Asking for an APD evaluation

[MicheleB]

I am going to ask our ST for referrals for both my boys to have an APD eval. I know she doesn't think they have APD, but I'm not convinced and haven't been for quite some time.

What should I look for in order to know it's a thorough evaluation? Any experiences you care to share would be helpful as well.

Thanks. :001_smile:

[MicheleB]

Anybody?

[newbie]

You should have a neuro psych eval, one thats familiar w/APD and an audiology exam, also familiar w/APD.

Not all audiologist or neuropsychs know how to test for it.

Try yellowbookforkids.com and call specialists in your area.

[HeidiD]

I am going to ask our ST for referrals for both my boys to have an APD eval. I know she doesn't think they have APD, but I'm not convinced and haven't been for quite some time.

What should I look for in order to know it's a thorough evaluation? Any experiences you care to share would be helpful as well.

Thanks. :001_smile:


My son was evaluated for this yesterday, and I expect to receive a rundown on the results later in the week.

It's my understanding that not all audiologists are trained to assess this particular problem, so you would want to find someone with specific training/experience diagnosing APD. There are various assessments included in the APD evaluation such as visual-auditory memory and auditory-sequential memory.

You would start out with a basic audiological eval and a speech/language evaluation, perhaps a neuropsychological evaluation to exclude other causes for the symptoms, and then you would need a more extensive audiological eval specifically for APD.

Hope this helps. :)

[LizzyBee]

Google your city + audiologist + auditory processing disorder to find an audiologist who has the training to diagnose APD.

I have 2 kids diagnosed with APD. The testing took 2-3 hours, during which I filled out paperwork regarding their medical history and our concerns. The testing starts with a hearing exam that is more thorough than a standard exam and even measures the emissions from the ear. (I found that kind of fascinating since I didn't know ears emit emissions.) Then there are 4 different types of tests to measure various aspects of auditory processing. A few weeks after the testing, we met with the audiologist for about an hour or maybe 90 minutes to discuss the results and her recommendations. After the meeting, she put the final touches on the written report and then mailed a copy to us and a copy to our primary care doctor.

With each dd, the report included a list of suggested accomodations for homeschooling or a classroom. She recommended a comprehensive evaluation by either a neuropsych or EdPsych for each dd, but I didn't follow up with that until after my youngest dd was diagnosed. Her issues are so much more severe than my 13yo's that I decided I needed all the input I could get.

IRRC, your boys have already had neuropsych evals, so you really just need the audiologist eval at this point. A neuropsych eval is not needed to diagnose APD, but our audiologist recommended further evaluation just so that we'd have as much info as possible to help with our girls' education.

You said your SLP doesn't think your sons have APD. The SLP who did an updated speech eval for my youngest dd last year didn't see any APD issues with her, including phonemic awareness issues. I'm convinced she is just incompetent, because every other professional in my dd's life can clearly see that she has major phonemic awareness problems. Trust your instincts on this.

[MicheleB]

Thank you all. It's good to know what to look and ask for! :)


You said your SLP doesn't think your sons have APD. The SLP who did an updated speech eval for my youngest dd last year didn't see any APD issues with her, including phonemic awareness issues. I'm convinced she is just incompetent, because every other professional in my dd's life can clearly see that she has major phonemic awareness problems. Trust your instincts on this.

So true! My instincts are telling me they are having trouble with this. I remember when the SLP and I talked about this a long while ago, she mentioned an audiologist. Not sure if it was someone in our town or if she meant referral elsewhere.

I need to call her soon to set up our fall ST, so I will be discussing this with her then.

[TraceyS/FL]

I kept reading this on my iPod Touch - i don't really LIKE typing on it! LOL!!

I found this site after we had our testing, our Audiologist was on the list. I did find a few other places i would have tried to get into too had i known about it. I'm willing to go into the deeper testing though, so i'm working on that aspect.

http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/

And the page to find someone near you: http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/capd-rf1.html

We did this first, and now are waiting for our Speech & Language Eval to be graded and all that. But my youngest goes to ST at the local school, and she was shocked that i thought my middle child had APD. She was willing to do her screening test - but we ran out of time when her intern was there. I think she is going to be surprised to hear how bad she really is.... which just proves to me that unless you are trying to teach these kids reading, you can't "see it".

My "Mommy Gut" was dead on, i hope you get your eval and some more answers.

:grouphug:

OHHHH, and if your ST is a member of ASHA, you can find their areas of specialty here. I used this to wean thru my list of providers. It came down to 1 at the head of the list, and 2 others i'd consider if they couldn't get us in at #1. We were able to get into #1 and i'm beyond pleased with her. I did have 2 other people recommend her too - the OT and a friend from gymnastics that owns a Home Health Care agency.

http://www.asha.org/proserv/

[MicheleB]

Thank you all! I finally went with my gut and called a ped. therapy clinic an hour from here and scheduled second opinions. The head SLP there has experience in APD.

I also asked for OT and sensory evals. I learned that the sensory evals can take one to two sessions! The "sensory eval" I had at our current OT was filling out a 2 page form. :confused:

I'm anxious to hear the results! I will share. Next week is the appt. :)

[TraceyS/FL]

Oh good, sounds like solid progress. I drive 45 minutes to get to our OT & ST, there is just nothing around here closer that is pediatric qualified (old people is us around here). Our SLP/ST eval ended up being 4 hours long - only 40 minutes or so was her talking to me, the rest was testing. YIKES. OT was 2 hours and we ran out of time....

Hang in there! :grouphug:

[newbie]

Good luck, keep us posted.:grouphug: