Technical stuff first

Before we take off on this road together, make yourself a snack and find a comfortable chair because it is important for you to understand what Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is. The technical stuff comes first, and as our journey takes flight you will come to understand more about CAPD and about it affects our daily life.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder is to the ear as dyslexia is to the eye. Just as dyslexics can see the words, but some letters get jumbled in their brains, those with CAPD can hear, but their brains aren't able to process some sounds. (Carter, Dartmouth Medicine, 2000)

The explanation by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is as follows: CAPD is a sensory processing deficit that commonly impacts listening, spoken language comprehension and learning. CAPD is the inability or decreased ability to attend to, discriminate among or between, recognize, or understand auditory information. Most language is learned by listening. In order to learn, a student must be able to attend to, listen to, and separate important speech from all the other noises at school and home. When auditory skills are weak the student may experience auditory overload. This make learning more challenging and sometimes too difficult without special assistance.

All of this seems hard for anyone to process! There is more to come on the definition of CAPD, how Emmie was diagnosed, and what happens in our day to day life with CAPD. You must know I don't sugar coat, and some days are better than others. Don't worry, I'll warn you first!

Thanks ya'll,
Donna