Our speech therapists help kids every day to succeed in school by helping them develop foundation skills needed for great learning in the classroom. Please get in touch to find out how we can help!
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Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent reading and spelling.

There is a growing body of evidence about the serious short and long‑term effects of dyslexia. Young children with dyslexia tend to gain less pleasure from reading, and so read less. These children’s overall educational development is often delayed because of the need for reading and writing and spelling skills throughout schooling. Academic failure and a lack of qualifications often impacts on the occupational choices and opportunities in adulthood.

While some individuals develop coping strategies and/or overcome their difficulties, many become disaffected and disengage from education. A recent UK report estimates that dyslexia may significantly affect between 4% and 8% of children. There are a number of influences that predict better and poorer long term outcomes:

Things that influence better outcomes
Early intervention
High quality intervention
Strong oral language skills
Ability to maintain attention
Good family/carer support

Problems which may cause poorer outcomes:
Severity of phonological problems
Auditory processing disorder
Slow speed of processing
Lack of compensatory resources
Co-occurring learning difficulties
Late recognition and intervention
Poor teaching
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Auditory processing problems

​Auditory processing disorder (also known as APD, central auditory processing disorder or CAPD) is a condition that makes it hard for kids to recognize subtle differences between sounds in words. It affects their ability to process what other people are saying. 

​Signs and Symptoms of an Auditory Processing Disorder

• Poor listening skills
• Speech and/or language and/or literacy problems
• Problems discriminating similar-sounding speech sounds
• Difficulty paying attention to and remembering information
• Problems following multi-step directions
• More time needed to process information
• Difficulty listening in noise
• Poor organization of verbal material
• Difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling and vocabulary
• Low academic performance
• Behavior problems
• Ask speakers to repeat what they’ve said, or saying, “huh?” or “what?”
• Be easily distracted, especially by background noise or loud and sudden noises
• Struggle with oral (word) math problems
• Find it hard to follow conversations
• Have poor musical ability
• Find it hard to learn songs or nursery rhymes
• Have trouble remembering details of what was read or heard

Auditory processing disorder... Or language disorder. Which does your child really have? You need to know, so you can treat effectively.

​The answer is... Probably BOTH! Studies indicate that auditory processing and language are so interconnected that it's hard to tease them out. Assessing for and treating both is recommended!

Our speech therapists assess for and treat literacy and auditory processing disorders, as part of your child's speech and language intervention. We provide fun, engaging intervention programs based on the latest research. ​