My Autism Insights

Do audio books help individuals with auditory processing disorders to strengthen their listening and processing skills?  It would seem that they do.  According to Christie Berry, Ed. D., in her essay “Reading with your Ears ,” “Listening to unabridged audio books while following along in the book improves language skills, auditory processing, and contributes to an increase in overall cognitive abilities.” This was heartening to find as it validated 2 things I’ve been thinking about.  First, I’m noticing that Gus has a greater ability to focus on something auditory when he’s being read a story and following along (as opposed to listening if I’m asking him or giving an instruction).  So I started wondering if audio books might start to increase the length of time that he can sustain listening. This question was brought about by a second observation I recently made,  this one about myself.

I have terrible listening skills - always have.  Unless I’m very interested in what someone is saying, I zone out pretty quickly.  You can see how that might have been a problem in school since I often didn’t pay attention to what my teachers were saying (except the especially interesting one).  Fortunately, I’m a much more visual learner and a combination of reading and writing things down allowed me to excel, at least through high school.  College was a different story.  I had one teacher, my accounting professor, who droned on so badly that I could not stay awake in his class no matter how many coffees I had beforehand.  Only class I ever flunked.  When I became a teacher years later, there was always a running joke between my co-teacher and myself because neither of us was ever able to listen in the professional development meetings. We’d always say, “we don’t do extended listening.”

Then a few years ago, something incredible and completely unexpected happened.  Harry Potter on CD.  I was already a crazy obsessed fan, so I figured I could listen to them while driving and even if I missed a bunch of stuff, I knew them almost verbatim anyway.  What a surprise to learn that Jim Dale is a wonderful narrator and that I actually did have the capacity to listen to something for a long stretch - if it was interesting.

I’ve since become very fond of audio books and listen to segments of books almost every day.  Even the books I find less engaging to read (Jane Austen) hold my interest with the help of a good reader.  I’m fairly certain I’ve increased my capacity to pay attention to auditory information.  I’m thinking of trying some audio books for Gus (not Harry Potter - my kids don’t share my enthusiasm).  Perhaps they might help him to be able to focus in the classroom a little better over time.

For additional information on how audio books can help with auditory processing disorders, check out “Improving Auditory Processing - Listening to Language” by Sharon Hensley.

Have you had any success with using audio books to develop auditory processing skills?

Tomorrow: guest post from the author of General Hysteria on art projects for special needs children.  Don’t miss it!

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