Auditory Processing: Do You Hear What I Hear? (Part 1)

What is it?

Auditory processing is recognizing, interpreting, remembering, and manipulating sounds. These are important skills needed for reading and often referred to as phonological processing, phonemic awareness, and phonics. Perhaps you've heard a child say:

“I can’t tell what word rhymes with toy.” 

“I don’t know the first sound in the word dog." 

“I can’t tell you what sound the letter /m/ makes.”

These are indications of difficulty with auditory processing. There are ways to help your child improve these skills, even with simple games at home. These are great things to do with your preschooler, too!

How can I help my child?

An important thing to remember when trying to improve your child's auditory processing skills is to keep the sessions fun and brief. Take a break even if you feel like you just started, especially if your child is feeling frustrated.

Simple games such as this song that teaches sound isolation to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" make a great starting place.

"What's the sound that starts these words: turtle, time, and teeth?
(Wait for a response from the child - /t/.) /t/ is the sound that starts these words: turtle, time, and teeth.
With a /t/, /t/, here and a /t/, /t/, there, Here a /t/, there a /t/, everywhere a /t/, /t/. /t/ is the sound that starts these words: turtle, time, and teeth..."

Here are some free colored rhyming cards to download. More activities to do at home can be found on this Pinterest board, dedicated to Phonemic Awareness.

Here's a free app for the iphone with 566 images used for phoneme awareness. More apps (to purchase), such as Auditory Memory Ride, can be found at the Virtual Speech Center.

If you've got $445 to spend check out this LiPS Kit to get some serious practice for auditory processing skills!

Also, be sure to check with your child’s teacher to make sure the school’s reading program or your homeschool curriculum teaches phonological, phonemic awareness and phonics skills.

Does your child seem to have a major difficulty in this area? Learn how to get a diagnosis and help for an auditory processing disorder in Part 2 of this series.

Thanks to Reading Rockets, The Access Center, and LD Online for information on auditory processing used in this post.