Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Finally - something about Auditory Processing Disorder - Thanks Rosie!!

Totally off subject  but finally someone is bringing Auditory Processing Disorder  (APD) to the general public!! Thanks Rosie O'Donnell !!   She was on the ABC Morning Show yesterday and this article was in the Science Times as well (one of my favorite subjects)

I just read this article and listened to the video about APD.  It's comforting to know that this is getting more coverage and it somehow legitimizes what so many of us parents as well as our children have been going through.   I have often had a difficult time explaining this to friends and family and  I hope this book will help make it easier to understand and to explain. 

The craziest part is it is all soooooo familiar bc I think I too have this disorder.  I was able to figure out ways to cope and luckily did very well at school but it wasn't until i was mature enough to care about grades that I was able to come up with my own coping skills.  We found out Laura had this when she was four years old. Not because a teacher pointed it out but because we were considering private school as an option.  In NYC you have to take a standardized test called the ERB and our daughters testing scores were so off compared to what we knew of her.

  Initially the advice we received was " I guess she's just not a private school candidate".  Pretty unbelievable.  and scary.  If anyone needs private school or the equivalent of it , it would be a kid with a learning disability.  And frankly I wish everybody could get the kind of attention my children get at school... maybe if those Goldman Sachs people pd huge taxes on their bonuses we could afford to better equip our public schools0 but I digress..

  Because we insisted I was able to get the name of a wonderful neuro- psychologist in Brooklyn  who tested Laura and we found that she has APD.  Since then has had lots of Speech Therapy (really for comprehension) and Occupational Therapy with some wonderful therapists who have been amazing in their treatment of her as well as support to our family.  Laura's first year was spent at a public school and we were able to get her into a private school where she repeated kindergarten and has loved school ever since.   Here is the link to the book referred to in this article.  I will be ordering  it soon!!

 Another book I highly reccommend is  Scattered but Smart.  This really explains how the executive skills are compromised by this disorder. I'm sure everybody will find something that is familiar in there!  

That's all for now. Next post will have some photos of my latest projects and more book recommendations as well. I  LOVE BOOKS and am totally addicted to Amazon!

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