Correspondence
Auditory Perception Disorder
I was pleased to read the well structured article on this important topic.
In the context of diagnostic evaluation, it should be mentioned that in patients with symptoms of dyslexia, physical diagnostics should entail evaluation for auditory or visual impairments, and functional diagnostics should entail evaluation for auditory perception disorders (especially discrimination, phonological awareness, and seriality) as these need to be ruled out or treated concomitantly.
This is a more obvious range of conditions to evaluate diagnostically than diabetes, as mentioned in the article.
Children with auditory perception disorders and dyslexia are often found to have had speech therapy when their history is taken. If the correct pronunciation was achieved by means of oral motor exercises and tactile-kinesthetic feedback rather than by treating phonological awareness, then the problems encountered during speech acquisition will recur during the acquisition of writing skills.
In Lower Saxony, affected children can apply for integration grants according to paragraph 35a of the Child and Youth Welfare Act. The costs of educational support will then be covered for a limited time period.
The prerequisite for this is a complete diagnostic evaluation by a pediatrician, a specialist in pediatric audiology, and child and adolescent psychiatrist.
DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2011.0262b
Dr. med. Jan Swart
Rehabilitationsklinik Werscherberg
Postfach 1161
49136 Bissendorf, Germany
| 1. | Schulte-Körne G: The prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of dyslexia. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(41): 718–27. VOLLTEXT |
