At What Age Can a Child Be Tested for APD?
Although one limitation of age is the childs abilities and maturity to handle certain tasks that we use in assessing APD, the best answer to this question relates to the specific approach to APD the professional takes in doing the assessment. One approach to APD and probably one of the most often applied approaches that audiologists take is related to the neurophysiology of the central auditory pathways. From the perspective of this neurophysiological approach, the goal of the APD assessment can be summarized as finding where in the central auditory pathways there is a breakdown that is causing the child to have a problem processing auditory information. Once this breakdown is found, the approach suggests looking for a possible physiological reason for the breakdown and treating the physiological disorder or ruling out a physiological cause and stating that the problem is due to a lack of normal maturation of the central auditory system. If a professional takes this neurophysiological
