Well, more than once-in-a-while I misunderstand what I hear. Especially if I’m preoccupied, or the environment is noisy, and rather much if the other person is mumbly.
Quite likely the funniest Auditory Processing glitch I’ve had yet:
A grocery customer comes by and asks, “Do you have any haggis?”
(Mind you, I’m in the States; most groceries don’t even carry haggis, traditional or vegetarian.)
Turned out he was enquiring about
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
hacky sacks!
And no, we don’t generally carry those either, tho’ at the beginning of summer we get various toys in our seasonal aisle (sidewalk chalk, soap bubbles, jacks, pool floats and such).
Sometimes people ask for the oddest things at the grocery … this week someone wanted a printer cable — a serial port* printer cable! At least we got ourselves sorted before getting as far as the breakfast cereal aisle.
__________
* For you non-technical folks, that’s an older piece of equipment, not something you might find at a big supermarket, like cheap headphones, CDRs, or power strips.
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polroger said,
1 May 2012 at 20:47
Laughing so hard reading about that mishearing. I managed once, when planning for outdoor bouldering, to hear “…and then we need to run the pants”, when my climbing partner actually was saying that we needed to rent the (crash-) pads.
Squeezing in a reply to Janet here as well: I don’t have APD per see, but a sound bang accident screwed up my speech discrimination abilities so despite good hearing “on the paper” I’m still pretty lost when there’s background noise. I guess most people having APD have great visual skills, because they fill in what can’t be heard with visual cues. Try listing possible jobs that a) takes advantage of the visual skills and b) doesn’t demand overly much communication over the telephone.
Janet said,
23 March 2012 at 9:59
My 23-year old daughter was diagnosed with CAPD when she was 7. She graduated from college, got her first job as a legal receptionist, and was fired 6 months into the job. We are currently working on ideas for jobs that work best for those with CAPD. While I suspected that this job wouldn’t work for her, I didn’t want to discourage her. I sure won’t make that mistake again…It’s frustrating. We thought an aptitude test would be helpful, but we’re told the results may be “flat” due to her CAPD. Any suggestions?
Stefanie said,
28 February 2012 at 0:18
Thanks so much for this blog…My daughter(8) was diagnosed with CAPD this fall and so much makes sense now. I use one of your blogs as an intro to teachers so they can understand what she is going through, but…
Today we were listening to the radio & Subway was advertising their Steak & Cheese day and Lily asked, “It’s stinky cheese day at Subway?”
At least there is one aspect of CAPD which makes me laugh. Also we will never have the chicken pox. She is positive they are chicken pops!
Ellen said,
27 February 2012 at 8:08
Hi Andrea, I too stumbled upon your blog looking for insight into APD for my son, 16, just recently diagnosed with APD. It was a relief to finally have a diagnosis. He also is OCD, but this could have been brought on by the APD issues. I am struggling to help him with learning material and getting support from his teachers. He tries so hard yet, as you have mentioned, some marks are great others aren’t. Seems as if all his test marks aren’t. Any ideas, suggestions? My heart breaks when he gets in the car each day and is depressed and close to tears. I know he isn’t alone yet he feels very alone right now.
A very worried mom
andrea said,
27 February 2012 at 2:55
Thank you, Jennifer.
I myself didn’t get diagnosed until I was in my 40’s, so I can quite understand the frustration!
You can find more posts with this Category link (which is also in the left-hand sidebar):
https://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/category/auditory-processing-disorder/
Stefanie said,
4 March 2012 at 13:04
Hi Ellen,
My daughter was much younger, but also failing all tests. I know in high school you have to do a lot of essay questions, but for kids with CAPD the writing can be as stressful as listening sometimes. Could they let him write put down points & use a computer to speak the longer answers & save that as an .mp3 to mark.
In preparing for tests this year we’ve tried to make study notes very visual, using lots of colour, mnenomics & drawings where possible. We see if we can find videos through YouTube or educational sites provided by the board. I
Another interesting recommendation was to get key concepts and words before a unit so they can look them up (Google – YouTube) & have an idea before going into class & being bombarded by new words which may or may not be understood.
I know our children are at very different stages, but I hope some of these work for you, but they may not.
Jennifer said,
27 February 2012 at 2:41
My nieces have ust been diagnosed with CAPD, when I looked it up I was so relieved for ME! I have been to 3 different audiologists where I left 1 appointment with the knowledge that my hearing was “just fine”, 1 appointment that “it might be a tumor” and the last one in tears of frustration that my hearing is “fabulous!” knowing all along that every one of them was completely wrong!
In my research on CAPD, I found a lot of information for CHILDREN, but none for ADULTS…that’s how I stumbled upon your blog. I am so glad to know that I am not the only adult struggling with this. While I have not yet been officially diagnosed, I know that once I actually find a place in my area that will test me I will be diagnosed and, hopefully, get some help.
All this to say, thank you for opening up about this, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one out there.