Treatment of (Central) Auditory Processing Disorder: Bridging the Gap Between the Audiologist and the Speech-Language Pathologist

Abstract

There is a history of debate and controversy about the assessment and intervention of children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD). Professionals in communication sciences and disorders view APD from different perspectives. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) tend to view APD from the language and literacy perspective, or a top-down model, whereas audiologists tend to view APD from an auditory perception perspective, or a bottom-up model. Professionals who assess and treat children with APD need to bridge the gap and merge their different perspectives to plan effective intervention for children with APD. A panel of audiologists who demonstrated expertise in the area of Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPDs) developed The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA's) technical report on APDs (ASHA, 2005). This report was approved by ASHA's Executive board in 2005. In this report, central auditory processing refers to the efficiency and effectiveness by which the central nervous system uses auditory information. Central auditory processing includes the auditory mechanisms underlying the skills of sound localization and lateralization; auditory discrimination; auditory pattern recognition; temporal aspects of audition, including temporal integration, temporal discrimination, temporal ordering, and temporal masking; auditory performance in competing acoustic signals; and auditory performance with degraded acoustic signals (ASHA, 1996; Bellis, 2003; Chermak & Musiek, 1997; Jerger, 2009). A CAPD is a deficit in processing auditory input that is not due to higher-order language, cognitive, or related factors (Musiek, Bellis, & Chermak, 2005; Musiek & Chermak, 2007). However, children diagnosed with CAPD may experience difficulties in academic learning, speech, language, social skills, and literacy (e.g., encoding, decoding, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and written language).