Symptoms of APD in Teenagers
In teenagers, due to the changing academic demands of higher grades, earlier symptoms or complaints may reappear. Without an accurate diagnosis, older children may not have received meaningful and appropriate accommodations to help them cope with Auditory Processing Disorder. Some children end up experiencing deteriorating motivation and develop low self-esteem along the way. Adolescents with learning deficits are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems if they do not have adequate support systems and develop appropriate coping skills. An APD diagnosis can help ensure that these children receive appropriate management strategies to be successful in school. For example, since some types of Auditory Processing Disorder affect the ability to pull information together efficiently and to sequence, plan, and organize responses, some children may qualify for untimed tests, extended time for projects/assignments, and additional time during standardized tests.
Teenagers may exhibit some of the following symptoms:
- Difficulty following sequential instructions
- Trouble paying attention for appropriate periods, such as during a class lecture
- Difficulty in classes in which they had excelled previously
- Lack of motivation to learn as academic demands increase
- Problems understanding concepts presented in lecture-based classes because of difficulty with note-taking
- Difficulty comprehending reading assignments
- Poor grades in foreign-language classes because of the new speech sounds and vocabulary that must be learned
- Difficulty with timed tests presented in multiple-choice or short-answer format, including college entrance exams
- Difficulty with certain teacher styles or accents
- Talking louder than necessary
- Difficulty remembering a list or sequence
- Often needing words or sentences repeated
- Poor ability to memorize information learned by listening
- Interpreting words too literally
- Becoming mentally fatigued more easily than peers
- Difficulty hearing clearly in noisy environments
