Lanaguage Disorders - Auditory Language Disorder Treatment

What is Auditory Processing?
Auditory Processing is a term used to describe your brain’s ability to interpret and make sense of speech sounds, both quickly and efficiently enough to understand spoken language. Individuals are able listen to effectively when energy that we recognize as sound, travels through the ear and is changed into information that can be interpreted by the brain.

What is an Auditory Processing Disorder?
An auditory processing disorder is a neurologically based disorder. It is marked by an individual’s inability to distinguish between distinct speech sounds, or consonants, impeding the interpretation of information. The speed of processing may also be reduced. They may actually miss words because their capacity to process what is being said instantaneously is impaired. This is due to weak connections in the auditory cortex of the brain – the location of neural circuits that support language. Individuals with this kind of disorder cannot distinguish between similar short words, like “da” and “ba”. Likewise, consonants that race by in less than a millisecond, like “k” and “s” are difficult to distinguish in everyday speech. As a result an individual with an auditory processing disorder misses words in conversation and instruction. They may mishear or misinterpret what was said. For example, a child’s mother may say to him, “I’m going to take you swimming after you complete all of your homework.” His mother never takes him swimming because his homework is incomplete. The child is convinced that his mother has lied to him. This is worsened in situations with significant background noise, such as classrooms and work environments. Additionally, a person who cannot distinguish sounds orally may also have difficulty connecting them to their written representation when reading or writing.

Consider this question; “Who was the first president of the United States?” An individual without processing difficulties will process the question correctly and provide the appropriate answer, George Washington. Alternatively, a person with a processing disorder will simply process the words. A child with an auditory processing disorder, in a classroom setting, may misinterpret the sounds, words, and/ or the meaning of the same question. As a result, they miss crucial information that follows. They may still be thinking about the meaning of the question when the rest of the class has moved on to something else.

An auditory processing disorder can injure a child’s self esteem. It may seem to parents or teachers that a child with an auditory processing disorder is ignoring them or intentionally not paying attention. In reality, these patients cannot really help it. Their self-esteem, obviously, will be affected when they are criticized for “not listening”. It is a statistical fact that 75% of a child’s day in school is spent listening.

Program Synergy

The Drake Institute’s Unique Approach to Auditory
Processing Disorders
At the Drake Institute we pay special attention to how the various components of our comprehensive treatment program coordinate together in a synergistic process. Our goal is to provide not only full care, but to ensure that each part of the treatment process is provided at the optimal time. The Drake Institute’s remediation techniques, aimed at resolving auditory processing disorders are significantly more effective when applied when an individual can sustain effective concentration or focus on new learning. It is obvious that when a patient’s attentional system is impaired, it would be almost impossible to fully benefit from therapies aimed at improving processing skills. In fact, without the all important ingredient of attention, treatment effects that require a certain neurological base will not hold or develop completely. That is why we treat the attentional disorder first, so the brain becomes more receptive to the auditory processing therapy. A program coordinator will be assigned to each patient to help guide your treatment. The Program Coordinator is invaluable in assisting you with the timing of each form of therapy and how they work best together. **

Research has shown that the incidence of a patient having both ADD and a language deficit is estimated to be 45%. Therefore, the importance of receiving neurofeedback treatment to address attentional disorders, prior to the commencement of treatment of processing disorders can not be understated. A unique aspect of the Drake Institute’s approach is that a person with an auditory processing disorder will benefit from two distinct and effective treatment modalities, that work together synergistically. First, attention deficits and language deficits are addressed through the use of customized and effective neurofeedback protocols. Next, the Fast ForWord computerized program is used to increase the speed of auditory and language processing. As with neurofeedback, it takes advantage of the brains’ ability to rewire itself. The program saturates the patient with exercises stimulating the left area of the brain involved in auditory / language processing. Because the brain has enormous plasticity, it can rewire itself to a stronger system that can actually strengthen weak connections in the brain that support language skills.

Full recovery from the difficulties facing a child or adult can not be achieved until all problems are sufficiently treated. In our experience we have found that the therapy programs that address these Auditory / Language disorders require, for best results, a highly receptive brain. The initial neurotherapy provides a strong base for the subsequent Auditory/Language treatment. We do this so that our patients can achieve the greatest benefit from this form of care. The development of confidence will only increase as our patients use their newly acquired skills and behaviors. Frequently self worth has been negatively affected by these disorders and rebuilding self worth is an important part of recovery.

**Care provided by outside sources must be made aware of the timing and characteristics of Drake care.

An auditory processing disorder, and/ or a receptive/ expressive language disorder can result in difficulty in any or all of the following:

How Does Fast ForWord Work?
The Fast ForWord program works to improve essential cognitive skills necessary for reading and learning to include; memory, attention, processing, and sequencing.

Memory skills are improved to hold information and ideas, facilitate comprehension of complex sentences, and aid in remembering instructions. Attentional abilities are developed to focus on tasks and ignore distractions. Individuals are also taught how to process more efficiently, enabling them to see and distinguish images and sounds more quickly. This is a prerequisite for phonemic awareness and reading. Sequencing skills, necessary for phonics, word fluency, reading and oral comprehension, are also improved.

The Reading to Language Connection
Fast ForWord exercises help individuals connect the language skills that are ultimately necessary for learning to read. A person who does not recognize or process word sounds accurately will not be able to make the right associations between letter representations and spoken language. Comprehension of connected text depends heavily on the reader’s oral language abilities. This is particularly true with regard to understanding the meanings of identified words and syntactic relationships among them. Each language skill adds to the overall picture, or goal, which is fluent reading and communication. The skills necessary for reading are phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition, listening comprehension, working memory, sound-letter recognition (phonics), semantics, and language comprehension. These are targets of the Fast Forword Program.

Fast ForWord accomplishes this through the following FAST Formula:

Frequency and Intensity: Research on brain plasticity demonstrates that completing a set of learning tasks in a frequent, intense time frame accelerates learning.

Adaptivity: The interactive exercises adapt to individual skill levels, adjusting the learner’s content exposure and targeting correct responses approximately 80% of the time, maintaining the challenge of the program and motivating success.
Simultaneous Development: Each exercise focuses on a specific set of reading or language tasks and simultaneously develops the underlying cognitive skills listed above.

Timely motivation: Individuals learn better when they are active, attentive and engaged. Rewards are provided on the first attempt, a proven neuroscience motivation technique.

Newsweek featured this program in their January issue of 2000. They quoted Michael Merzenich, a neurobiologist at the University of California San Francisco as saying, “ Ultimately, this strategy will lead to neuroscience based education. In 10-15 years this will be everywhere, and every school will be able to deliver help based on brain plasticity.”

The results of the Fast Forword program have been documented through independent, published, and peer reviewed studies, each documenting impressive and enduring results.

View a Auditory Processing Checklist