I am posting this about my niece/godchild.
I will use the term "we" here because I have been helping my sister in law figure this all out, she asks me for advice a lot.
I had suspected APD and brought it up to SIL, this was a few years ago. She is now 6. She's adopted so we don't know her history up until 15 mos other than she was probably a victim of neglect prenatally and maybe beyond.
Her symptoms at that age were a severe debilitating fear of loud noises, popping sounds (balloons, fire, gas stoves, gum, toys w/sound and even lava lamps) when she gets scared she completely loses control screaming, goes stiff and starts shaking. She has gotten a little better about some things but now anything that will potentially make a noise freaks her out. (like fire/balloons) She often has to wear headphones with music to distract her at parties etc.
She doesn't have much of a speech delay, still talks younger sometimes, like replaces she with her etc.
Now she is in first grade her teacher and mom are having a very difficult time with her doing work and reading. She will refuse to do work in class and put her feet up on the desk. (not sure if that's even related or if she just wants to get attention, that seems to be an issue as well)
The part she is having a lot of trouble with now is reading. She is at a very low level in reading (was almost held back in kg) and can barely read 3 letter words like "mat" and if she does read it she forgets it by the next page.
She accuses people of yelling and totally tunes people out when she can. When doing homework she claims she can't because the dishwasher, or other random noises are bugging her.
If you sit face to face with her, tell her what to do, and have her sort of repeat it back she will get it but often things get lost in translation it seems. She does have trouble following directions and when she gets in an argument with her brother or cousin she will hit or scream at the top of her lungs. Same if she ends up in a time out she screams so loud you would think that the neighbors would call the cops. She doesn't seem to understand consequences rationally...and that seems to be one of the only consequences that work at all, although she just screams and screams. If you tell her she can come play if she stops screaming she stops for two seconds and starts screaming again. (this is my experience with her) She gets tons of pos. reinforcement. She just seems a lot younger, which is hard because my dd is the same age and they fight a lot.
She's also having trouble with accidents in her pants at school, first it was because she was scared of the sounds of toilets but now we don't know what it is.
Does this sound like just APD? She has been tested and was found to have an auditory processing problem but not bad enough to get help in the way of OT or help at school. (I've been telling SIL to insist on more help and keep pushing it especially now that she is 6) The doctor did some initial tests for Autism and said she was not autistic and her hearing is perfect. The doctor didn't know what APD was when she asked him about it. She was tested through another avenue.
It's just becoming more and more of an issue as she falls more behind and behavioral issues grow. Does this seem like something more? She asked me if I thought it was ADHD but it seems so much of the symptoms are just from APD related issues. She isn't hyperactive and the only ADD thing would be that she forgets things, but that is also a APD symptom too right?
My nephew (other side of family) was diagnosed APD and seemed to grow out of it but I don't think it was very severe at all.
I'm curious about this but mostly just want to help my niece out. THanks in advance.
I will use the term "we" here because I have been helping my sister in law figure this all out, she asks me for advice a lot.
I had suspected APD and brought it up to SIL, this was a few years ago. She is now 6. She's adopted so we don't know her history up until 15 mos other than she was probably a victim of neglect prenatally and maybe beyond.
Her symptoms at that age were a severe debilitating fear of loud noises, popping sounds (balloons, fire, gas stoves, gum, toys w/sound and even lava lamps) when she gets scared she completely loses control screaming, goes stiff and starts shaking. She has gotten a little better about some things but now anything that will potentially make a noise freaks her out. (like fire/balloons) She often has to wear headphones with music to distract her at parties etc.
She doesn't have much of a speech delay, still talks younger sometimes, like replaces she with her etc.
Now she is in first grade her teacher and mom are having a very difficult time with her doing work and reading. She will refuse to do work in class and put her feet up on the desk. (not sure if that's even related or if she just wants to get attention, that seems to be an issue as well)
The part she is having a lot of trouble with now is reading. She is at a very low level in reading (was almost held back in kg) and can barely read 3 letter words like "mat" and if she does read it she forgets it by the next page.
She accuses people of yelling and totally tunes people out when she can. When doing homework she claims she can't because the dishwasher, or other random noises are bugging her.
If you sit face to face with her, tell her what to do, and have her sort of repeat it back she will get it but often things get lost in translation it seems. She does have trouble following directions and when she gets in an argument with her brother or cousin she will hit or scream at the top of her lungs. Same if she ends up in a time out she screams so loud you would think that the neighbors would call the cops. She doesn't seem to understand consequences rationally...and that seems to be one of the only consequences that work at all, although she just screams and screams. If you tell her she can come play if she stops screaming she stops for two seconds and starts screaming again. (this is my experience with her) She gets tons of pos. reinforcement. She just seems a lot younger, which is hard because my dd is the same age and they fight a lot.
She's also having trouble with accidents in her pants at school, first it was because she was scared of the sounds of toilets but now we don't know what it is.
Does this sound like just APD? She has been tested and was found to have an auditory processing problem but not bad enough to get help in the way of OT or help at school. (I've been telling SIL to insist on more help and keep pushing it especially now that she is 6) The doctor did some initial tests for Autism and said she was not autistic and her hearing is perfect. The doctor didn't know what APD was when she asked him about it. She was tested through another avenue.
It's just becoming more and more of an issue as she falls more behind and behavioral issues grow. Does this seem like something more? She asked me if I thought it was ADHD but it seems so much of the symptoms are just from APD related issues. She isn't hyperactive and the only ADD thing would be that she forgets things, but that is also a APD symptom too right?
My nephew (other side of family) was diagnosed APD and seemed to grow out of it but I don't think it was very severe at all.
I'm curious about this but mostly just want to help my niece out. THanks in advance.
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