Speech/Language Screening

Mrs. DeYoung has begun observing students at Prairieview in their classrooms to identify children who may benefit from speech and language intervention. She has listened to students read aloud, speak in front of the class, and complete cooperative activities with partners. Teachers or parents may contact her to request speech and language screening for any child in the building.

Auditory Processing Disorder

The following article for parents and more information about APD is found at www.kidshealth.org

What is Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory processing disorder (APD), also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), is a complex problem affecting about 5% of school-aged children. These kids can't process the information they hear in the same way as others because their ears and brain don't fully coordinate. Something adversely affects the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, most notably the sounds composing speech.
Kids with APD often do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. These kinds of problems typically occur in background noise, which is a natural listening environment. So kids with APD have the basic difficulty of understanding any speech signal presented under less than optimal conditions.

Detecting APD
Kids with APD are thought to hear normally because they can usually detect pure tones that are delivered one by one in a very quiet environment (such as a sound-treated room). Those who can normally detect sounds and recognize speech in ideal listening conditions are not considered to have hearing difficulties.
However, the ability to detect the presence of sounds is only one part of the processing that occurs in the auditory system. So, most kids with APD do not have a loss of hearing sensitivity, but have a hearing problem in the sense that they do not process auditory information normally.
If the auditory deficits aren't identified and managed early, many of these kids will have speech and language delays and academic problems. Symptoms of APD can range from mild to severe and can take many different forms. If you think your child might have a problem with how he or she processes sounds, consider these questions:

• Is your child easily distracted or unusually bothered by loud or sudden noises?
• Are noisy environments upsetting to your child?
• Does your child's behavior and performance improve in quieter settings?
• Does your child have difficulty following directions, whether simple or complicated?
• Does your child have reading, spelling, writing, or other speech-language difficulties?
• Is abstract information difficult for your child to comprehend?
• Are verbal (word) math problems difficult for your child?
• Is your child disorganized and forgetful?
• Are conversations hard for your child to follow?

APD is an often misunderstood problem because many of the behaviors noted above can also appear in other conditions like learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and even depression. Although APD is often confused with ADHD, it is possible to have both. It is also possible to have APD and specific language impairment or learning disabilities.

Please contact Mrs. DeYoung if you suspect that your child may have difficulties with auditory processing, or if you have other speech and language concerns.

Week 3

This week Mrs. DeYoung met with students and began assessment with children who are working on improving articulation. Third graders were introduced to ways to be a good communicator:

Listen
Take turns talking
Stay on topic
Look at the person you are talking to
Use facial expressions

4th, 5th, and 6th grade articulation groups are focusing on monitoring their speech production and rating their own speech. They practiced evaluating their articulation using evaluation charts.

Language groups at Prairieview have either reviewed classification skills to identify categories/similarities between items, or used a graphic organizer to identify the main idea of a paragraph. Fourth and fifth grade language groups identified details in the reading passage that support the main idea. These activities help students develop reading comprehension, increase vocabulary and use specific language.

Finally, middle school students participated in cooperative activities to practice effective listening and communication.

As the semester progresses, Mrs. DeYoung will be visiting classrooms at Prairieview to observe and identify children who may benefit from speech and language intervention. Please contact her if you know of a student who you would like to have observed or screened.

Week 2

Dear Parents,
Children enrolled in speech/language therapy services have begun Speech classes and should have brought home a note stating the day/s and time they are scheduled for Speech. Students will be asked to keep Speech handouts or assignments in their binders. I will be giving them an extra pocket for their binder to hold the Speech work. If you have any questions or concerns about speech and language services, you may contact me at (630) 783-5157 or email: mdeyoung@ccsd66.org. I am looking forward to another great year!

Mrs. Marilyn DeYoung
Speech-language Pathologist