Auditory Processing

When should I choose this Area of Focus for my Gabadoo?

Auditory Processing refers to how a person processes and understands spoken language. Some children and adults can have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is often diagnosed by an Audiologist.

There are four different areas which you may be looking for support around:

1) Auditory Memory: this is a separate area of focus which you can select and you can read about it here.

2) Auditory Discrimination: this relates to how your child notices, compares and distinguishes between separate sounds.

3) Auditory Figure-ground discrimination: this is how your child copes in busy environments so that they can drain out background noise and only focus on important sounds.

4) Auditory Sequencing: this is how your child understands and recalls the order of words and sounds.
Auditory sequencing: understanding and recalling the order of sounds and words.

Difficulties in this area can impact on a child's ability to listen in busy environments like the classroom, their speech, conversational skills, reading, spelling and many more areas.

It's essential to rule out any hearing issues prior to completing a Gabadoo if you have any concerns in relation to this.

Our Gabadoo Team are experienced at working with children and families to support the development of their auditory processing and communication skills. Get individualised strategies and support today through a Gaba Plan.

Important to Note:

There is a separate 'Area of Focus' for auditory memory which you can learn more about here. If this is more appropriate for your child, you should select auditory memory when completing your Gabadoo. You can read about this area here.

There is a separate 'Area of Focus' for receptive language which you can learn more about here. If this is more appropriate for your child, you should select receptive language when completing your Gabadoo.

What information do I need to include in my Gabadoo?

As our Gabadoo Team have never met your family before and know nothing about your child, they can only provide strategies based on the information you provide so be very detailed!

After you have filled in the relevant information in your Gabadoo, go through this checklist to make sure you have included the following:

Family & Home Life:

Description of your family & the structure of your family including siblings, pets or any extended family who are living in your home. Also include if anyone else in the household has identified difficulties with their speech or language.

Your daily routine including school hours, child-care, free-time in evenings and weekends.

Strengths and Interests:

What does your child like to do?

What games, toys, T.V. programs, characters do they like?

What type of activities do they enjoy?

What school subjects do they enjoy?

What daily activities do they enjoy doing with a parent or family member? e.g. cooking, baking, jobs, walking the dog.

Do they respond to praise from adults?

Do they enjoy playing with other children?

Additional Information:

What class is your child in at school?

What type of schooling do they receive? i.e. homeschooling, mainstream N.S., gaelscoil, preschool, ASD class, Special School.

Have you seen any professionals in the past in relation to their communication or language? Or has your child ever had a medical review in relation to their hearing? If so, what was the outcome?

How does your child currently communicate? E.g. speech, Lamh, PECS, AAC, gesturing etc.

What parts of learning/subjects does your child (1) enjoy and (2) find more challenging? E.g. art, story-time, oral work, languages etc.

Make sure to include:

What have you tried before to work on this skill e.g. interventions, specific programmes, courses, books etc.

Include a list of toys or books that you already have at home that your child likes to engage with so our team can use what you already have at home.

Detailed observations of what level your child is at - consider how they respond to multi-step instructions, understanding books during story-time, how they react when there are lots of instructions, how many steps can they follow in an instruction (one, two, three, four) etc.

Does a busy environment impact on your child's ability to listen or follow instructions?

What observations have been mentioned by their school-team in relation to their listening, academics and focus?

Detail observations of how this is impacting on them day to day, both at home and in school.

Very Important: What would you you like to gain from this Gabadoo? What are some of your goals? E.g. I would like to get strategies to support my child's ability to..

Next include videos and images of your child and their environment:

A variety of video-clips where you or another family member is talking to your child, giving them unfamiliar commands, multi-step instructions or asking them questions about a book.

Remember: The more information you give our team, the more individualised and relevant your plan will be. Videos are very helpful when reviewing a child's communication and listening.

What support will I receive for my child?

Your information will be reviewed by one of our Gabadoo Experts who is experienced in the area of auditory processing. They will detail individualised strategies, activities, next steps and helpful organisations and products that you can use at home to support your child.