Children with reading disability and normal reading development were compared in their ability to discriminate native (English) and novel language (Mandarin) from nonlinguistic sounds. Children's preference for native versus novel language sounds and for disyllables containing dominant trochaic versus non-dominant iambic stress patterns was also…

Few studies have examined the ability of individuals with learning disabilities, in general, or with Down syndrome, specifically, to discriminate speech. The purpose of this study was compare the speech discrimination abilities of eight children with Down syndrome (aged 5.7 to 12.8 years) to seven nonverbal mental-age matched controls (aged 4.0 to…

A forward-gating procedure employing familiar monosyllabic words was used in auditory testing of age- and gender-matched elementary students with and without learning disabilities. Results indicate auditory closure skills were comparable between disabled and nondisabled subjects, but sensory discrimination problems may contribute significantly to…

The auditory perception skills of 32 learning disabled (LD) and 32 non LD culturally different elementary pupils were compared. Results of the Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test and three subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities indicated consistent differences between the two groups on all four measures of auditory perception…

Children with language learning problems (N=151) and normally learning children (N=143) were tested on fine-grained auditory discrimination tasks that required responding to small acoustic differences. Performance on the auditory tasks was highly correlated with group placement suggesting that fine-grained auditory discrimination makes a major…

A study examined whether electrophysiologic techniques could identify central auditory processing difficulties in 15 low-achieving gifted adolescents. Results found that P300-wave morphology was significantly poorer for the low-achieving gifted group compared to achieving gifted and nongifted typical groups, but was not different from those with…

Eighty college students with learning disabilities were evaluated via intelligence tests and auditory language tests. In the 63 students with auditory language problems, persistent problems were discovered in discrimination, comprehension, memory, retrieval, sequencing, syntax, formulation, and articulation. The major area of language problems was…

The auditory receptive language skills of 40 learning disabled (LD) and 40 non-disabled boys (all 7 - 11 years old) were assessed via computerized versions of subtests of the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Auditory Skills Test Battery. The computerized assessment correctly identified 92.5% of the LD group and 65% of the normal control children. (DB)

Debate continues over the hypothesis that children with language or literacy difficulties have a genuine auditory processing deficit. Several recent studies have reported deficits in frequency discrimination (FD), but it is unclear whether these are genuine perceptual impairments or reflective of the comorbid attentional problems that exist in…

This paper describes adult symptoms of Central Auditory Processing Disorder and provides strategies for dealing with this disability. Symptoms include talking or turning on the television louder than normal, interpreting words too literally, needing remarks repeated, having difficulty sounding out words, ignoring people, being unusually sensitive…

The origins and nature of auditory dysfunction in school age children and the role of the audiologist in the evaluation of the learning disabled child are reviewed. Specific structures and mechanisms responsible for the reception and perception of auditory signals are specified. (Author/SEW)

The study evaluated the effectiveness of three instructional methods in promoting speech sound discrimination and reading achievement over a 3-year period. (Author)

Twenty reading-disabled, 10 math-disabled, and 25 control-group college students were assessed on a battery of psychophysical tasks that included 5 tests of temporal processing. Findings suggest that poor temporal processing is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of reading disability but that there is a modest association between the two…

The booklet outlines ways to help children with learning disabilities in specific subject areas. Characteristic behavior and remedial exercises are listed for seven areas of auditory problems: auditory reception, auditory association, auditory discrimination, auditory figure ground, auditory closure and sound blending, auditory memory, and grammar…