I would like to find out about methods of APT. My boy could use a lot of help and finding the information is easy but knowing what will work without first hand experience is tough.
Has anyone found truly helpful methods?
Is lindmond-bell sucessful? This is what the audiologist recomended.
How does ADHD effect therapies like this?
He also needs help with handwriting, his eye-hand coordination was in the 9% percentile in the most recent tests.
Loops and Groups has been recomended. Any one familiar?
Thanks for the help,
J NY
Re: Questions about Auditory Processing Therapy
Has he had a thorough occupational therapy evaluation? With that low eye-hand coordination score, I would want to have visual-motor integration checked out by an occupational therapist.
I would also consider getting a developmental vision evaluation in case visual efficiency problems are interfering with fine motor skills. (Visual efficiency problems are not assessed in regular eye exams.) For more info see http://www.childrensvision.com . You would want to get the OT eval first, though.
Since you mentioned ADHD, I would also advising getting a copy of “Is This Your Child?” by Doris Rapp. Sometimes food intolerances create symptoms of ADD/ADHD. If you want to pursue this possibility, I would find a DAN! doctor as they will do the necessary testing.
There are quite a few different approaches to auditory training. Lindamood-Bell is a good approach for certain children. There really is no way to tell from your post if LMB would be the best choice for your son, as there is not enough detail about his age, the specific problems he has, etc. LMB is one of the most expensive programs on the market and it doesn’t always work. For this reason it’s a good idea to exercise some caution. If your child has major sensory integration, visual efficiency problems and/or allergies or intolerances, treating those first can make academic learning much easier. (LMB is an academic-level program.)
From what I have heard, LMB is really good for apraxic children and for children who cannot differentiate between sounds. This is because it teaches kinesthetic methods for differentiating sounds. There are, however, several other very good programs for teaching reading. Not all children having difficulty learning to read need LMB.
There are a number of sound therapies that work on a more fundamental level of remediation than LMB. FastForWord, for example, is a computerized program that trains the brain to process the sounds of speech more efficiently. This is very helpful to children who have certain subtypes of auditory processing disorder, but not all non-readers or even all children with APD.
In any case, I would try to gather more information about your child before making a decision one way or the other about LMB, mostly because it is so expensive. Often a child will need a variety of interventions. You want to make sure you are spending your money on those interventions most likely to help your particular child.
Nancy
Re: Questions about Auditory Processing Therapy
You may try to check with a local university. My son was diagnosed with CAPD and his doctors recommended our local university. The Speech and Language Department there provides low cost therapy, which is given by graduate students working to get certified. (They are supervised by their Speech and Language professors). Also, the book “When the Brain Can’t Hear” by Teri James Bellis is also a good resource.
Some therapy successes will depend on the age of your child.
We went with Earobics because the Lindamood-Bell program was a little “young” for my dd who didn’t start until she was 10. We also used an auditory integration program called The Listening Program which we found quite helpful.
If he has hand-eye coordination issues, you may want to look into vision therapy. It works not only on the visual system but also has a lot of activites that involve hand-eye coordination.
Handwriting without Tears is a very good program for handwriting. http://www.hwtears.com/