Audiology

Audiology service and referral information for health professionals.

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Auckland

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Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti

About audiology services in Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti:

The following considerations should be taken into account prior to referral for an auditory processing testing (APD) assessment.

Inclusion criteria includes:

aged 7 years and over (APD assessments are not performed on adults)
normal peripheral hearing
significant concerns regarding listening skills
performing below curriculum standards at school
fluent in English with intelligible speech
able to follow directions and have sufficient attention or co-operation to complete APD testing
normal IQ.

It is also preferable if the child has:

had a recent educational psychologist assessment or similar to determine if learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotional problems, or other cognitive difficulties are present
had a recent speech and language assessment that specifically looked at listening skills.

We recommend that children under 7 be referred for an assessment with a speech language therapist.
Should a child not meet the above inclusion criteria there are private clinics that can provide this service. Contact information for these private clinics is available on request.
At the first appointment a full diagnostic hearing assessment (which does not include an APD assessment) will be competed.
A second appointment may be made to complete an APD-focused case history and an iPad-based screening assessment. The caregivers will also be given teacher questionnaires which need to be returned within 4 weeks. The history, assessment and questionnaires will then be examined to determine whether it is appropriate to proceed with APD testing.

Although an APD assessment can rule out APD, it may not confirm a diagnosis of APD in children with: