What to look for?

First pay attention to any words that the person might miss or misinterpret. Individuals with auditory cognitive disabilities have difficulty processing language sounds. The difficulties can impact how he or she "takes in," retains, recalls, and/or expresses information. This can lead to incorrect interpretations of what they hear. Dr. Cooper refers to this as individuals with a racing mind. He states they will often exhibit triggering when rhyming e.g. slow -- fast, quick -- fix. Triggering is the term used to describe the phenomenon of a person's thoughts jumping past the correct response to the next logical response or to the opposite response. The triggering may be the result of a breakdown of the auditory processing and/or attention deficits.

Special considerations :

The first question is usually answered with a definite "yes" or a questioning look. Those individuals who have this problem know it because it usually has caused the person difficulty in social situations. The person who does not have this problem wonders why you would ask such a question.


Auditory - Brian's responses are bold

  • Do you find yourself listening to more than one conversation at a time? Yes
  • Rhyme the word:
    CAT ______MAT
    SLOW ______FAST
    QUICK _____SLOW
    Person has difficulty rhyming? Yes
  • Do you often mishear words that are said to you?
  • Do you misinterpret what is said to you?
  • Do you take things that are said too literally or miss double meaning or jokes?
  • Do you have difficulty paying attention to long conversations or lectures? Yes
  • Do you have difficulty hearing what one person is saying when there are a lot of people talking?
  • Does your mind race ahead thinking about the first thing that was said to you so you do not hear or pay attention to the rest of what was said?
  • Do you have difficulty with spelling? Yes
  • Do you have difficulty reading (decoding or sounding out) unfamiliar words? Yes
Summary of Auditory Problems Yes Total # _5__

Impaired auditory perception means that the person will not hear everything said or will hear it incorrectly. For example, they may have difficulty with syllables that are not accented: "seven" and "seventy" may sound the same. Similarly, they cannot distinguish between words that sound somewhat alike: for example, "how" and "who".