[senco-forum] Developinglistening skillsinsecondarypupils-Eddie'sCD

Eddie,

"If a child has poor listening skills and is nevertheless able to follow a  
sequence of oral instructions then it is unlikely that APD is the problem. I  
think it much more likely that some degeee of attention deficit is present.  
Attention seeking behaviour also frequently comes to the fore when  
instruction is oral."

As I said in various posts, APD has many and varied difficulties. A child  
can have problems listening in noise but be able to follow a sequence  of 
instruictions. A child can have problems in sequencing but none in reading. A  child 
can have problems with listening and be able to read and spell well.  A child 
can have problems in all the areas mentioned or just one, or 2 or more.  They 
can be varied and intermittent.

Attention deficit is a totally different problem to attention seeking  
behaviour which is also a totally different issue and can have a variety of  causes 
apart from or including poor listening skills. 

Frustration in not being able to understand can cause what teachers put  down 
to attention seeking behaviour because it suits them to look no further and  
just blame the child.

"If a poor reader who appears to be unwilling or unable to listen for any  
significant period of time, undergoes a course of short daily experiences of  
listening and his/her general literacy skills improve as a consequency of  
this - what does it matter what label is placed on their difficulty?"

If the child is unwilling then that is not a listening problem. It is a  
behavioural issie. If the child is unable to listen for a sustained period it  
matters very much especially if the listening is not the only issue...if it is  
only one of the symptoms of an underlying disability called APD which can have  
an impact on every aspect of their lives for their entire life...and if it is 
 missed because people like you do not care to look further.If a child is 
unable  to listen it should be a red flag that there is a problem.

All you are concerned with is the quick fix, little Johnny isnt listening,  
may even be disrupting others,  so "let's sort out little Johnny and make  him 
listen and behave" may be the right approach for you but it is NOT  the right 
approach for little Johnny. You have said yourself you don't care  what the 
cause is so long as your program works. But for how long will the gain  remain? 
Have you researched into that? If the child has inherited APD the gain  will 
be short term because the plasticity of the brain works both ways and it  will 
soon revert back to its old patterns of working.

"Suppose this particular child took a test for APD which indicated a  
theorectical possibility that some degree of APD was present, are you really  
saying that this child should not have been given this remedial course which  
significantly improved their literacy skills?"

Not in place of knowing why he had poor listening skills...he will  need help 
in many areas for the rest of his life as there is rarely only one  
difficulty. And we have not yet established how long this significant  improvemenrt 
wil, last. You have yourself stated you have only tried the program  with 12 
children from 4 schools! Hardly enough to be basing such wild  assumptions on.

You deny APD exists and know very little about it then try to argue about  
it. PLEASE do your research before discussing something about which you  know 
very little and without basis for  "this remedial course which  significantly 
improved their literacy skills."  

Best wishes,
Aly

Chair Auditory  Processing Disorder in the UK/APDUK
www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm 
www.apduk.org