Manual dexterity and outcomes in a commonly used test battery to assess auditory processing disorder (APD) in children

Abstract

Purpose: Sensori-motor processing is a factor in sensory and auditory processing disorders and motor skills are related to language ability. However, data on the extent of motor impairment and its relation to different auditory processing (AP) domains are sparse. This study evaluated the prevalence of impaired manual dexterity (MD) and its relationship with different AP tests comprising a commonly used diagnostic test battery for auditory processing disorder (APD).Method: Data were collected retrospectively from case notes of 513 children who had routine APD assessment. Five diagnostic AP tests of the SCAN-3 test battery (‘Filtered Words’, ‘Auditory Figure Ground 0 dB’, ‘Competing Words-Directed Ears’, ‘Competing Sentences’ and ‘Time Compressed Sentences’), MD component of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-second edition (MABC-2), and Children’s Communications Checklist-2 (CCC-2) were used to assess AP, motor skill and language abilities respectively. Percentile rankings ≤10 were considered as failing the tests. Contingency tables were used to compare the proportions of participants with impaired MD between three groups of participants based on AP abilities. Multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between MD and AP tests, controlling for age, NVIQ and language.Results: Impaired MD were seen in 37.9%, 40.7% and 47.6% of participants who passed all, failed only one and failed two or more AP tests, respectively. A significant proportion of variance in MD was explained by ‘Competing Sentences’ and ‘Time Compressed Sentences’.Conclusions: Poor MD is common in children with suspected APD. Evaluation of APD needs to include motor and other transdisciplinary assessments for different co-morbid neurodevelopmental conditions to facilitate individualized support and to help formulating an operational definition of APD. The relationship between MD, ‘Competing Sentences’ and ‘Time Compressed Sentences’ supports the role of processing of sequences, working memory and time in motor coordination.