[senco-forum] Re APD indicators and other info - and Testing-URGENT

Dear Alyson and All,

I would really appreciate some good solid, practical advice on this. There
are children in my school who have listening difficulties although they have
hearing that is within the levels the medical professional deems acceptable.
I have no doubt about their very real difficulties. APDUK tell me that the
only place I can get APD diagnosed is at GOSH, and that, in any case, it has
no treatment other than the strategies that we already have in place anyway.

On the other hand, Speech and Language Therapists talk about auditory
processing DIFFICULTIES, and recommend sound therapies as intervention. I
have hunted in vain for the scientific data to prove the efficacy of these
therapies but there are knowledgeable individuals who are very genuinely
convinced that they are helpful in many cases. I think I'm right in
including Dilys Traherne among them (from memory of reading her article
"From Sceptic to Convert").

I want to do something for these children. What is the right and proper
thing to do?

Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Alyson Mountjoy
Sent: 08 December 2007 14:01
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] Re APD indicators and other info - and
Testing-URGENT 

Hi,

For those that are interested can I draw your
attention to the following link regarding assessment
of APD in the UK by GP referral to Great Ormond Street
Hospital, with criteria etc, and an email link direct
to the Chair of the UK professionals APD Steering
Committee for any questions on testing.

http://apd.apduk.org/adpdiagnosisuk.htm

WARNING
Please note;

Both APDUK and the the APD Steering Committee are very
concerned by reports that orthoptists and behavioural
optometrists are now claiming to be able to diagnose
APD, giving presentations on a scientifically untested
and unproven visual model of APD (I'm quite frankly
speechless!!) and citing scientifically untested
therapies that can cure APD - which is blatantly
untrue. These claims are dangerous and unfounded. This
is a very worrying trend both to APDUK and
professional experts in this field.

APD is a medically-based physical condition that needs
to be diagnosed by  a trained expert in that field,
i.e. an Audiologist. You wouldn't go to a chiropodist
for a suspected heart condition or to an oral surgeon
to see about diabetes. It's like taking your pet to a
car mechanic when they're ill! Common sense should
prevail, but it obviously doesn't.

Please do not refer to these people for APD testing.
If you are one of these so called professionals,
please refer those with suspected APD to those that
are trained to diagnose it efficiently. Otherwise you
are putting your professional reputation firmly on the
line.

I would appreciate anyone who has come across any
orthoptists/optometrists or any other professionals
claiming expertise in APD to PLEASE email me offlist
with details, all of which are being passed to the
Steering Commiittee for serious investigation.

Thank you.

Best wishes,
Aly

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

      __________________________________________________________
Sent from Yahoo! - the World's favourite mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com