top of page

Auditory Processing

magicstudio-art.jpg

Auditory Processing

 

Auditory Processing And The Part It Plays For Those Just Learning To Read.

​

Auditory processing has to do with how our brains interpret sounds received through our ears. This process involves discriminating, sequencing, and remembering sounds, all important skills in learning to read. For growing readers early on in their journey, young and old, strong auditory processing skills help them to connect spoken and written language, making it easier to decode and understand written language.

​

What Is Auditory Processing?

​

Auditory processing is about more than hearing. This is our brain’s ability to recognize and make sense of the sounds in spoken language. With Foundation In Sounds™, we focus on three Auditory Processing skills:

  1. Auditory Discrimination: The ability to discriminate between similar sounds. This is important in learning phonics, where slight differences in sound can lead to entirely different meanings.

  2. Auditory Memory: The ability to remember sounds over a short period of time. In reading, auditory memory helps kids...new readers, remember sequences of sounds when decoding new words.

  3. Auditory Sequencing: The ability to remember the order of sounds. Sequencing is essential for blending phonemes...sounds..., together to make words.

​

Auditory Processing Is Important For Developing Readers

​

For kids...new readers, learning to read depends heavily on their ability to break down the sounds of language (phonological awareness) and relate or “map” them to written symbols or letters. Auditory processing skills are foundational to this.

  1. Phonological Awareness: Kids who have strong auditory processing skills will also be stronger in phonological awareness, the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds or phonemes. This is one of the best predictors of reading success in young learners (Gillon, 2018).

  2. Decoding and Fluency: To decode words, a child has to be able to hear and process individual sounds correctly. If a child is weak in auditory processing, they may struggle with sounding out words ultimately impacting fluency, or the ability to read smoothly and accurately.

  3. Listening and Reading Comprehension: Auditory processing is also key to comprehension because it helps the reader to focus on the content rather than on the one word they are trying to sound out or decode. Poor auditory processing skills can lead to difficulties in understanding spoken and written language.

 

Summing Things Up

​

Auditory processing is foundational, for kids or any new readers learning to read. Improving and strengthening the auditory processing skills of discrimination, memory, and sequencing of sound, equips kids with skills that are necessary to becoming good decoders which in turn strengthens reading fluency and comprehension. Foundation In Sounds™  helps prepare kids for reading success through the building of strong Auditory Processing skills.

​

References:

  • Gillon, G. T. (2018). Phonological Awareness: From Research to Practice. Guilford Press.

bottom of page