ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

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frankesense
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:24 pm

ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by frankesense » Tue May 25, 2010 8:46 pm

I am just finishing this school year using BLGFHG with my own two children and for the last couple of months have started homeschooling my nephew too. My nephew is 9 years old and is adopted from Thailand. He was brought home just before his 5th birthday. He was born premature and spent a majority of his first two years in the hospital. Although, he has overcome so many things since coming "home", there are still some difficulties. As I have taken on homeschooling him, I, at times feel inadequate to help him overcome some of his learning difficulties. He has seen a speech therapist and has been in speech therapy for about a year but there are some key things that he continues to struggle with and this has made it difficult sometimes for me to know how to help him. I'm not sure what the technical terms are of his diagnoses but his main two struggles have to do with auditory processing. 1) understanding and comprehending what is being read to him or that he is reading and 2) even if he does understand something, he struggles being able to relay the information back to you (they called this expressive speech delay). Has anyone had a child with similar difficulties that could tell me what things worked for you to help them?

Since so much of the learning in HOD is about reading or being read to then narrating this has been difficult on some days to know whether he really understood what was happening and whether I should move on with him. At sometimes I think that if I just keep going that he will continue to improve - but I don't really know. I'm am also concerned about the fact that he is 9 and I am just doing Beyond (though he is on different levels with Language Arts and Math) and sometimes he doesn't seem to get it. What will happen when we start Bigger in the fall?

I have read on here that some moms have had their children who have had some auditory issues spend time listening to audio stories. I have encouraged my sister to do this with him at home. But are there some other things that we could do to help? Any ideas would be appreciated!

Stephanie
Wife to the most awesome man for 18 years
Mother to ds - 15 yrs. and dd - 13 yrs.
using World Geography

lovedtodeath
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:08 am

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by lovedtodeath » Tue May 25, 2010 9:00 pm

I have been trying to get information on this as well, so a couple of resources were suggested to me. Reading Reflex is very good for speech problems. It breaks down words into their individual sounds, which will help with speech and auditory processing. Helping Children Overcome Learning Difficulties by Jerome Rosner is an inexpensive book that has some auditory processing exercises.

You may also want to read the same passages or books over and over. That is probably why audio books were recommended.
Carmen, teaching Jake 3 and Emily 8
Third grade coming up:
HOD Bigger, Phonics Road 2, Math Mammoth.
http://www.thephonicspage.org/index.html

smithdonnajo
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:42 am
Location: Alabama

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by smithdonnajo » Wed May 26, 2010 7:46 am

I just wanted to encourage the use of audio books as a tool for improving his auditory processing problem.

My daughter is now 9 1/2. About 2 years ago, I was told by her speech therapist that she suspected auditory processing problems. I began to notice at home she didn't seem to understand alot of our read alouds. (we were not doing HOD, just reading library books, etc). We also strongly suspected dyslexia. About the same time, just for fun, we began letting the kids listen to audio books on cd in their beds at night, or really, just anytime they wanted; and we would listen as a family sometimes. After several months of her listening to the audio books, I began to notice a huge difference in her comprehension abilities. One thing that I believe really helped her, is that she liked to listen to the same audio book repeatedly. One of her very favorites was Heidi. I had never read the unabridged version, and when I did listen to it, I was simply amazed at the rich vocabulary and wonderful writing style used. I am convinced that my daughter listening to Heidi (and others) repeatedly helped her improve her auditory processing problems. I would encourage the use of classic, unabridged books.

Another thing my daughter enjoyed was when she had an illustrated print copy of the same book she was listening to. She loved to look at the pictures as she listened to the audio book. (she couldn't read it, but loved the pictures) I think being able to look at the pictures also helped her comprehension skills.

We got tons of audio books free from librivox.org as free downloads, and then my husband burned cds from them. Now, the kids have mp3 players, so we download the audio books to their mp3 players. They each have mp3 speakers in their rooms and they listen to them that way and don't have to use the ear buds. But the easiest way to listen is just click on it from librivox.org and listen through the computer.

I also encourage you to continue with the reading aloud and with the oral narrations. Narrating was hard for my dd, but I continued with it and she has really improved. Narrations will help with comprehension. If he is having trouble, shorten the reading to only 1 or 2 or 3 sentences, have him narrate on just that. As he improves, add more length.

Hope this helps.
Donna Jo

my3sons
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Location: South Dakota

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by my3sons » Wed May 26, 2010 8:05 pm

Listening to audio books is the single best thing that can be done to improve comprehension. Here is a link that may be helpful:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5249&p=38480

I also think narrating on smaller segments is a huge help. Perhaps reading a page (or even a paragraph) and having your nephew narrate would be helpful. Doing this maybe twice during the reading, and then just enjoying reading the rest of it works well. Modeling good narration is a big help as well. Have you ever had it that someone was reading (or talking) to you, and then you were supposed to repeat what they said back to them or respond to it to keep the conversation flowing and you blanked out? I have to admit that the habit of listening attentively doesn't always come easy to me. I am a multi-tasker, and if I think I don't really need to listen... well, I don't. :oops: However, if I know I will have to repeat back the information (i.e. the doctor just called with information about my sick dc I need to relay to my dh - just had this happen yesterday BTW - boy, do I listen. :lol: So, simply telling him he will have to tell it back to you and that the purpose is to see what he remembers will be very beneficial. Be sure to read through the narration tips in the Appendix as they help me stay on the straight and narrow with narration. I can get WAY too into expecting my dc to give MY narration, which unfortunately is not the right way to go about it. I hope something here helps! God bless you for loving on your nephew this way - you are a wonderful Aunt to him! :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

Carrie
Site Admin
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Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by Carrie » Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:18 pm

Stephanie,

I am not sure how well this little guy is able to read, but for kiddos with auditory processing disorders it can really help once they can start reading the material for themselves (unless they have visual processing issues as well). So, once he's able to read his own material, definitely allow him to do so! Seeing helps with processing, so it would also be a good idea for him to follow along in the book with you as you read to him. :D

Blessings,
Carrie

Tansy
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Location: Texas

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by Tansy » Tue Jun 01, 2010 5:00 pm

My dd suffers from audio processing. These are her assigned therapies to help her improve.
Books on tape she listens to 4 stories a day on a good day an 1 a day on a bad day...
We also read and draw while reading out loud. Then she is allowed every 2-3 paragraphs to narrate using the picture to help her.
she has an ear plug in one ear for 8 hours a day to encourage an ear dominance and to reduce the over all stress she is under. One ear plug reduces the processing by 50% and she can relax more because not as much sound needs to be processed.
we also use auditory processing games to up her ability to hold information in her mind. we play those 2-8 times a day.

Just going on doesn't do the trick. Yes the information is getting in But until they can process it well, they have no access to recall it. Once we started doing these therapies I have noticed her talking more normally (full sentences, original thoughts, and remembering things I thought she had forgotten). Its amazing how helping her order her brain has brought about huge changes. She is still not there yet... I had to read the AP story 4 times today and draw the picture to get her to tell me anything about the story. But over all I am seeing improvements.
♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫
Dyslexics of the world Untie!
Adoptive Mom to 2 girls
http://gardenforsara.blogspot.com/
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frankesense
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:24 pm

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by frankesense » Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:29 pm

Thank you ladies for your encouragement and ideas! Some of these we have already been doing since I've started teaching him and have seen improvement in comprehension and narration. You have given me ideas of other things to try as well.
Tansy wrote: we also use auditory processing games to up her ability to hold information in her mind. we play those 2-8 times a day.
Tansy, what kind of auditory processing games do you play?
Wife to the most awesome man for 18 years
Mother to ds - 15 yrs. and dd - 13 yrs.
using World Geography

Benelli
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:04 pm
Location: Northern VA

Re: ideas for a child with auditory processing issues

Post by Benelli » Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:39 pm

I also have a child with auditory processing disorder - in the moderate to severe range. I agree that when my daughter has been able to read the material herself, it has helped her comprehension tremendously. As far as strengthening her auditoy learning, we used a software program called Earobics (level 1) this year. She has definitely improved with using it for about 20 minutes per day, 3 days per week. Also, with the slow and steady practice from just doing Beyond as scheduled with the various History, Science, and storytime readings, she has also improved. She still has a lot of work to do, but it has been wonderful to see her successes over the course of this year. We also check out audio books from the library, which all of my kids listen to in their spare time.

I loved the idea posted above about letting them draw while they listen so they can use the visual cue of that to help with recall and narration. I will try that! My dd definitely uses visual cues to help her learn!

We are also going to continue with Earobics, level 2. It has helped her to distinguish phonemes, hear "close" sounds in the English language, hear syllables, etc., which has improved her reading, her overall comprehension from listening, and her communication ability. I'm also trying another software program called HearBuilder. We will start that this summer and alternate using Earobics and HearBuilder. They aren't cheap, but they are cheaper than private speech therapy sessions!
Lisa, Mama to 7 -

PHFHG with Ben (9) and Ellie (11) with extensions
BLHFHG half-speed with Sophie (8) and Anthony (7) with Emerging Readers and Draw*Write*Now
LHFHG with Thomas (7) and Nicholas (5) with Emerging Readers
and Lily Jane (2) tagging along

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