Are SPD and CAPD the same thing?

by Allisa
(New York)

My mother in law told me that my husband had a hearing problem and I tried to figure it out on my own. After buying several books on Sensory Processing Disorders and then another new one on Speach, Language and Listening Problems she finally told me that he has a central auditory Processing Disorder....they sound very similar. Are they connected???? I have a 6 month old son who is delayed....I am starting to think it could be SPD...please help...thank you for your time.



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Nov 11, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		SPD and CAPD the same thing?
by: Anonymous

No, they are not the same thing. SPD is the bran's inability to organize and interpret the senses correctly. Central auditory processing disorder is the brain's ability to interpret and process auditory information correctly.

Children with CAPD will have perfect pure tone hearing meaning that when the school or pediatrician test their hearing, they will show 100% perfect hearing. The only place to get CAPD tested is with an audiologist that specializes in CAPD testing. There is a high co-morbidity rate of SPD and CAPD. My daughter has SPD and CAPD. You can't test for CAPD until they are six years of age. However, if you suspect that your child suffers from this and the child is not old enough for testing, I would suggest that you speak slowly to your child and then pause after giving instructions to allow the child extra time to process your language. Also, visual cues help tremendously with children with CAPD. For example, if you want to give instructions to your child, you can either take pictures of each step or draw pictures of each step and put them side by side and create a visual picture of all steps of a task. If you have any children in school, the schools have software for this called Boardmaker, and they may be able to produce some for you.

Depending on where you live, you may have to travel to get a CAPD evaluation when your child is old enough as there are not alot of audiologists that specialize in central auditory processing disorders. Good luck.
Mar 05, 2010
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by: Christina

I saw your question concerning your 6 month old child. My son was diagnosed with SPD at the age of 3 and recently tested for CAPD at age 6. Although he was unable to complete the difficult test to be considered diagnosed with CAPD, they do feel that he probably has it. I was told that the both can be related. CAPD doesn't mean your child cannot hear, it is just that his brain has a hard time processing what he hears and may sometimes act as though he doesn't hear you or may not immediately respond to your verbal communication. I was told that age 6 is the youngest age to test for CAPD, but SPD can be recognized very early, usually at age 2 though. It is worth talking to your child's dr. about, esp. with a family history of a processing disorder. Good luck!

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