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Auditory Attention Problems
One of the controversies in the area of APD is differentiating a child
with a general attention problem or a specific attention deficit (such as ADHD)
from a child with an auditory processing problem related to attention issues. It
is not the purpose here to discuss the issue of differing between APD and ADHD.
Instead, this section of the simulation will look at some of the common problems
in auditory processing with which people having auditory attention difficulties
my present.
Auditory Attention Difficulties due to
Distractibility
One of the most common complaints people with auditory attention problems
state is how they are distracted by background, irrelevant sound (called noise)
when they are trying to focus and attend during listening tasks. Background
noise can come from a variety of sources such as fans, air conditioners,
heating, chit-chat of neighbors, people walking, street noises, movement of
furniture, etc. Just imagine you have the task of disarming a bomb and you’re at
the point of cutting the final wire when someone sneezes. We often see this
scene in movies and realize the tension of the person involved, and sometimes
for "comic relief" there will be a noise such as some accidentally knocking over
an object onto the floor. Just imagine the level of focal energy for the person
working with the bomb. This may be similar to the level of energy a person with
an auditory distractibility problem faces with difficult listening tasks.
To simulate the effects of distractibility in this simulation, irrelevant
letters will be typed at random. Your task will be to figure out the actual
words that make up the message while filtering out the irrelevant letters just
as a child focusing on a speaker is trying to figure out the words being said
while filtering out the background, interfering, competing noises.
Hicqkorwy, edicrkorty, ydocuk,
Tihe omoupse arans upd thfe cglochk.
Thhe jclokck lstrzuckx once,
Tvhe bmounse mran< do>wn
HQickWoryE, dRickToryY, dUockI.
Before looking at the answer, did you figure out the message? Well, here’s a
clue. The irrelevant letters follow the standard "qwerty" keyboard. Therefore,
go through the message crossing off each of the letters in the qwerty sequence
and you will find the correct words of the message. In doing this, think of how
many words you needed to get before you knew the message? One word? Two words?
If you only needed a few words, then familiarity with the language and
information as well as experience with the information is certainly helpful.
Therefore, one strategy we need to consider in working with a child who has
decoding problems and speech-in-noise distractibility difficulties is to
familiarize the person with the information and vocabulary used in messages in
order to increase the likelihood of successful comprehension and recognition of
the message and information presented.
View
lyrics used for simulation.
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