Hi Kriston, Great to hear that you finally got the testing done!
I was just telling my husband, an engineer, about your most recent comments. He just commented that he, and most of the engineers he knows, have to actually 'say' what they are working through to make the connection with their brains. He says that it has nothing to do with hearing it; they could mumble it. But he said that it has to go through his brain in this way to process it (in just another way). Something I just learned that I had in common with my husband.:) And it is very hard for both of us to focus on something with background noises as well. We are both extremely visual.
From what you've told me already, it is not apraxia. My DS's speech therapist said that these kids have difficulty verbalizing any sounds, that it isn't a connection to the brain thing in the way you may think. See this quote from ASHA
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/ChildhoodApraxia.htm "Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words."
Here are my thoughts of why he probably does not have CAPD either; but you know your child best. I hope that you don't mind all of my two cents+++.:) This list is from
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/auditory.asp And I have commented next to each [in brackets] why it doesn't seem to fit either.
"What are the symptoms of possible auditory processing difficulty?
Children with auditory processing difficulty typically have normal hearing and intelligence. However, they have also been observed to
-Have trouble paying attention to and remembering information presented orally [Visual kids need a combination of learning tools to "understand," not memorize - as memorizing doesn't make sense to them if the understanding is not there. Understanding is what they need. They are trying to make connections to other information; so it is not a matter of paying attention, but actually making worldly connections to what they are learning.]
-Have problems carrying out multistep directions [didn't you tell me that 'easy was hard and hard was easy' for him? - also like mine...this was an issue before, but with practice is now a non-issue.]
-Have poor listening skills [Do you have to get his attention first, and then he listens fine? - Again, he is making connections to the world. How does everything relate?]
-Need more time to process information [I don't remember you saying that this is an issue, except that he may be just thinking through things, and then the next day, he gets it?? - again like mine.]
-Have low academic performance [a non-issue]
-Have behavior problems [also, a non-issue, especially in our hs environments:)]
-Have language difficulty (e.g., they confuse syllable sequences and have problems developing vocabulary and understanding language) [non-issue as well, right?. He has the vocab, but he doesn't use it, right? Expressive Language Disorder symptom - although it may not be this.:)]
-Have difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary [non-issues as well, right? If there is a spelling issue, it may because he is not into sounding out words, like most VSLs, just having lots of sight words -- sound familiar? - this just needs practice, as you already know.;)]
I do think that you should have an SLP evaluate him if you are still looking for answers. I wouldn't mind anyone else's insight and comments on my thoughts as well. We are a year out in testing my DS; and Kriston's and my son sound very similar.
