View My story having Auditory Processing Disorder flipbook.
MY STORY HAVING AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDERby: Emily
Hi class! Most of you already know me from being in the same class, but there are things you don’t know about me. I love to read, write, and ride my bike! There are things I struggle with in school too.
When the teacher talks, I have a hard time understanding what she says, also when she says words really fast, I don’t hear her very well.
I thought I had problems with my ears, so my mom took me to the ear doctor to check. My ears are fine and I was happy to hear that. A different doctor told me I had something called Auditory Processing Disorder. I want to share with you all how this affects me.
What is Auditory Processing Disorder?Auditory Processing Disorder is when your ears can hear things, but your brain has a hard time understanding the sounds. For example, you might hear someone talking, but have trouble understanding what they are saying, especially when their is alot of noise around you. You might need people to repeat themselves or have trouble following directions. It does not mean you cannot hear, it just means your brain has a harder time making sense of the sounds you hear.
What it looks like for meWhen we are doing spelling tests you may notice I ask the teacher to repeat the words she wants us to spell. I can hear her speaking, but I don’t always understand the words she says. I also struggle to follow instructions when it isn’t written down. When she tells us what to do for projects, alot of the time I have to stay after class and ask the teacher to tell me again what to do.
Its even worse when people are talking fast, to me it sounds like they are speaking a different language.
I love going to school! I wish it was as easy for me as it is for the rest of you though.
I have to try extra hard to listen in class to make sure I don’t miss anything the teacher says. When the class is loud though, it makes it really hard.
School is supposed to be fun! I wish I could understand words normally.
It makes me feel less smart when I don’t understand what people say the first time. And I get embarassed to ask people to say it again.
I also don’t have many friends because its hard to talk to people.
I can’t sit with people in class because it takes my focus away from the teacher. I pretend it doesn’t make me sad, but I’m very lonely at school.
Some things that could make school easier for me is having instructions written down for me specifically.It also would help for when people do talk to me, they say smaller words, louder, and clearly.
Extra time for listening and spoken instructions would be helpful too. Having extra time would make it easier for me to process what is said.
And to my classmates,if I don’t answer you when you talk to me, it’s because I didn’t understand, or was focused on something else. Just tap me on the shoulder and say it again!
Although I have trouble understanding words that are said to me, I am very good at reading words in a book, and I am good at writing words on paper.
I also love being outside, my favourite thing to do is ride my bicycle!
I made this book to teach people that just because I learn differently, doesn’t make me less smart.I can still do lots of the same things everyone else can, and I am very good at certain things too. It just takes me more time to understand things that are said to me, all I ask is for patience from everyone else.
The End.