The echo in a gymnasium or the hum of the air conditioner in the classroom interferes with the conversation at hand. Some children with APD also have trouble screening out background noise, so they pick up bits of surrounding sounds. Children with ADHD also tend to demonstrate inattention, distractibility, and hyperactivity in any environment, whereas children with Auditory Processing Disorder usually do not have difficulty focusing and paying attention in quiet environments. As an example, a child may be diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), PDD (Pervasive Developmental Delay), Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Receptive Language Disorder, or Mixed Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder, because all of these conditions could affect how a child processes spoken information.Īlthough there is some overlap in symptoms, individuals with Auditory Processing Disorder present primarily with complaints of inability to follow directions and frequent requests for clarification, while individuals with ADHD present primarily with complaints of inattentiveness and/or hyperactivity.

Because many symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder overlap with other disorders, children are sometimes misdiagnosed or may have a coexisting condition along with APD. Many disorders share common traits and are often correlated.

Adhd and auditory processing disorder