Maitland parents concerned about their badly behaved children are urged to take them for a hearing test.
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That’s the advice from Professor Harvey Dillon whose research has devised a diagnostic test and treatment for a condition called spatial processing disorder.
Professor Dillon said parents and teachers will see children acting like they have hearing loss, they may seem to be stupid, have a poor memory or resist instructions.
He said the condition is common among children who have suffered repeated middle ear infections from a young age.
“This is a problem for quite a few children,” he said.
“Our tests showed that in some children who appeared to have normal hearing they do not have the ability to suppress certain sounds coming from different directions at a noisy gathering for example – so it is a jumble of noise to them.
“After an audio test and diagnosis there is software the child can take home and in three months their brain can be trained.”
Maitland’s Australian Hearing centre is involved in a Central Auditory Processing Disorder pilot program.
CAPD covers many types of disorders that occur in the higher processing sections of the brain.
It makes listening in noisy situations extremely difficult .
Parents can arrange a hearing test by calling 1300 256 874.