Dyslexia + auditory processing delays

[Anonymous]

My daughter was just identified as dyslexic, low working memory (8th percentile) and to have an auditory processing delay.

I am just learning how to best support her. It seems like many of the recommendations encourage “ear reading” vs “eye reading.” How does this play out thought if a child also had APD?

[Anonymous]

Op here and DD is going into 7th grade

[Anonymous]

If you can get Learning Ally, she can listen to the story as she also read man the text as it is highlighted on the screen. My dyslexic daughters use this. The ear reading complements the eye reading. But of course, you will also have to remediate the dyslexia, work in reading comprehension, etc. This is an accommodation to keep them moving forward and keep up with peers as you ALSO do all those other things.

[Anonymous]

Typo: “as she also reads the text”

Sorry, my fingers got going too quickly for my dumb slow phone and then it did something wonky with auto-correct.

[Anonymous]

The working memory deficit is super common with dyslexia, so much so that many OG programs have working memory supports built in.

Ear reading is fabulous! Your daughter should listen to as many audiobooks as she can, for fun. You can also read out loud to her - I read out loud to my dyslexic son through middle school. Ear reading will build vocabulary, background knowledge, and familiarity with how written language is structured differently than spoken language. It will also help with prosody when she does read with her eyes, because she’ll have in her mind examples of what written language sounds like when read out loud. When you read silently with your eyes you actually “hear” the words in your mind, and that doesn’t happen easily for dyslexic people. They have to built it.

She also needs to gain fluency with eye reading. She’ll want and need it in high school and college. There is just too much text in school to accommodate it all in audio form, and she’ll want to access it all quickly and without fuss. So, she needs remediation. An academic language therapist is your best bet, and you can find one through ASDEC or asking for recommendations here. A number of ALT read this forum and we can help if you’d like that.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to answer your specific question about the intersection between auditory processing disorder and ear reading.

[Anonymous]

One tip in supporting your child -
As you enter the school year, request all of the books for English now so that she can listen to them ahead of time.
Get on the wait list for the audio books for the library - some of the readers for Learning Ally are not the best. (Per my son who is Dyslexic)
We will get the audio book from the library OR audible if needed.
My kids listen to the book first to understand the story line - and then "read" for the assignment.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry I can’t help but I have a question- how was the auditory processing delay diagnosed? I have been starting to wonder if my NT child may have auditory processing issues but have struck out on a formal diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was just identified as dyslexic, low working memory (8th percentile) and to have an auditory processing delay.

I am just learning how to best support her. It seems like many of the recommendations encourage “ear reading” vs “eye reading.” How does this play out thought if a child also had APD?

My Dc with very severe dyslexia probably also had some auditory issues as he mumbled and could it be understood, even by me, for a long time and he gets similar sounding words mixed up. His working memory was also in the single digits. The latter could be RAN issues which is part of his dyslexia. He did very well with audio books.

How does your child do when you read them a story? How do they do with listening to a book on car rides? I think you can experiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry I can’t help but I have a question- how was the auditory processing delay diagnosed? I have been starting to wonder if my NT child may have auditory processing issues but have struck out on a formal diagnosis.

It looks like a few tests went into consideration and it seems like the main ones were

WRAML-3 and CTOPP-2

But I could be wrong interpreting the report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was just identified as dyslexic, low working memory (8th percentile) and to have an auditory processing delay.

I am just learning how to best support her. It seems like many of the recommendations encourage “ear reading” vs “eye reading.” How does this play out thought if a child also had APD?

My Dc with very severe dyslexia probably also had some auditory issues as he mumbled and could it be understood, even by me, for a long time and he gets similar sounding words mixed up. His working memory was also in the single digits. The latter could be RAN issues which is part of his dyslexia. He did very well with audio books.

How does your child do when you read them a story? How do they do with listening to a book on car rides? I think you can experiment.

Good question, I have been reading Harry Potter to both kids and we are on book 7. After I disclosed to DD that she had been identified as dyslexic she shared a few things and one of them was “You read Harry Potter too fast for me to keep up when the plot has a lot going on.”


I am glad she felt comfortable sharing that because I can certainly slow down my pace. We hadn’t done a lot of audiobooks before so we will be experimenting with them. I can slow down the speed.

Currently I am reading The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan and the author spends a lot of time talking about how he trained himself to ear read at a much faster pace so that he could keep up with what his peers were able to eye read for academic content and it made me wonder since she has an auditory processing delay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was just identified as dyslexic, low working memory (8th percentile) and to have an auditory processing delay.

I am just learning how to best support her. It seems like many of the recommendations encourage “ear reading” vs “eye reading.” How does this play out thought if a child also had APD?

My Dc with very severe dyslexia probably also had some auditory issues as he mumbled and could it be understood, even by me, for a long time and he gets similar sounding words mixed up. His working memory was also in the single digits. The latter could be RAN issues which is part of his dyslexia. He did very well with audio books.

How does your child do when you read them a story? How do they do with listening to a book on car rides? I think you can experiment.

Good question, I have been reading Harry Potter to both kids and we are on book 7. After I disclosed to DD that she had been identified as dyslexic she shared a few things and one of them was “You read Harry Potter too fast for me to keep up when the plot has a lot going on.”


I am glad she felt comfortable sharing that because I can certainly slow down my pace. We hadn’t done a lot of audiobooks before so we will be experimenting with them. I can slow down the speed.

Currently I am reading The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan and the author spends a lot of time talking about how he trained himself to ear read at a much faster pace so that he could keep up with what his peers were able to eye read for academic content and it made me wonder since she has an auditory processing delay.

It may just take her longer to absorb the information with the working memory issue too. Slower paced listening can still be her solution.

When my DC was in elementary school, we had him listen to 30 minutes of reading a day and do 30 minutes a day of “eye” reading. The audiobooks were at his cognitive level since his reading level was so delayed. The benefit of listening to audiobooks at their cognitive level is that they keep up with the increasingly complex, plots character, developments vocabulary, and background knowledge of their peers. Then, they can learn to read at whatever pace it takes.

My DC had trouble starting books at home, so we would frequently start the books in the car and after 20 minutes, he was generally hooked.

[Anonymous]

My 17yo dyslexic daughter also processes auditory info slowly. For example, now that she is driving, she says that the google maps voice often does not give her the info soon enough for her to process it and take action. I think she just has to practice. I can tell, in conversation with her too, that I have to allow gaps for her to process what I have been saying. This can be extreeeeeemely difficult for impatient, fast-talking, me! I am constantly working on it.