Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional What is this? I could really use advice.

This sounds very much like my 9 yo dd who has been diagnosed with dyslexia. She was evaluated on the CELF and her receptive language score was in the 18th or 16th percentile and her other scores were in the normal to above average range. I don't know if the poor receptive language is related to the dyslexia or if it's caused by CAPD. She definitely shows sx of CAPD.

ETA: She has been evaluated 3 times and not once has anybody thought she has ADD or ADHD. But one problem she has, which sounds like CAPD, is that when she is in the classroom she has such a hard time focusing (she even tells us this) b/c of every sound she hears. And it's not like it's distracting her, in fact she concentrates really hard and she can't help but notice these other sounds and it interferes with her hearing what she needs to be listening to. It seems she has very acute hearing.

Her academic performance improves tremendously when she is instructed one on one, and even more so when she is in a quiet environment.

Not to hijack, but I am very interested in this book! Have you read it? DD presents as borderline for a LOT of things but nothing really stands out as THE thing, and a # of things have been ruled out, supposedly. She confounds people regularly.

FWIW DD really seemed suspicious for CAPD from the checklists, although she was certainly missing the academic problems that often come with it.


One other thing I would mention is SPD. DD is very sensitive to loud noises, another CAPD sign, but the diagnostician asked us some questions about it and suggested SPD might be the culprit.

Thanks all. Girl Scouts went okay. DD did seem overwhelmed and sat out a few games. Then during the quiet game mirror mirror she became much more engaged. Then they sang and danced "I say a Boom Chicka Boom" and when everyone got loud and started dancing around DD sat down in the middle of the floor and put her hands over her ears.

Looks like I have a lot of reading to do. I am sure I will be back with questions, but thank you all for giving me some directions to at least look.

DD did tell me that she has a hard time understanding what is said at girl scouts because "everything is just so loud."

Yes x 1,000 to the CAPD.

My DS8 had only a part of it (binaural integration imbalance - which means his brain prefers one ear - but it's almost worse than being deaf in the other ear because the "ignored" ear still receives sound which his brain interprets as white noise that clutters everything up).

Anyway... he is sensitive to noise, totally fine one-on-one, but gets very confused and tunes out in a group environment.

It's diagnosed by an audiologist (about 3 hours), referred from a pediatrician.

The BII that my son has apparently self-resolves by the time they're about 12. I'm hoping...

(Btw, he also has a hard time learning names...)

Thanks yall. DD's friend is still over. They are playing that they are indians and are preparing for winter. LOL. One on One dd is in her element. I am going to be researching CAPD and try to implement somethings and see if that helps since we can't get an evaluation right now.

CAPD definitely sounds like a possibility, amazedmom.

Not to confuse the issue, but just to throw something else out there (that could confuse the issue lol!)... my dd11 used to have the same issues with noises being too loud and not being able to filter out background noises - in kindergarten she couldn't hear her teacher talk because of what she heard as a very noisy classroom (teacher said it wasn't noisy at all). She also was terrified of going into new places - any place she hadn't been before... it seemed to me like it was worse when we were going into crowded public places, large rooms, things like that - so I really thought it was related to hearing in some way and to her sensitivity to noises. She went through listening therapy when she was 5 years old, and that seemed to help.... but ultimately what helped her the most was... vision therapy - she had extreme double vision and lack of peripheral vision as well as difficulty tracking. We had *no clue* about any of that - but in addition to what you wrote about noises/hearing, one other thing sounds very much like my dd at that age - avoiding eye contact. I had to ask her (repeatedly) to look *at* me when I was talking to her and trying to make eye contact. I think there are a lot of different reasons for that avoidance of eye contact, but fwiw for our dd it was because she couldn't see up close and it was too hard to try to focus on our face.

Re remembering names... my ds13 was also like this in early elementary school... still is to a certain degree, but for him, the key was that he just wasn't that interested in remembering anyone's name. He could remember his best friend's name and the names of his sister's best friends, but other kids just weren't that meaningful or interesting to him at that age. That sounds like he had some type of disorder re social relationships - he didn't, he was well-liked and functioned a-ok socially... he just wasn't that interested in other children's names. Once he was in middle school *and* in a much more intellectually stimulating school environment he started remembering the names of the other kids. It's weird, it's quirky, it's whatever. He has no memory issues - he has a really amazing memory. So for him, I think it was all about interest level.

I think it's cute that your dd is playing getting ready for winter - I'm playing pretending it's spring today lol!

Best wishes,

polarbear

Polarbear- I am playing that too. It snowed May 1st,2nd, and 3rd
Not sure when we will have spring. It doesn't usually get green here on the island until almost July. Sigh, last July it was green but snow was still on the ground in places and hiking was quite a challenge. That is interesting about the eyes. I may have DD do a vision screening at the clinic. They have some type of new machine that will alert them to a possible problem and then they refer out. Lots of thinking to do. You know, that is interesting about what you said about your son. DD will remembers names when she has a great interaction with them, for example, she has lots of teenagers who she loves and she remembers all of their names, so it could just be that she's not interested. She does have an amazing memory even if her working memory score wasn't great. She remembers small minute details from years ago. Like, the fact that 3 years ago we ate at an ihop in texas and exactly what she ordered and what the kids menu looked like. It can be frustrating to her at time because I don't remember those types of things. Sometimes I think she takes in so much detail and sound that she can't exactly distinguish between what is important and what's not.

A random idea I had was that if she has unusually acute hearing rather than actual CAPD then musician's earplugs might help her reduce input to a manageable level. My husband has a 50% pair that he wears when needed. I can't imagine you could get those on your island though. They are custom made to your ear.

Ultramarina I am trying to find a moment to send you a PM, but I bought that book on kindle a year or so ago, read the whole thing and found it really useful. And as that sort of text goes I found it more readable than say Different Minds by Diedre Lovecky

Further earplug thought - you could trial this with foam earplugs, the psychologist we saw re Aspergers recommends cutting foam earplugs in half and wearing them as needed to reduce auditory stress. Cut in half they'll reduce noise but not be completely effective. And they're cheap and should be readily available.