Captain of Your Ship ?

Guest
Someone in this forum was asking about Central Auditory Processing Disorder recently. This thread is part educational (I hope) and part vent.

Yesterday it came to my attention that few professionals have even a general overview of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) -- that includes those that should.

The professionals involved in evaluating my son over the last 2 1/2 yrs include (the ones I can remember off the top of my head):

3 speech pathologists
2 occupational therapists
2 diagnosticians
3 psychologists
2 school counselors
1 audiologist
2 Sp Ed Directors
2 Principals
2 Asst. Principals

That totals 19. How is it that with the cumulative experience of these professionals not one felt inclined to broach the subject of treatment for this disorder with the parent either individually or in a group setting? Wouldn't you think that with all this knowledge base, somebody down the line would have snapped, like, "Oh, by the way, this is what can be done about it."? It didn't happen.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is one disorder that can at least be remediated if identified early and treated by the age of 10. After that, it's my understanding not a whole lot of ground can be gained with treatment -- if any. (Same with-Sensory Integration Disorder (SID)).

Below are some pretty good Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) links. There's more, but this will give you an overview. If any of it sounds familiar, please get your child to an audiologist for an evaluation.

Please, don't depend on the pros to tell you everything they should. Whether by mistake or by design, the impact on your child is the same -- your child ends up not getting the help needed as early as possible.

Recognizing and Treating Central Auditory Processing Disorder by Maxine L. Young
www.scilearn.com/support2/docs/MYoungCAPD.pdf

What is Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)?
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/central_auditory.html .

CAPDs by ldonline:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/8056

www.familyeducation.com/experts/advice/0,1183,23-3347,00.html (has some teacher info)
http://www.asha.org/

Oops! Forgot two pediatricians. That's 21.
 

EastCoastChris

New Member
Alisha, you are assuming that the world of education and the world of medicine, intertwine a some point!

I have never been impressed with educations knowledge of the pathophysiology of learning disorders. I have never been terribly impressed with medicines grasp of what interventions really work with learning disabilities or disorders. Sorry. It's frustrating.
 

Guest
Perhaps I expect too much. But it would have been nice if, for instance:

-- the first psychologist that diagnosis ADHD had cued us about the likelyhood of co-existing conditions, mentioned the possibility of learning disorders, advised that there were evaluation procedures in place in the schools, accomodations for qualifying students.

-- Same with the speech pathologists at numerous meetings -- one-on-one and in groups, like, "Hey, there's treatment for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)."

-- perhaps a diagnostician that had enough education and dedication would have put my son first rather than trying to blow my questions off.

-- a pediatrician would have had the guts to tell me right up front he didn't have a clue about treating ADHD. The other one requests updates of my Parent Report, for which I'm very, very grateful. On the other hand I step back and think, "Isn't he in the better position to put this all together and guide me?"

Fran, you might remember back in the Spring when I had finally gotten all the evaluation reports in -- I was so excited. I posted to the board, wanting to know who to go to that could put it all together. You posted something like, "There's no one. You're the captain of the ship."

That comment hit me like a ton of bricks; in my heart I knew you were 100% right. I've looked, but nothing's changed -- there's still no one.

Parents just getting started down this road need to know that they can only rely on professionals to a point. Doesn't matter what the diagnosis or even if there isn't one but they know there's a problem. They need to know that even with the best professionals on their team they must still read, research and educate themselves -- gain a broad understanding about neurological disorders, potential learning disorders, treatments, and education laws. It takes time, but it's not optional -- the parent is indeed the captain of the ship.
 
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