Predicting Dyslexia Based on Pre-reading Auditory and Speech Perception Skills

Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired. Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM) along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed. Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments. Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus results support temporal processing deficits’ contribution within a multiple deficit model of dyslexia

Predicting future reading problems based on pre-reading auditory measures: a longitudinal study of children with a familial risk of dyslexia

Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired. Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM) along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed. Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments. Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus results support temporal processing deficits’ contribution within a multiple deficit model of dyslexia

Auditory Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairments: Are there Deficits in Frequency Discrimination, Temporal Auditory Processing or General Auditory Processing?

Background/Aims: Specific language impairment (SLI) is believed to be associated with nonverbal auditory (NVA) deficits. It remains unclear, however, whether children with SLI show deficits in auditory time processing, time processing in general, frequency discrimination (FD), or NVA processing in general. Patients and Methods: Twenty-seven children (aged 8-11) with SLI and 27 control children (CG), matched for age and gender, were retrospectively compared with regard to their performance on five NVA skills in terms of just noticeable differences (JND) and time order judgments (TOJ). JND was used for FD, intensity discrimination, and gap detection, while TOJ was used for FD and clicks. Results: Children with SLI performed significantly worse than the CG only on the FD tasks (JND and TOJ). The other nonverbal tasks showed no significant intergroup differences. Additionally, moderate associations were found between the FD tasks and phonological skills, as well as between FD tasks and language scores. Conclusion: Children with SLI appear to have restricted FD skills compared to controls, but there was no evidence for a common NVA deficit or reduced temporal auditory abilities. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

The influence of (central) auditory processing disorder on the severity of speech-sound disorders in children

OBJECTIVE: To identify a cutoff value based on the Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised index that could indicate the likelihood of a child with a speech-sound disorder also having a (central) auditory processing disorder . METHODS: Language, audiological and (central) auditory processing evaluations were administered. The participants were 27 subjects with speech-sound disorders aged 7 to 10 years and 11 months who were divided into two different groups according to their (central) auditory processing evaluation results. RESULTS: When a (central) auditory processing disorder was present in association with a speech disorder, the children tended to have lower scores on phonological assessments. A greater severity of speech disorder was related to a greater probability of the child having a (central) auditory processing disorder. The use of a cutoff value for the Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised index successfully distinguished between children with and without a (central) auditory processing disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of speech-sound disorder in children was influenced by the presence of (central) auditory processing disorder. The attempt to identify a cutoff value based on a severity index was successful

A preliminary study on the relationship between central auditory processing and childhood primary headaches in the intercritical phase

Recently, an increasing number of articles have appeared on central auditory processing disorders, but in the literature there is only one study that evaluated the possible correlation between migraine in the critical phase and central auditory processing. The aim of our study was to assess the correlation between auditory processing information and childhood primary headaches in the intercritical phase

A European perspective on auditory processing disorder-current knowledge and future research focus

Current notions of \u201chearing impairment,\u201d as reflected in clinical audiological practice, do not acknowledge the needs of individuals who have normal hearing pure tone sensitivity but who experience auditory processing difficulties in everyday life that are indexed by reduced performance in other more sophisticated audiometric tests such as speech audiometry in noise or complex non-speech sound perception. This disorder, defined as \u201cAuditory Processing Disorder\u201d (APD) or \u201cCentral Auditory Processing Disorder\u201d is classified in the current tenth version of the International Classification of diseases as H93.25 and in the forthcoming beta eleventh version. APDs may have detrimental effects on the affected individual, with low esteem, anxiety, and depression, and symptoms may remain into adulthood. These disorders may interfere with learning per se and with communication, social, emotional, and academic-work aspects of life. The objective of the present paper is to define a baseline European APD consensus formulated by experienced clinicians and researchers in this specific field of human auditory science. A secondary aim is to identify issues that future research needs to address in order to further clarify the nature of APD and thus assist in optimumdiagnosis and evidence-based management. This European consensus presents the main symptoms, conditions, and specific medical history elements that should lead to auditory processing evaluation. Consensus on definition of the disorder, optimum diagnostic pathway, and appropriate management are highlighted alongside a perspective on future research focus

Diagnostic - remedial procedures for auditory processing disorders

The purpose of this paper was to provide: 1. an overview of the auditory processing tasks and disorders which can occur in processing auditory stimuli; 2. Diagnostic - remedial procedures feasible with different kinds of auditory processing disorders; and 3. The needs for future research in assessment and training of auditory processing disorders

Individual differences in the discrimination of novel speech sounds: effects of sex, temporal processing, musical and cognitive abilities

This study examined whether rapid temporal auditory processing, verbal working memory capacity, non-verbal intelligence, executive functioning, musical ability and prior foreign language experience predicted how well native English speakers (N = 120) discriminated Norwegian tonal and vowel contrasts as well as a non-speech analogue of the tonal contrast and a native vowel contrast presented over noise. Results confirmed a male advantage for temporal and tonal processing, and also revealed that temporal processing was associated with both non-verbal intelligence and speech processing. In contrast, effects of musical ability on non-native speech-sound processing and of inhibitory control on vowel discrimination were not mediated by temporal processing. These results suggest that individual differences in non-native speech-sound processing are to some extent determined by temporal auditory processing ability, in which males perform better, but are also determined by a host of other abilities that are deployed flexibly depending on the characteristics of the target sounds

The clinical application of progressive filtering in normal and disordered populations

The present study examined the effect of progressive filter testing in children with normal auditory processing skills and children with (central) auditory processing disorders [(C)APD]. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if a new screening procedure designed by the investigator called Progressive Filtering would differentiate between a control group (i.e. children with normal auditory processing skills) and an experimental group [children with (C)APD]. Twenty subjects (age 6 to 14 years) participated in the study. All subjects received an audiological examination, an auditory processing test battery, and the Progressive Filtering screening tool. Results indicated that the investigator-designed Progressive Filtering screening tool did differentiate between the control and experimental groups for certain frequencies