Educators as Referrers for Central Auditory Processing Assessments

Chyrisse Heine,Wayne J Wilson,Michelle Slone

doi:10.1177/2158244016665894

Chyrisse Heine, Wayne J Wilson + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016665894

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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the referrers (including educators) and reasons children were referred to an audiology clinic for central auditory processing (CAP) evaluation, to identify a referral pathway for listening problems and professional development needs. A case file audit was used to examine the intake questionnaire completed by 150 parents whose child was diagnosed with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). School staff were the most common referrers, followed by medical/allied health professionals, and family members. The most common concerns leading to referral were literacy, speech, language, and academic underperformance, followed by hearing, listening, and processing difficulties and emotional-behavioral issues. Significant correlations were observed between the referral sources and concerns. Results suggest that CAPD is primarily conceptualized as part of a more general educational concern. Continuing education and informational counseling is required to ensure that CAP referrals continue to be appropriately made.

Highlights

Concerns raised by children’s listening difficulties or underperformance at school prompt a range of referrals for special education, psychological, medical, and allied health evaluations
Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) is a diagnostic category associated with an array of difficulties in a variety of academic and life domains (American Academy of Audiology, 2010)
These children had completed a full battery of hearing and central auditory processing (CAP) tests at an audiology clinic that specializes in CAP evaluation

Summary

Introduction

Concerns raised by children’s listening difficulties or underperformance at school prompt a range of referrals for special education, psychological, medical, and allied health evaluations. Deficits in central auditory processing (CAP) are directly raised as a possible etiological basis for these difficulties, especially when hearing loss has been excluded as a possible cause. Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) is a diagnostic category associated with an array of difficulties in a variety of academic and life domains (American Academy of Audiology, 2010). This retrospective study investigates educators as a referral source for CAP evaluation and presents a compilation of the other most common referrers and concerns that precipitate children’s referrals to an audiology clinic for CAP evaluation, resulting in an eventual diagnosis of CAPD. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) definitions of CAP and CAPD are adopted. CAP is the auditory mechanisms that underlie the following abilities or skills: sound localization and lateralization; auditory discrimination; auditory pattern recognition; temporal aspects of audition, including temporal integration, temporal discrimination (e.g., temporal gap detection), temporal ordering, and temporal masking; auditory performance in competing acoustic signals (including dichotic listening); and auditory performance with degraded acoustic signals. (ASHA, 2005, p. 2)

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