Do I need a referral?

You don't need a referral to make an appointment at Auditory Processing Services.  You may be able to access Medicare rebates with a referral, or if you or your child has a Team Care Arrangement in place.  If you have access to funding through the NDIS, we can provide services to self-managed, plan-managed and NDIS managed clients.  

Our clients are referred to us by teachers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists and GP's. But some people recognise the red flags for APD themselves and self-refer.

Are you NDIS registered?

Auditory Processing Services is NDIS registered.  If you have access to funding through the NDIS, we can provide services to self-managed, plan-managed and NDIS managed clients.  

Do you offer online / remote appointments?

Most of our testing and therapy can be offered either face-to-face at our Hobary (Kingston) clinic or online. If your child is undertaking online assessment or therapy with us, we ask that an adult stays close by in case your child requires assistance.

What is an auditory processing disorder (APD)? 

Despite having ‘normal’ hearing, people with auditory processing disorders (APD) have difficulty processing and interpreting auditory information. The ear detects and transmits sound towards the brain. However, when the information travels to the brain, the child or adult has problems interpreting or understanding it accurately. It is estimated that 20% of the school age population has APD. 

What are some of the ‘red flags’ for APD?

• Difficulty with reading, spelling or reading comprehension

• Difficulty remembering auditory information

• Difficulty organising sounds in a proper sequence

• Problems successfully combining auditory and visual information

• Difficulty with localisation of sound

• Problems attending to different information presented to opposite ears

• A consistent delay in response to a question or instructions

• Difficulty understanding speech in background noise

How is APD diagnosed?

At Auditory Processing Services we use the Buffalo Model developed by Dr Jack Katz, Ph.D. for diagnosing and treating auditory processing issues. We assess clients (from age 3.5 years) on the degree to which they deviate from the norms on 3 listening tests.

The tests measure a person's performance in 4 categories:

• Decoding: the ability to process phonemes quickly and accurately

• Tolerance-Fading Memory: The ability to understand speech while in competing noise and the necessary short-term memory capacity to do so.

• Organisation: The ability to organise and store orally presented information in the brain.

• Integration: The ability for the left and right hemispheres of the brain to communicate.

Through our assessments, we identify the individual’s specific auditory processing problems.

How is APD treated?

Most commercially available programs provide practice related to general auditory processing skills and compensation strategies. At Auditory Processing Services, we follow the “Buffalo Model”, which has a long history of success as it targets the specific areas of weakness identified in our APD testing.

Through our assessments, we identify the individual’s specific auditory processing problems (which relate to specific academic/occupational and personal communication difficulties) and through therapy, we train the auditory nervous system to process speech and other sounds more accurately, quickly and with less effort. We focus on the areas of deficit. Working one-to-one with auditory training therapy can develop the skills and strategies to resolve an individual's weaknesses. 

Will therapy help my child at school?

Auditory Processing Disorder is associated with speech and language delays in children as well as learning difficulties including but not limited to:

• difficulties with phonological and phonemic awareness

• literacy learning difficulties including reading, spelling and comprehension

• behavioural and social difficulties

• exhaustion after school from listening effort.

This is not a complete list and many of these characteristics are also associated with other disorders which is why testing and diagnosis is so important.

At Auditory Processing Services, we aim to help clients improve their central auditory processing skills and reduce the mental overload spent compensating for their difficulties.  Early intervention is best and clients who receive treatment post APD evaluation have been seen to improve their academic achievement, participation, career opportunities and psychosocial development.  

A professional evaluation may result in additional services and resources becoming available through schools, employers, insurance, and government support networks.