report from her also.

Thanks for replying to my post. I appreciate it.
Viv

Hi, Viv, Lulu is right that auditory processing disorder can only be diagnosed by an audiologist. You can sometimes see it's effects in other testing, however. IQ scores can be deceiving. As Lulu said, you may want to post the scores so that you can get some input. Were both the verbal and performance scores below average or was one significantly lower than the other? If so, you wouldn't want to use the full scale score.

Janis

Sometimes an auditory processing problem will be a problem in the classroom wiht difficulties with background noise -- but not a problem in the 1:1 setting. The "probably" auditory processign difficulties are probably speculation based on observations, and should be formally evaluated. (Sometimes the school personnel writing the report will put those speculations in there based on nothing more than trouble with reading and spelling -- I would look over the report to see just what it says about that.)