Auditory Learning Problems

My daughter has auditory processing problems and the memory glitch. She did have tubes in her ear from age 4-5 because she was not hearing well when speech and language were developing. Common cause of this learning glitch. These kids are very bright and they learn visually and compensate in a lot of ways.
Sometimes they are twice exceptional (high IQ with this LD) and that makes for frustrated kid. My little girl..whooh...

They learn in very fun ways that are unfortunately time consuming in a regular class cookie cutter style. It take time at home to work through it. Some ideas are.
Drawing pictures for new words when learning to spell them.
Using playdoh to shape new words and sculpt the object.
Incorporate movement into memory activity. We bounce a ball back and forth with spelling.
Engage the whole body in memorization of things. ACt it out.
Talk about everything you are doing with this child. MAking dinner, driving in the car. ASk questions, engage conversation all the time.
Play games that involve multiple instructions with rewards.
Big Brain Academy on Wii is also very useful for these kids.

Be patient and know you've taken the first step in raising a unique, likely very creative child.These kids are challenging, but so much fun when you teach them the way they learn. It's a neat experience!
I wish you luck!

Since we are all different, and the school system wants to make us all the same, they will never win their battle. Neither will we, unless you explain to the teacher that your son is visual, or retains from reading information. A pad of paper and "doodling" is wonderful for visual people. I am one of them. I can recall the information when I look at the picture. I also take copious notes when at a meeting or lecture. The notes look like gibberish; but I can see and recall. (can you guess I'm an artist?)
Good luck, and have this discussion with the guidance counselor and stick to it!
Your son may be brilliant, so allow him to learn in his capacity. Learning should be fun!

Hi, K.. Yes, indeed, there is much that your son can do to compensate for having trouble absorbing and remembering what he hears. I have a similar learning disability along with a very bad short term memory, especially for what I hear.

This is how I compensate for it: #1: I write down everything I want to remember. Most of the time, I only need to write down a couple of words so that I can jog my memory. Teach your son how to take notes in school -- they should be teaching the children this anyway, but go ahead and give him a head start. #2 -- I have to get all of my senses into the act when I want to learn, comprehend and remember something. When I am in a situation where I need to learn or remember something, as I'm writing it down, I'm also conscious of how the pen feels in my hand. I'm making sure that I look at what I'm writing, and I also look at the person's face while he or she is talking to me. I get my sense of vision into the act because that helps me remember when it's coupled together with my hearing and my sense of touch. Sometimes I also draw little pictures to help me remember a concept. Again, that brings in my physical sense of touch and my visual learning.

When I write stuff down, I make sure I touch the words with my fingers and feel the paper while I'm looking at it. That means that the words are stimulating all my senses at the same time, and this leaves a more intense impression on the brain. However, just like any other child, your son is going to need repetition in order to remember and learn. I hope this teacher doesn't think she can tell 7-year-olds something one time and have them remember it!!!!!

Another thing -- if the teacher is aware of the fact that she has a student who has trouble learning by hearing, why doesn't she write stuff on the board or supplement her lessons with pictures or other visual aids? It's crazy to expect someone with a learning disability that knocks out the sense of hearing, to depend on hearing alone to grasp what's going on. That's like sending someone who uses a wheelchair to Phys Ed and telling him or her to get up and run. It's not going to happen.

With time and patience, your son can learn to concentrate and focus better on what he hears, and with more learning and knowledge to build upon, his auditory learning will become easier with experience...but he's just a little guy, and he needs more accomodation from the teacher.

I never heard of a first grade teacher who didn't use visual aids to boost understanding of her teaching.

She needs to remember that she must make eye contact frequently with your son while she's giving him directions. She needs to be patient, repeat what she says, and be near him in order for him to stay focused and feel connected with what is going on. Your son should be sitting at the front of the classroom -- it's educational death for a learning disabled person to sit at the back of the room, especially if hearing is the weakest learning sense.

See if you can find out what this teacher actually knows about helping children who have learning issues and disabilities. If she's not doing these things for your son, then she needs to re-think how she's approaching him. His self-esteem might have already started to slip because he feels he can't do stuff, and she needs to be very encouraging and attentive to him.

There is a lot of good information on the internet about learning styles and learning disabilities. Do check it out and make suggestions to the teacher when you talk to her.

Peace,
Syl

I would talk to your pedi about it, and see if you can get a referral to a person who specializes in that area. I went through my pedi for my daughter, because of a processing disorder.

I am hearing Impaired, and I am wondering....have you taken him in for an extensive hearing test? He may not be hearing properly. Find a good ENT Dr. ASAP! A number of things come to mind...ears clean, past ear infections, etc..I wear a hearing aid because the other one is not able to hear anything that is not muffled...I still have a problem as an adult hearing certain consonents...e's, s's,d's,e's, c's, well you get the picture. Good luck, and let us know how he is doing?

He needs to get tested at the school level and get an IEP or 504 plan which will require that teachers do things to accomodate him so he can learn best with his disability, such as make sure he has visuals (writing on the board, a hand out, ect) for all oral directions and instruction.

Speak with his teacher, see if she writes a guide when she makes her lessons for the day. See if she will give him a copy to follow along with and he can make notes on the paper to help him remember. If he is a strong reader maybe encourage him or read the lesson ahead of class (the night before) to understand what he is going into. The one on one time with him and the illustrations you can teach him may help stimulate his memory. He might also be a visual learner. Drawing pictures or having him visualize what the lesson is about may help. Again, prepping the lesson before class will definatly help. Don't load him up on meds if he can't focus there are ways to help him learn without it. He may also be overstimulated with tv and video games so make sure his tv time is limited and mix in regular reading with computer.

You might want to check out the warning signs on http://www.bartonreading.com. Kids with auditory difficulties typically have dyslexia. The public schools usually don't address dyslexia, although they are getting better. :-) When my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia I was relieved, because then I could deal with it -- it wasn't something I was doing wrong, and it wasn't my daughter being lazy or stubborn. :-) Good luck!

A good web site for both parents and educators is: http://www.ldonline.org/

I put auditory processing in the search bar and it came back with 100 different articles.

If your child has already been assessed through the school system you may gain a better understanding by asking for the school psychologist to go over the assessment results with you. Don't be afraid to ask him or her to rephrase an explanation. The Speech/Language Pathologist on staff may also have some good "exercises" for at home to help develop skills in these areas.

Remember, you know your child better than anyone.
Best of Luck.
M.

Hi there,

You can have his hearing tested for free through the Audiological Services with Pinellas County. Phone is ###-###-####. I knew my son had problems listening and the school tested him and found that he has a hearing disability. They will help set up the IEP and 504 plan with the school so that your son can get the best possible help. If it is something else then try getting him tested through FDLRS and they will also set up the IEP and 504 plan.

He needs a good OT. Get a scrip from your Dr. and find one close to you. they can retrain his brain. My son also has auditory processing problems. One suggestion is to only give one to 2 directions max at a time. and give him time to process what you said. Does he have a 504 plan at school? An IEP? If it is affecting his grades you need to request a meeting to ask for an IEP. (individual education plan) you can email me offline and I will be glad to give you more info...

Has he been diagnosed with auditory processing disorder? (which is what it sounds like from your description. I have a few friends whose children have it) If so, then usually they recommend seeing a speech language pathologist.

T. F, Venice

Have you had his ears checked by an ENT???? That would be my first step before doing anything else. Make sure there is nothing wrong keeping him from hearing.

Hello K. L,

You call or go into ESE Dept at school board and tell them that you require a I.E.P. for your kid for evaluate for level, SLD, etc... then you can ask a school psychology for evaluate your son for learning disabilities whether he has or not. After evaluate, a school psychology can tell what kind of tool or style, teacher can teach and explain him to make sure he can learning or understand.
My son has had same thing he had evaluate. School psychology digonsed him as SLD, A school psychology told teachers that they need to be very patience to remind him sometime repeatly tell him few instruction because he has a trouble understand with a direction with homework and instruction in classes at school.

good luck,
D.

I taught school for 38 years and saw this type of problem a number of times. After trying various ideas and nothing working I would suggest the parents take the child to a Ear, nose & throat specialist and 9 times out of 10 it would be a hearing problem. Many times tubes in the ears took care of the problem. One child had to have more serious surgery but went from failing to top of the class in a few months time. I took one of my sons at age 1yr. and discovered he has a 70% hearing loss. Tubes were put in and no more problems. Don't know if that will be your problem but if you haven't checked it out, it might be worth it to know for sure. Good Luck! S.